M Scott Peck

Dr. M. Scott Peck, the psychiatrist who worked his way into the national consciousness with the publication of his 1978 self-help book, "The Road Less Traveled," has died. He was 69. Peck died Sunday at his home in Warren, Conn., said Los Angeles publicist Michael Levine. He said Peck had suffered from pancreatic and liver duct cancer.

Dr. M. Scott Peck, the psychiatrist who worked his way into the national consciousness with the publication of his 1978 self-help book, "The Road Less Traveled," has died. He was 69. Peck died Sunday at his home in Warren, Conn., said Los Angeles publicist Michael Levine. He said Peck had suffered from pancreatic and liver duct cancer.

Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, a remarkably popular author and lecturer in the 1980s, begins his newest book boldly: "In and through community lies the salvation of the world." If he sounds like an evangelist, that's all right; Peck won't deny it. Nor will he deny that he has a grand mission in "The Different Drum," published this month by Simon and Schuster and already No. 7 on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list.

Starting with his 1978 bestseller about spiritual growth, "The Road Less Traveled," M. Scott Peck has been preoccupied with the problem of good and evil. As a believer in a "benign spirit," God, he began to wonder if the existence of human evil meant "there was such a thing as an evil spirit or the devil."

Starting with his 1978 bestseller about spiritual growth, "The Road Less Traveled," M. Scott Peck has been preoccupied with the problem of good and evil. As a believer in a "benign spirit," God, he began to wonder if the existence of human evil meant "there was such a thing as an evil spirit or the devil."

It was not a particularly joyful day for the man who has referred to himself as "the national shrink." M. Scott (Scotty) Peck, the psychiatrist/author whose "The Road Less Traveled" has had a permanent spot on the New York Times bestseller list for the last seven years, was putting up a good front. He was pleasant. Candid.

I used to have a stepmother of whom I was very fond. Often, after I was grown, I'd call her up and she'd invariably say: "Oh, hi! I was just talking to Jesus this morning and I asked Him to have you call me." It was OK, no harm to it, but just once, I wish I could have called my stepmother on my own. Florence King, in her splendid "Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady," addresses another question of divine etiquette.

The Bible was the overwhelming choice of American readers as the book that has made the biggest difference in their lives, according to a nationwide survey published last week. Ranked a distant second was the Ayn Rand novel, "Atlas Shrugged," followed by M. Scott Peck's "The Road Less Traveled," Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien.

1. "Sugar Busters," by Steward H. Leighton (Ballantine, $22) 2. "Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy," by Sarah Ban Breathnach (Warner, $17.95) 3. "Talking to Heaven," by James Van Praagh (Dutton, $22.95) 4. "Don't Worry, Make Money: Spiritual and Practical Ways to Create Abundance and More Fun in Your Life," by Richard Carlson (Hyperion, $15.95) 5. "The Zone," by Barry Sears (HarperCollins / ReganBooks, $22) 6.

"The Road Less Traveled," by M. Scott Peck, published by Touchstone Simon & Schuster in 1978, this week marks its 690th week on the New York Times paperback bestseller list. But that doesn't mean it's the feel-good book of the decade. This one makes you think. Where pop psychology meets ancient wisdom, Peck has found a voice. A refresher course might read like this: On problem solving: "I and anyone else who is not mentally defective can solve any problem if we are willing to take the time."

It was not a particularly joyful day for the man who has referred to himself as "the national shrink." M. Scott (Scotty) Peck, the psychiatrist/author whose "The Road Less Traveled" has had a permanent spot on the New York Times bestseller list for the last seven years, was putting up a good front. He was pleasant. Candid.

I used to have a stepmother of whom I was very fond. Often, after I was grown, I'd call her up and she'd invariably say: "Oh, hi! I was just talking to Jesus this morning and I asked Him to have you call me." It was OK, no harm to it, but just once, I wish I could have called my stepmother on my own. Florence King, in her splendid "Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady," addresses another question of divine etiquette.

Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, a remarkably popular author and lecturer in the 1980s, begins his newest book boldly: "In and through community lies the salvation of the world." If he sounds like an evangelist, that's all right; Peck won't deny it. Nor will he deny that he has a grand mission in "The Different Drum," published this month by Simon and Schuster and already No. 7 on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list.

Quick: What do rocker Melissa Etheridge, self-help guru M. Scott Peck and troubled insurance giant AIG have in common? Answer: A common misreading of one of America's most famous poems. All have made use of a line from Robert Frost's 1916 poem, "The Road Not Taken," to label their work, or their image, or both. The poem, in which the narrator stands in a "yellow wood" and ponders which of two paths to take, ends, "I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference."

The heroine of this wan novel--"Catching the Light," by Susan L. Pope--is so blond and fair-skinned that "folks in North Osprey who didn't know better called Damaris Bishop albino," despite her intensely blue eyes. Even folks who do know better might reasonably decide that Damaris' physical pallor could be meant as a metaphor for her oddly affectless personality, since events that would precipitate passionate reaction in most people seem to leave Damaris virtually untouched.