Self-help book written in the format of a Socratic dialogue between a university professor and a young man, translated from Japanese. Based on the psychological principles espoused by Albert Adler, a lesser known psychologist than Freud or Jung. Readers may find the author's insistence on teleological causality challenging to accept, but it is in service of denying determinism and empowering the reader with the idea that they are capable of change and not defined by past experiences. Some useful concepts introduced in this book are "life tasks, and divisions thereof" (there are undertakings that can only be done by you, and not by others, and it's critical to identify these and seperate yourself from things that aren't in your sphere of control) and "life-lies" (the justifications and excuses we tell ourselves, consciously or not, that keep us in less-than-ideal life circumstances).