A NEW GUIDE TO RATIONAL LIVING 

By Drs. Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper

Foreword by Melvin Powers 

Years ago, after two decades of burning the midnight oil, reading manuscripts 
which professed to have all the virtues this one actually possesses, I found the 
original New Guide to Rational Living—a gem that has become a classic in the 
field of psychology. 

Since then, I am delighted to say, I have sold 1.5 million copies of this book 
in previous editions. Numerous readers have thanked me for making the book 
available and have related how positively it has affected their life. 

Undoubtedly this new, updated edition will prove particularly valuable to 
present-day readers, who face unprecedented challenges in daily living. 

Those who have read a large number of euphoric and inspirational books without 
achieving lasting success will particularly appreciate this book. For although A 
Guide to Rational Living makes no promises, it can help readers more than all 
the other books put together. 

In the first chapter of this extraordinary new edition of A New Guide to Rational 
Living, Drs. Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper express the hope that readers 
will not “jump to the conclusion that we hand out the same old hackneyed, 
Pollyannaish message that you may have long ago considered and rejected as 
having no practical value.” 

Because they use such words as “creativity,” “happiness,” “love,” “maturity,” 
and “problem-solving,” they are concerned that people will accuse them of adding 
one more book to the already lengthy list of those that promise to make everyone 
rich, happy, powerful, and emotionally mature—all quickly and easily. 

They need not worry. Drs. Ellis and Harper have refreshing humility in this era 
of dogmatic formulas for living, and they see that constant happiness remains as 
elusive as moonbeams. As proof of this conviction, they have termed the chapter 
dealing with happiness “Refusing to Feel Desperately Unhappy.” What a realistic 
approach! 

Actually, their associates had to talk these two prominent psychologists into 
doing their original book about the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) 
they practice, and they had to feel it would truly help others before they wrote 
a word. They still believe intensive individual therapy is desirable in serious 
cases, but they have also come to believe that a book can help a certain 
percentage of people who have the capacity for honest self-evaluation. 

This book, unlike others you have probably read, employs none of the jargon 
usually associated with psychology or psychiatry, and it may well prove to be 
the best book on psychotherapy for laymen ever written. It can provide 
emotionally disturbed individuals with many answers they seek, and it can help 
everyone to feel better about themselves and to deal with their lives more 
effectively. 

The authors use a unique method of projecting their solutions to common 
problems. Thus, they point out that the individual who feels inadequate and 
insecure suffers from, for example, “Irrational Belief No. 2: The idea that you 
must be thoroughly competent, adequate, and achieving.” 

Drs. Ellis and Harper use ten such ideas to bring out the scope of their 
psychotherapy, with subtle, helpful solutions that reflect their vast experience 
as therapists. They have training and a host of case histories, taken from their 
office charts, to buttress their advice. This not only makes for a more 
interesting book but creates confidence in the reader concerning the techniques 
suggested, all of which have proven effective in a clinical setting. 

Probably many readers will remember Dr. Albert Ellis as a sexologist who has 
done so much valuable work in this area that critics frequently compare him to 
the other Ellis—Havelock, a pioneer in sexual research. His books in this field 
have done an incalculable amount of good, particularly in freeing people of 
feelings of guilt stemming from their environments. 

Dr. Harper has a similar background, and he possesses added knowledge of 
anthropology and sociology, both disciplines desirably supplemental to 
psychology. He has collaborated with Dr. Albert Ellis previously and has worked 
on other books in the area of rational therapy. 

In this new edition of A Guide to Rational Living, as in the original, Drs. 
Ellis and Harper dissect the main emotional problems that humans tend to have. 
They present their ideas in a brilliant and all-encompassing manner—so 
brilliant, in fact, that I believe the reader will find more answers than he or 
she would in the average vis-à-vis confrontation. I say this despite the 
disclaimers of both authors who ethically point out the limitations of “absent” 
therapy. 

For one thing, the book proves less maddening than many personal visits to 
therapists who subscribe to the passive, nondirective method still used by many 
psychologists and psychiatrists. In this type of therapy all questions are 
answered by, “You tell me.” 

Drs. Ellis and Harper make it clear they do not practice as the “orthodox 
psychoanalyst...with whom we respectfully but wholeheartedly disagree.” Rather 
than maintain the traditional Freudian silence, both therapists, in the early 
part of the treatment, indicate where the “emotionally disturbed 
individual...seems off the beam.” 

Their direct, get-to-the-heart-of-the-problem methods show wide variance with 
most orthodox treatments that drag on interminably with clients never quite 
knowing where they stand. As far as I can see, here certainly lies, along with 
group therapy, the direction psychotherapy will take if it intends to make a 
real contribution to comprehensive health. 

If you feel you have the rigorous honesty necessary to conduct self-analysis, 
this book will be the most important one you have ever read. And it will seem a 
boon to those who cannot pay the high fees charged for individual treatment. 
I find so many excellent techniques explored in this book that I would like to 
mention many more. I feel deterred only by the fact that the authors speak very 
well for themselves. 

You have my best wishes as you join the 1.5 million people who have read and 
greatly benefited from A Guide to Rational Living since my publication of the 
first edition. You have chosen to read a book that has set the standard and that 
likely will remain the standard for years to come. 

Melvin Powers, Publisher 
Wilshire Book Company

add Value to your purchase.   

 

 

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"Believe in the knowledge that you get from this book. The knowledge will then become a power that moves you steadily towards various accomplishments in life. Whatever that you believe to be true will then be recorded firmly in your subconscious mind and become a source of power and inspiration for you."

- Van Gogh