Question: Why is so much of this book on the Internet?

Answer: What you read is what you get.

    More than 50 pages of this book are posted on the Internet.
Most of these pages are directly linked from
the Table of Contents of Our Existential Predicament
This amounts to about 17% of the whole book.

    Very few copies of the printed version of this book exist.
But there are 500 million computers with Internet access.
This means that millions of people all around the world
can sit down at their computers and read these pages.
If you read all of the Internet excerpts aloud,
it would take you about 4 hours.

    It is even easier than standing in a bookstore
looking at these pages.
(Besides, Our Existential Predicament
is not stocked by any bookstores,
altho any bookstore—including online booksellers—
can order it from the publisher.)
And if you readers on the Internet
want to download these pages
and/or print them out on your own printer,
that is easy to do.
And you have my permission to do so—for your own use
and the use of any others to whom you lend your print-outs.

    I once estimated that only 10 people out of a million
would want to read this book.
But since then I have become more hopeful
that there will be more people
who find Our Existential Predicament:
Loneliness, Depression, Anxiety, & Death
a book they must read,
even if it costs more than other books of its size.

    Presenting extensive excerpts on the Internet
enables potential readers to make up their own minds.

    You will apply your own criteria to the words you read.
What you read is what you get.
When you read my words on your computer screen,
do you say to yourself:
"I am going to want to read these lines again."?
or
"I must see where the author goes with the rest of this chapter."?

    My current guess is that about one person
out of a hundred who takes the time to read
a few pages of Our Existential Predicament
will decide he or she must read more
than the 17% offered on the Internet.

    Another reason for presenting extensive excerpts
is that it helps separate
the casual book-buyers from the serious readers.

    Casual book-buyers already own
dozens of books they have not read.
Perhaps they have read a few pages here and there,
but then other things drew their attention away
and they never completed the books,
which now line their shelves as mute reminders.

    To me is seems very wasteful
to create printed pages that will never be read.

    Serious readers are going to devote
more than the cost of the book.
They are going to give several hours of their lives
to looking into the many dimensions
of our Existential Predicament by means of this book.
Serious readers notice that there are very few other books
that address these themes of inwardness.

    (The fact that you are reading this note
suggests that you might become
a serious reader of the whole book.)

    As the author of this book,
I am more interested in locating the serious readers
than the casual book-buyers.
The high price of the book should help people to decide
just how serious they are about such inward explorations.

    I write my books as a service to serious readers,
rather than as a way of making a living.

    I would prefer that one library buy this book,
where it might eventually be read by 100 serious readers
than that 100 casual book-buyers purchase it
—and then put it (mostly unread) on their own bookshelves.

    Thus, if you think you might be a serious reader of this book,
but you cannot afford the high price,
you have the option of encouraging
your local public library or your college library
to buy this book for you and 99 other serious readers.
Your taxes support your local public library.
Or your college fees support your college library.

    If 100 serious readers eventually read the book
you caused to be placed on the library shelf,
the cost for the book will be only 45¢ per reader.

    The new Fifth Edition (2006)
is more appropriate than any of the earlier editions
for purchase by libraries.
The new typeface for each chapter
makes it easier than ever to read.
And the large size pages (8.5 X 11 inches)
with wide margins on both right and left
makes it possible for the book to be re-bound
(and re-trimmed on the edges)
a few times before it must eventually be retired.

    Our Existential Predicament:
Loneliness, Depression, Anxiety, & Death
is not a cheery enough title to be found in ordinary bookstores.
But it is a serious title,
which could interest people looking for answers
in their local public or college library.
If you saw this book on a library shelf,
would you want to explore it more deeply?

    Libraries do not generally pay attention to older books,
even when they are updated in new editions.
They focus much more on brand-new books.
Our Existential Predicament has been around
in one form or another since the 1970s.
Only strong reader demand will get it into libraries.

    And if you are a serious reader who would like to own a copy,
you will save yourself more than $55 if you order directly from the publisher.
Also shipping costs (and waiting time) will probably be less.

    As the author of Our Existential Predicament:
Loneliness, Depression, Anxiety, & Death
I have strung together about 120,000 words,
which are now printed on 312 pages.
More than 50 of these pages are offered on the Internet.
How many of these words do you want to read?