Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage [Hardcover]

Aaron Naparstek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2003

How many times this week has your morning commute, or just plain driving to the grocery store, turned into a road-rage-inducing nightmare? A soccer mom steals your parking spot. A cell-phone guy cuts you off on the freeway. A student driver nearly rear-ends you at the mall. Take heart. Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage is all you need to lower your blood pressure and make you forget that jerk in the yellow SUV.

A collection of more than one hundred very funny haiku (or honku), this book shines its brights on the dark side of America’s car culture. Distilling the daily horrors of driving, parking, and ordering from the drive-through into a time-honored and respected verse form, Honku transforms annoying moments behind the wheel into the stuff of poetry and will leave you in a state of enlightenment and bliss. Well, at the very least it’ll make you laugh.

A diverting read that may inspire you to pen your own haiku, Honku is the perfect fit for the glove compartment, to be pored over while you’re stalled in traffic on the interstate.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Honku

“A masterpiece of automotive zen. These poetic gems are mischievous, hilarious, and—at only seventeen syllables in length—extremely fuel-efficient. Run (don’t drive!) to your local bookstore.” —David M. Bader, author of Haikus for Jews and Zen Judaism

From the Inside Flap

How many times this week has your morning commute, or just plain driving to the grocery store, turned into a road-rage-inducing nightmare? A soccer mom steals your parking spot. A cell-phone guy cuts you off on the freeway. A student driver nearly rear-ends you at the mall. Take heart. Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage is all you need to lower your blood pressure and make you forget that jerk in the yellow SUV.

A collection of more than one hundred very funny haiku (or honku), this book shines its brights on the dark side of America's car culture. Distilling the daily horrors of driving, parking, and ordering from the drive-through into a time-honored and respected verse form, Honku transforms annoying moments behind the wheel into the stuff of poetry and will leave you in a state of enlightenment and bliss. Well, at the very least it'll make you laugh.

A diverting read that may inspire you to pen your own haiku, Honku is the perfect fit for the glove compartment, to be pored over while you're stalled in traffic on the interstate.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Villard; 1st edition (June 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400060265
• ISBN-13: 978-1400060269
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,300,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Zen of driving, December 27, 2003

By 

Eileen Rieback (Coral Springs, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage (Hardcover)

After author Aaron Naparstek had a brush with danger when confronting a honking driver, he found a way to sublimate the frustration and anger of traffic annoyances into calming poetry. Through the use of the 5-7-5 syllable pattern of haiku, he has now brought enlightenment and laughter to the topics of road rage, traffic gridlock, high fuel prices, lack of parking, and many other automotive trials and tribulations. In this little book, perfectly suited in size to fit into the glove compartment, are such gems as:

Lawyer on cell phone/tries corporate and freeway/mergers at same time
Seattle traffic/the one thing capable of/stopping Microsoft
When the light turns green/like a leaf on a spring wind/the horn blows quickly

So keep this book in the car with you, and when that familiar tension starts, breathe deeply and transcend your road rage to reach a state of honku nirvana.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Apple Didn't Fall Far From the Bro, July 1, 2003

By 

Abe Naparstek (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage (Hardcover)

As Aaron's younger (but very influential) brother, I must take some of the credit for this authoritative book on America's Honking Industrial Complex. As a youngster, Aaron often found creative ways to liven up our lives. For example, when I was seven, in lieu of simply forcing me to wrestle with my neighbor, he would tie me to my neighbor and THEN have us wrestle. I think this example demonstrates Aaron's ability to take a relatively simply idea (haiku's/wrestling) and truly take it to the next level.

Long and short of it -- Haiku's rock -- buy it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Hilarious!!!, September 15, 2003

By 

Sherry A. Martin (Baltimore, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage (Hardcover)

I have a confession to make: I am an angry driver. I take it very personally when people cut me off, don't let me merge, and are just generally rude and nasty behind the wheel. If you're like me, YOU NEED THIS BOOK. It is a great stress reliever; humor is such an effective coping device, and so much better than giving some moron "the finger!" Keep it handy in your car, but don't read while you're driving; the streets are dangerous enough with all those cell phone users out there.