Zen & the Beat Way [Paperback]

Alan Watts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1997

Alan Watts, echoing Jack Kerouac in Dharma Bums, first wrote and spoke about Zen and Eastern culture in terms accessible to mainstream Western audiences.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ready for a blast from the past? Readers of a certain age might remember Alan Watts, a former Episcopal priest who fled both his native land of England and his religion for California and Zen Buddhism respectively. For many young Americans growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Watts was their first taste of the counterculture to come; Through him, a generation discovered Eastern spirituality and learned to let down their hair and experience a little joy. Now, six of Watts's unpublished lectures have been collected and adapted in Zen and the Beat Way, a compendium of radio and seminar talks Watts gave between 1959 and 1965. There's something rather dated yet endearing about Watts's pronouncements--everything from his misconceptions about Eastern religions to his bumper-sticker clichés. Still, Zen and the Beat Way is charmingly written and provides older readers with a nostalgic trip down memory lane while giving those born after the '60s a taste of the era's ethos.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing (June 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804831173
• ISBN-13: 978-0804831178
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,176,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't be fooled, June 11, 2000

By 

honey "GO Steelers" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen & the Beat Way (Paperback)

I am a big fan of Alan Watts. I know of no one else that has the charisma, sense of humor, and intelligence to communicate ideas from Hindu and Buddhist thought. I have read several of his books and while this book is as good as any other- I WARN YOU - it has very little about the beat generation. In fact, there is one ten page essay. It is interesting, but if you are buying this book because you are interested in the beat generation there are more informative books. This book is also a little expensive and is less than one hundred pages. Try "Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown" or another one of his cheaper and longer books. Most of them contain similar ideas.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Forget the misleading "Beat" title...but it's good!, August 30, 2001

By 

Joel L. Gandelman (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen & the Beat Way (Paperback)

Definitely don't buy this if you're looking for lots of info or an extensive essay on the "beat" generation, etc. The awesome Alan Watts does deal with that topic, but almost in passing. He's goes into more detail explaining Zen and Hindu ideas with a huge helping of humor. Some ideas will stay with you. His emphasis on the key concepts of living the moment and a job as an avocation (not just to spend x number of hours making money but to do for the JOY of it)forever will be imprinted in your mind, as well as various clever examples he sites. Especially memorable is his explanation of how we Americans often live too much in the past and future and don't appreciate the present. He likened it to a coin: one side is the future, the other the past -- but the REAL stuff is the metal in between (the present). A small book with lots of big ideas that are cleverly presented.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificiently clear and unblemished., June 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Zen & the Beat Way (Paperback)

This is probably a book for anyone who has been interested in the "beat generation" and is now looking furthur and finding the religion in it. Alan Watts is simply amazing.