Games People Play

In 1961, psychiatrist Eric Berne published a book with a very boring title, Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy. It became the foundation work in its field, much referenced, and was a reasonable seller.Three years later he published a sequel based on the same concepts but with a more colloquial feel. With its brilliant title and witty, amusing categories of human motivation, Games People Play was bound to attract more attention. Sales for the initial print run of 3,000 copies were slow, but two years later, thanks mostly to word of mouth and some modest advertising, the book had sold 300,000 copies in hardback. It spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list (unusual for a non-fiction book) and, creating a template for future writers who suddenly got wealthy by writing a pop psychology bestseller, the 50-something Berne bought a new house and a Maserati, and remarried.