I read it (well, parts) on a long plane ride recently. It's an interesting book—very 1970s and very much looking back to the existential psychotherapists and psychoanalysts of the mid-20th century. I do not say that as a bad thing, on the contrary.

What surprised me most is how big a role Otto Rank plays in it. I only knew of Rank as the originator of the birth trauma theory and thought he was a minor disciple of Freud. Becker regards Rank as the greatest figure in the tradition after Freud if not greater. It made me want to learn more about Rank's work.

Rank's "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero" elaborates what Becker meant by "society as a heroic system", to a certain degree. I myself still in pursue of "Art & Artist" paper copy, regarded as his magnum opus.