The instructions were simple: Be brief. Be legible. Be creative.

Thus began the 2004 social experiment known as PostSecret, with creator Frank Warren distributing 3,000 4-by-6 postcards around the Washington, D.C., area, asking people to transcribe their deepest, darkest secret and submit them anonymously for a community art project. The overwhelming response to this basic — yet very complex — request has generated three bestselling books, "PostSecret," "My Secret" and "The Secret Lives of Men and Women," each compiling a vast number of distinctive submissions, as well as a national traveling exhibition and the award-winning blog, postsecret.blogspot.com.

Now, Warren is releasing the fourth installment to the collection, "A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book," meant to capture even more of the raw, intimate confessions of ordinary people from around the world, taken from the thousands of PostSecrets Warren continues to receive each month.

The latest book chronicles secrets from every chapter of life, from the young ("My mom thinks she's fat, I think she's perfect") to the aged ("I'm 55 … and steal my son's weed. Maybe he knows"), with most falling into some group in the middle ("I am the product of adultery").

To many, the concept of reading a whole book of other people's scandalous, sad or optimistic secrets could be in every way a tantalizing endeavor. It's more hard-hitting than the usual celebrity gossip in that it details the unabridged truths of life for many people (or more precisely, of the 175,000-plus people who have already sent in their 4-by-6 postcards). The unorthodox window PostSecret opens into a stranger's best-locked secret is altogether scary, exciting and, for many, inspiring.

The creative dimensions of each postcard are unparalleled. Typically conveyed with an edgy art deco flare, each secret is put to paper with extreme delicacy and thought. One card bears the image of a skeletal bride, with the overlaid black all-caps writing of "I died the day I said I do" inscribed on pink strips. Another shows a photograph of a smashed videotape, with "I destroy videos of myself as a child because it pains me to see a time before I ruined my innocence" written in white-out. A third displays a yellow legal pad with the typed message "My firm forges client signatures on documents."

But not all of the secrets are so dark ("When my dad was dying, I masturbated to thoughts of his oncologist") or depressing ("Sometimes I miss prison"). Postcards of hope ("Holding my nephew for the first time made me believe in God") and happiness ("I'll probably grow old with my three best friends, which would be fantastic") are also common among the book's telling pages.

One heartening message recounts a person's struggle to cope with a father's death. "Instead of sending a postcard," the text reads, "I told a friend." The story ends, "Sometimes sharing your secrets makes your wishes come true. Thanks for helping me to discover that."

Many people similarly find therapeutic value in divulging their most private secrets to a complete stranger, spending time to decorate and enhance its meaning through art. Likewise, others have described the reassuring, calming feeling they experience just in reading them.

In this way, "A Lifetime of Secrets" conveys not only a single person's hopes or fears within each postcard, but ultimately the collective desires and tribulations of modern society.

Look for The Badger Herald's interview with creator Frank Warren on Thursday, Oct. 25.