On Sale: Mar 6, 2012
Page Count: 336 pages
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN-13: 9780465029655

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A haunting portrait of Arthur Rosenberg, one of Nazism’s chief architects, and his obsession with one of history’s most influential Jewish thinkers

In The Spinoza Problem, Irvin Yalom spins fact and fiction into an unforgettable psycho-philosophical drama. Yalom tells the story of the seventeenth-century thinker Baruch Spinoza, whose philosophy led to his own excommunication from the Jewish community, alongside that of the rise and fall of the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg, who two hundred years later during World War II ordered his task force to plunder Spinoza’s ancient library in an effort to deal with the Nazis’ “Spinoza Problem.” Seamlessly alternating between Golden Age Amsterdam and Nazi Germany, Yalom investigates the inner lives of these two enigmatic men in a tale of influence and anxiety, the origins of good and evil, and the philosophy of freedom and the tyranny of terror.

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Irvin D. Yalom, MD, is professor emeritus of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was the recipient of the 1974 Edward Strecker Award and the 1979 Foundations' Fund Prize in Psychiatry. He is the author of When Nietzsche Wept (winner of the 1993 Commonwealth Club gold medal for fiction); Love's Executioner, a memoir; Becoming Myself, a group therapy novel; The Schopenhauer Cure; and the classic textbooks Inpatient Group Psychotherapy and Existential Psychotherapy, among many other books. He lives in Palo Alto, California.

