• Creatures of a Day, and Other Tales of Psychotherapy

  • By: Irvin D. Yalom
  • Narrated by: Traber Burns
  • Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (987 ratings)

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Creatures of a Day, and Other Tales of Psychotherapy  By  cover art

Creatures of a Day, and Other Tales of Psychotherapy

By: Irvin D. Yalom
Narrated by: Traber Burns
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Publisher's summary

In his long career, eminent psychotherapist and author Irvin Yalom has pressed his patients and readers to grapple with life's two greatest challenges: that we all must die, and that each of us is responsible for leading a life worth living. In Creatures of a Day, he and his patients confront the difficulty of these challenges. Although these people have come to Yalom seeking relief, recognition, or meaning, they discover that such things are rarely found in the places where we think to look.

Like Love's Executioner and Yalom's other writings, Creatures of a Day lays bare the necessary task we each face every day: to make our own lives meaningful.

©2015 Irvin D. Yalom (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Creatures of a Day, and Other Tales of Psychotherapy

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A book of rich experience, wonderfully narrated

If you could sum up Creatures of a Day, and Other Tales of Psychotherapy in three words, what would they be?

Irvin Yalom is a well-respected psychiatrist and psychotherapist who is well on in years. In this book, he shares some of his most moving therapy encounters, bringing us right into the room. He is warm, human, and without arrogance in these sessions and shows considerable respect and professional affection. Traber Burns is a wonderful narrator for Irvin Yalom. He does a superb job of capturing Yalom's voice, inflection and emotions -- from calm empathy to surprise. Being an account of therapy sessions the book consists largely of conversations, and Traber captures the different personalities or moods of each of the speakers -- therapist and the different patients -- so that you're never wondering who is talking, even if you've just restarted the recording.

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15 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Great book, touching stories!! It's a must read for those who're interested in psychology and psychiatry.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Old Man Look At My Life, This Book's Made Me Bluer


"Old man, look at my life, I'm a lot like you were."

N. Young, "Old Man," 1972.

Dr. Irvin Yalom is a highly respected 84-year-old psychiatrist, who describes himself as an existential psychotherapist, providing consultations with the overriding philosophy that "we all must die" and "each of us is responsible for leading a life worth living." In the past, I've enjoyed mixed success with books by psychiatrists in which they provide an internal view of variety of anonymous cases. For example, I loved AN EXAMINED LIFE and THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT and disliked the sterile, historical analysis of SHRINKS...

Here, I didn't like this book. I should have been forewarned by the term "existential" that this would be a morbid look at cases of mostly very elderly patients and patients with terminal illnesses. No disrespect intended, but this is way too depressing for me to enjoy. Instead, it put me in a major funk. I'd try to add some levity here, such as saying that the book should be subtitled "A Fly on Geritol Wall," but the book fails to lend itself to any humor whatsoever.

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10 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Love executioner better

The examples were selected to support his theory of death anxiety. But not too bad at all. Worth the read

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

With narration a 4, better narration a 5.

I loved the book it was an excellent read as one who follows Yalom religiously. However, I had some difficulty listening to this narration. I often found it confusing as to who was speaking as the distinction between characters and narrator was not always the best. I also thought that listening to an obviously older voice used for younger characters was part of the problem for me.
It's probably a minor personal preference so I would recommend this audiobook as is

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8 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

fantastic book, brilliant performance

Would you listen to Creatures of a Day, and Other Tales of Psychotherapy again? Why?

Here are the factors making this book a great listen:
Great writing style, engaging, witty and deep.
Astute observation power of the writer
Great clinical experience reflected in all stories
humanity of stories and humility of the author's account
Brilliance of performance.

What about Traber Burns’s performance did you like?

He brought the book to life. I felt the characters.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and entertaining

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

You will get an inside view into one of the great minds in psychology, his personal reflections and how he approaches his work with each patient.

What did you like best about this story?

The individual patients stories and Yalom's inner thought/feeling process.

What does Traber Burns bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator has a very warm tone to his voice and he conveys the essential kindness in Yalom's responses to his patients.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Thoughtful

Thoughtful description of the encounters of therapist and patient and the inner workings of the therapist in the moment with patients

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Refreshing

Another excellent and refreshing addition by Yalom. Thought provoking and insight building. Another must read in Yalom's case vignette collection.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

im getting tottally sucked in the stories

tottally sucked in every stories , Hungry for the continued learnings and the autentic, comments about irvs possible errors .

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2 people found this helpful