Carl Rogers, who died in California in 1987 at the age of 85, was ranked in a late-1970s survey of American clinical psychologists and counsellors as being the psychotherapist who most influenced them, surpassing such stalwarts as Sigmund Freud and Joseph Wolpe. This book was the fourth one that he published and is reputedly the most renowned. In the UK it is his best-selling book, being reprinted on average every 18 months and having sold about 4000 copies in the last two years.