Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Not for beginners	Customer Rating:
This is not a book per se. It is a collection of lectures, speeches, talks, and papers from 1940 to this books original publication in 1961. Not really worth the price of admission. Go for one of Rogers more mainstream books. Not for beginners.

Process vs Product

Customer Rating:

For this book, Carl Rogers assembled both original papers and revised papers, that he wrote between 1950 and 1961 for this book, to express his concepts of how one is 'becoming a person'. It is an easy to read book and brings into focus much of the background to today's self-help movement and the concept of 'becoming a person' rather than a finished product. The steps 'to be that self which one truly is" (Soren Kierkegaard. He explains how change works as one grows into the unique individual who is very open, accountable, responsible and aware as well as the importatnce of empathy in our relationships especially within ourself. His work is as relevant today as it was then when it was very revolutionary. Do you know whether you see yourself as a process or a product? Give this a read and you may just find the answer for yourself.

A humble masterpiece

Customer Rating:

This book by Carl Rogers on client-centered therapy may lack the drama, the force or the cleverness associated with some books on other forms of psychotherapy. What it doesn't seem to lack is a quiet wisdom that flowed from Rogers' many years of experience and sensitivity to his patients. Despite some redundancy, being a collection of papers and presentations from Rogers over many years, "On Becoming A Person": 1) presents a branch of psychotherapy distinct from psychoanalysis and learning theories as well as from behaviorism, focused more on basically well people growing than on helping disturbed people get better. 2) is rooted in Roger's positive view of human nature as basically good and constructive, as he discovered in encounters with his patients. Roger's emphasis on empathic understanding, on not imposing theoretical speculations about the clients state of mind and on avoiding forceful interference would seem to avoid some of the abuses associated with some other psychotherapies. 3) presents ideas about the helping relationship that Rogers extended from psychotherapy into other areas such as education. Rogers's nondirective approach suggested to him the possibility of a progressive education free of examinations, of grades, of conclusions, and even of teachers. 4) despite its "fuzziness", Rogers does present some experimental evidence in favor of client-centered therapy as compared to those based on learning theory and behaviorism. 5) Rogers' shows appreciation of the growing power of the behavioral sciences but expresses concern less this science, like other sciences, becomes manipulated by politicians to the detriment of people. He basically wonders, if a culture is to be designed, as Skinner had suggested, what safeguards there are on the designer. Rogers may seem too rosy and to be cherry-picking his results. The kind of measurements he presents, such as a psychological test measuring "changes in the self" based on self reporting may seem too fuzzy. How long it takes, compared to other available approaches, to get effective change seems not to have been a primary consideration for Rogers and may explain the rise of more recent approaches like Cognitive Therapy and Constructive Living. As a lay person, I respect the humane treatment Rogers recommended toward those entering psychotherapy as clients. A major contribution by Rogers seems to be his recognition that his clients were not objects to do things to but rather fellow people whose experience he could share in.

Free Individual	Customer Rating:
The principles in the book 'On Becoming a Person' are good for anyone who loves all ideas on the Free Individual. Scientists who like theories of Personality must know this book.

EAsier view	Customer Rating:
I found this book a lot more enjoyable than most other psychotherapy books I've read and made getting through my psychotherapy class a lot easier