“This is the most intriguing novel I’ve read in many a year. Irvin Yalom has created a taut, deeply informative page turner. I enthusiastically recommend The Spinoza Problem.”
Sir Anthony Hopkins, actor
“Spinoza had no ‘real life’ outside his reading and writing: he lived in his brilliant mind. So how do you write about a philosopher―a writer beloved of Goethe, Schopenhauer, and so many other thinkers―who spent most of his time in thought? And how do you regard Spinoza―a Jew whose work helped to usher in the Enlightenment―if, indeed, you’re a Nazi? Irvin Yalom is just the writer to take on such a problem, and he solves it, with his own novelistic brilliance, in this vibrant book. In my view, Yalom is one of the most eclectic, wide-ranging, and dazzling writers of our time.”
Jay Parini, author of The Last Station and The Passages of H.M.
"Irvin Yalom is the most significant writer of psychological fiction in the world today. I didn't think he could top When Nietzsche Wept or The Schopenhauer Cure, but he has. The Spinoza Problem is a masterpiece."
Martin E. P. Seligman, author of Flourish
“The Spinoza Problem is a ringing endorsement for an authentically philosophical life, wherein a toweringly heroic philosopher is persecuted in two eras: one governed by medieval superstition; the other, by totalitarian racism. The novel is a masterpiece, depicting the ultimate triumph of clear and compassionate reason over religious dogma and political pathology alike. I think it’s Yalom’s greatest yet.”
Lou Marinoff, professor of philosophy, City College of New York, and president, American Philosophical Practitioners Association
“In The Spinoza Problem, Irvin Yalom has given us a suspenseful and meaningful novel spanning nearly three centuries and depicting how philosophy and wisdom can spur evil counter-responses that can continue for centuries. This book is another tour de force from a leading psychiatrist psychotherapist who has truly created a genre of fiction and whose novels engross and enlighten us as we anticipate turning the next page. The Spinoza Problem is another not to be missed work from one of the great contributors to the scientific and fictional literature of psychotherapy.”
Alan F. Schatzberg, MD, Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, and past-president, American Psychiatric Association
“Irvin Yalom’s The Spinoza Problem is an amazing novel that combines fact and fiction in a spell-binding manner. Little is known about the psyche of either Baruch Spinoza or Alfred Rosenberg, yet using his extraordinary ability to peer into the minds of his patients, Dr. Yalom has produced a rare gem in existing literature. Only an incomparably gifted author could write such a fascinating and thought-provoking novel. A real page-turner.”
Dilip V. Jeste, MD, former Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry & Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego
"The great-souled psychiatrist has written a novel about the great-souled philosopher. Ambitious, erudite, and engaging, The Spinoza Problem's interweaving tale forces a reader to confront the fundamental question: can reason exert its force for good?"
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity
“Irvin Yalom does a masterful job in bringing to life Spinoza and his philosophy and connecting it to the apocalyptic history of Nazi Germany and the persona of Alfred Rosenberg. It’s the sort of temporal alchemy and alchemy of science and fiction that Yalom does so well. The Spinoza Problem is engrossing, enlightening, disturbing and ultimately deeply satisfying.”
Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
“As an accessible introduction to Spinoza’s complex philosophy, Yalom’s method has much to recommend it. Like a good teacher, he presents only a few ideas at a time and moves carefully from one to the next with frequent recapitulation ...The conversations he creates give a lovely sense of the philosopher’s character and provide a lucid explanation of the man’s major ideas about nature, free will, and reason.”
Washington Post
“In this highly intriguing novel, Irvin D. Yalom ... builds a plot around the obsession that the infamously anti-Semitic Rosenberg had with Spinoza, a Jew. Yalom seamlessly parallels the intellectual and personal lives of these two very different men in this engaging, erudite tale. Yalom’s ability to make complex ideas and theories accessible is what makes his novels so popular. The Spinoza Problem gives readers a penetrating look at the perils inherent in seeking wisdom, and the dangers incumbent on anyone brave or foolish enough to attempt a philosophical life.”
Tucson Citizen
“A daring novel … Beautifully written, remarkably ambitious, filled with vivid descriptions of place, and bursting with brilliant insights, The Spinoza Problem carefully develops its personalities and issues so that they come alive in a highly original and absorbing way.”
Jewish Book World
“Yalom’s latest novel, The Spinoza Problem, is yet another example of how a psychiatrist’s stock in trade―the secrets spoken only in the therapist’s office―can be spun into gold by a gifted storyteller ... The Spinoza Problem consists of two compelling narratives ... The two tales amount to a mystery novel, although it is a mystery of a very cerebral kind.”
Jewish Journal
“Yalom delivers a powerful philosophical and psychological novel.”
City Book Review
“Yalom connects these stories in a powerful mash of whit it means to be human.”
San Francisco Book Review
“What links renowned 17th-century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza with the Nazi party ideologue whose ‘master race’ theory led to Hitler’s ‘final solution’? That question is brilliantly explored in the new novel The Spinoza Problem.”
San Jose Mercury News
“Gripping and informative, a brilliant work of psychological fiction.”
Baltimore Jewish Times
“Inspiring.”
Haaretz
“The Spinoza Problem covers a vast amount of extraordinary historical territory.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“[Yalom] translates Spinoza’s ideas into clear, accessible language ... As an introduction to a notoriously difficult philosopher, [The Spinoza Problem] is very good indeed.”
Jewish Chronicle (UK)
“Yalom has written another intriguing novel that sheds light on what it means to be human ... Yalom weaves psychoanalytical knowledge with brilliant story telling ability. The result is a warmly intelligent novel of ideas which is utterly absorbing.”
Courier Mail (Australia)
“This is a book that is fascinating in its detail, as it is in its reimagining of such iconic moments in Western history. Yalom recreates the atmosphere of 17th century Amsterdam beautifully, and he depicts Rosenberg’s psychological state and the Nazi rise to power with incredible insight. If you like your historical fiction to be peopled with vividly drawn characters, do read this.”
Readings (Australia)
“Yalom has artfully pulled off a feat that could easily backfire in the hands of a less-gifted novelist ... Dramatically pleasing, and wonderfully crafted ... [Yalom] seeks to plumb the depths of the human mind and its myriad workings.”
Philosophical Practice: Journal of the APPA
“Any reader familiar with Spinoza’s philosophy will find this book to be a treasure which complements the rationalist’s works. Readers unfamiliar with Spinoza will find themselves amidst an enthralling tale of faith, reason, identity and community. However, both readers will leave the book enlightened and eager to make sure the questions they ask in their day to day lives are the right ones.”
Metapsychology Online Reviews
“Imaginative and erudite.”
Kirkus, starred review
“[Yalom] is the perfect author to bring together Spinoza and Rosenberg in a novel ... The Spinoza Problem informs the reader of the passionate ideas of Spinoza and the disturbing mindset and writings of Rosenberg ... A highly intriguing exploration of the connections between a Jewish philosopher and a Nazi ideologue.”
Shelf Awareness
“A thrilling philosophical narrative.”
Humanité (France)
“Plausible and fascinating.”
Liberté Hebdo (France)
“Clear, well documented, and nuanced.”
CLES (France)

Irvin D. Yalom

About the Author

Irvin D. Yalom, MD, is professor emeritus of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was the recipient of the 1974 Edward Strecker Award and the 1979 Foundations’ Fund Prize in Psychiatry. He is the author of When Nietzsche Wept (winner of the 1993 Commonwealth Club gold medal for fiction); Love’s Executioner, a memoir; Becoming Myself, a group therapy novel; The Schopenhauer Cure; and the classic textbooks Inpatient Group Psychotherapy and Existential Psychotherapy, among many other books. He lives in Palo Alto, California.

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