TO CONQUER LONELINESS

This book addresses ""lonely men and women who have lost contact with the sources of meaning for life."" Various aspects of this loneliness are treated. The general tone of the writing is homiletical, using a considerable amount of literary, historical, and anecdotal illustration, ranging widely, and proceeding in a rather loose, episodical line of development. This abundance, if not superabundance, of illustration has the unfortunate effect, however, of putting a kind of insulation between the author and the lonely people whom he seeks to address. The writing lacks the tone of direct, intense address which the reader might assume to be appropriate to the book's purpose. The introductory chapter begins, ""The day is sodden, dreary, and dark..."" and unfortunately the weather seldom seems to clean up.