Lost in the Cosmos: A self-Help book review Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker Percy is a psychology-based "self-help" book that turns the genre on its head by approaching the individual from a unique perspective. Percy's viewpoint is that is actually healthier to feel that something is wrong with oneself than to feel that one is perfectly fine. The primary aim of the book is not so much to provide self-help to the reader as it is to explore the mystery of human nature and the world around us. The idea of sensing that something is wrong is rooted in the Judeo-Christian perspective that Percy utilizes to convey a sense or longing for fulfillment, redemption, salvation, etc. By addressing an audience that looks for a psychological solution (or a solution to life's problems via a psychological channel), Percy attempts to guide the reader through a series of scenarios that suggest that re-orienting one's psychology towards acceptance of a transcendental truth (which also has roots in the classical traditions of Greek philosophy).

From this exploration, Percy draws wry observations about mankind, society, history, the modern era, and communications. How people interact and view...

The book is useful in the sense that it raises more questions about who (or what) man is (does he, for instance, have a "spirit"? or is he simply all biology, matter and no spirit -- spirit being the projection of the functioning of his mind?). Percy's perspective is evident only through the rendering of his ironic juxtapositions. For instance, Percy quizzes the reader in a number of sessions, designed to lead the reader to consider his position in the universe from an existential perspective. Thus the book is philosophical as well as psychological.
The theme of the book can best be expressed by the opening epigram, attributed to the German philosopher Nietzsche: "We are unknown, we knowers, to ourselves ... Of necessity we remain strangers to ourselves, we understand ourselves not, in our selves we are bound to be mistaken ... " This sets the tone of the work, in terms of the expectation that introspection will be one of the goals of the work; however, the work as a whole is not so much geared towards…