b. May 22, 1936
d. September 25, 2005
Pop psychologist
M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Travelled, died on September
25, 2005 at the age of 69. According to his obituary the Times Online (UK),
Peck made the self-help manual a mainstream bestseller with his book, which
sold 10 million copies, a record for a non-fiction title. The paperback edition
stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for eight years.
After graduating
from medical school, Scott Peck joined the Army to get medical training, and
stayed there for nine years. He became a vocal opponent of America's involvement
in Vietnam, but remained in the army as a psychiatrist and reached the rank
of lieutenant-colonel. Enraged by the My Lai massacre of March 1968, he tried
unsuccessfully to secure support for an investigation into earlier military
atrocities. The Jewish-born Peck flirted with Buddhism before settling on Christianity
as his preferred path.
Peck stated that "most of us are mentally ill to a greater or lesser degree." Interviewed in May 2005, he told The Times Online: "A fellow who was thinking of doing my biography once asked me: 'God, have you ever denied yourself anything?' And I said: 'Well, I've never smoked or drunk as much as I would like to'."
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