The Book, Alan Watts
The Book, Alan Watts
List: $15.00 | Sale: $10.50
Club: $7.50

The Book
On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

Author: Alan Watts

Narrator: John Lee

Unabridged: 4 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/21/2023

Synopsis

A revelatory primer on what it means to be human and a mind-opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence, by “perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West" (Los Angeles Times).

At the root of human conflict is our fundamental misunderstanding of who we are. The illusion that we are isolated beings, unconnected to the rest of the universe, has led us to view the “outside” world with hostility, and has fueled our misuse of technology and our violent and hostile subjugation of the natural world. To help us understand that the self is in fact the root and ground of the universe, Alan Watts provides us with a much-needed answer to the problem of personal identity, distilling and adapting the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta.

About Alan Watts

Alan Watts, one-time professional meteorologist, spent considerable time studying wind changes and short-term alterations in the weather. This, combined with his enthusiasm for sailing which began with the sea scouts, enabled him to assist people to read the weather from the signs in the sky. He died in May 2020.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Patrick on July 24, 2007

What a powerful little book. Watts has a gift for explaining Eastern thought and metaphysics to a western audience. Some of the statements in this book will change the way you look at the world in an instant. The day I finished reading this I spent two hours wandering around Seattle staring at trees......more

Goodreads review by Erik on May 09, 2012

Having read this and several other works by Watts while still in high school, I am unsure of a proper rating. At the time he was very influential, but then I knew so little and was so very unhappy. Mother introduced me to Watts and, thus, Eastern philosophies. Actually, they were covered a bit in Fre......more

Goodreads review by J.D. on September 20, 2013

Watts says humans are connected to everything around us so that we and the universe are one. The goal of Eastern thought is to tap into that oceanic feeling and love and harmony will result. This perspective he contrasts with Western thought, which is atomistic and ego-based, leading to competition,......more

Goodreads review by Jack on May 28, 2013

Alan Watts does a fine job of breaking through the narcissistic wall that many of us build around ourselves, as if we have a superior, godlike ability to access a vantage point that sees a world around us, apart from us, rather than us of it, fully immersed within the Whole Everything of All Things.......more

Goodreads review by Bryan on September 28, 2007

This is one of those books that goes deep into the essence of the PERSONAL EGO. The way we look at the world and why we look at it with squinting eyes. This book literally opened up my mind to some new thoughts and at solidified some of my own ideas that I had been dwelling on for years. Its funny at......more

Quotes

“Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the unwritable.’” —Los Angeles Times

"[Watts is] the perfect guide for a course correction in life." —Deepak Chopra

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List