Zen Effects: The Life of Alan Watts (SkyLight Lives) [Paperback]

Monica Furlong (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Popular Zen philospher Watts, whose bestsellers on oriental mysticism helped create a counterculture, privately insisted that he was a rogue, a fake and entertainer. Without either glorifying or sensationalizing Watts, this superb, intimately detailed biography assesses the impact of a flawed guru, the shy English-born scholar who, by the "summer of love" in 1967, had become a flower child brimming with confidence and flowing hair. Heavy drinking fueled by a gnawing sense of loneliness, three marriages replete with sexual adventures, writing and lecturing to support his seven children marked the life of a very human sage who seems an odd mixture of wisdom and childishness. Watts sought to reawaken Christians to the "innerness" of their religion; he also believed that assimilating Asian wisdom could help Westerners heal their schizoid mentality. Furlong ( Merton: A Biography shows how his ideas evolved and suggests their relevance for a new generation of readers. Photos. (October
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This first biography of the British expatriate turned Sixties counterculture guru, philosophical entertainer, and Zen popularizer is highly entertaining. Drawing on extensive interviews with surviving family members and making balanced use of Watts's amusing but selectively incomplete autobiography, Furlong paints a compelling portrait of a complex, brilliant man who wandered through three marriages and several careers while maintaining a lifelong involvement with Asian spirituality. Included are accounts of Watts's early education, his rise to prominence as an author, his experiments with psychedelic drugs, and his end as an exhausted alcoholic. Furlong successfully re-creates a colorful slice of recent American popular history through the life history of one of its famous protagonists. Paul E. Muller-Ortega, Religious Studies Dept., Michigan State Univ., East Lansing
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Skylight Paths Publishing (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893361322
• ISBN-13: 978-1893361324
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coyote love, March 10, 2005

By 

Mark Mills (Glen Rose, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zen effects: The life of Alan Watts (Hardcover)

Alan Watts was one of the celebrities of San Francisco's 1967 'Summer of Love'. His version of Zen Buddhism was regularly broadcast on the newly emerging FM radio stations that served the booming teen market. As a teenager, one of these broadcasts introduced me to Zen and I've always appreciated Alan's efforts to bring me that message.

I was surprised to discover Watts ending his life at the relatively young age of 58. According to Furlong, he averaged a bottle of vodka per day during his last years. He passed away in his sleep, probably from heart failure. To the end, he maintained a workaholic lifestyle which supported two ex-wives, wife number 3, and a steady stream of affairs with innocent young women enchanted by his 'talk'. He was survived by all three wives and at least 7 children.

Alan started his life in England and grew up in 'public' schools. In his teens (1934) he published his first book on Zen Buddhism. He continued writing on the subject for the rest of his life.

He seems to have dodged the British draft in 1939 by moving to America, and dodged the American draft in 1941 by enrolling in an Episcopalian seminary. In the mid 40s, he took up the role of college chaplain and remained one for about 5 years. At that point, a dramatic affair with a beautiful coed ended the priestly career and first marriage. His later career as a free-lance writer and lecturer-at-large was shaped by this scandal.

And, does any of this matter? Does his alcoholism color how one reads his books or listens to his recorded lectures? This question is the focus of the biography. Furlong concludes it doesn't. Watts was the 'coyote' of Native American legend, bringing fire to mankind, but getting his tail burnt in the process. Exactly how he fit into the 'beat' and 'hippie' movements is never directly addressed, though Furlong connects Alan with all the key names. There isn't a serious effort to explore Zen, either. The focus is more personal, modern and western: Do the private weaknesses of your favorite celebrity change your reaction to the 'message' that celebrity delivers via TV, movies or radio?

If this sounds interesting, you might want to look into 'The Golden Guru'.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars don't draw conclusions too sharply, March 31, 2006

By 

Thomas M. Cushing (Santa Catalina Island, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zen Effects: The Life of Alan Watts (SkyLight Lives) (Paperback)

This book will surely be of great interest to those who found this friendly philosopher compelling, but we should take care not to judge him too harshly on account of it, as many reviewers have. Watts always eloquently alluded to the limits of language and of drawing conclusions, and those limitations are on display in this work. He taught that life was more like flowing water than sharp words, that the issues are never really black or white. He was a complex man in a confusing age, and it's too easy to generalize in such a small format about such a large person. Great abilties can be the other side of great faults. Also, just as the 40's and 50's hadn't recognized the full folly of tobacco, the 60's and 70's hadn't entirely wised up to alcohol and drugs. The times themselves were intoxicated and chaotic, and a lifelong addiction to fame is hard for many to bring to an easy end. It was sad to read, but sorrow attends all our lives, and an intellect of that strength exacts a toll on other parts of the personality, and the author makes clear this was a man brilliant from the beginning, to the imbalance of his emotional life. But wisdom often is born of failure and struggle, and his loss was our gift. I consider him one of my finest teachers while growing up, and nothing in this book changed that. He "played" his part to teach us that the falseness and contradictions of the world can be reconciled in one true spirit.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine for what it is..., August 9, 2005

By 

Flubonius - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen Effects: The Life of Alan Watts (SkyLight Lives) (Paperback)

I've been interested in Watts for a number of years now, having read a few of his books and listened to several of his lectures. As I came to hear of his "dark side," I became curious about his life, and so I was happy to find Monica Furlong's biography. As one of the only book-length treatments of Watts (apart from his own autobiography, of course) I'm glad to have read this and I learned a lot from it. I do have some criticisms, though. For one, not having read Watts' autobiography before Furlong's book, I felt she depended on the autobiography far too much in the beginning chapters; since she was quoting so much, why shouldn't I just read the autobiography instead? For my money, the highlight of the book was the middle section on Watts' time as a minister. The chapter devoted to Watts and Eleanor's correspondence was really fascinating, and I appreciated how Furlong (finally) started to read the autobiography against the grain, criticizing Watts' tone and pointing out what he isn't saying. Not only was Furlong giving me something the autobiography wouldn't, but she opened up new ways of looking at the autobiography, and Watts himself.

Unfortunately, that level of scrutiny falls off during the remaining sections on Watts' rise to fame as a guru figure and his subsequent physical decline. Perhaps because this is the most well-documented period of Watts' life, Furlong goes through this period fairly quickly, I think. It's not that I feel like I'm missing key events in his life; that would be nice, of course, but, again, it would be relatively easy to find that out myself. Rather, I miss the analysis Furlong applies to Watts' rationalizations of becoming a minister. There are a lot of contradictions in Watts' life, particularly in this final period. As someone who talked the talk but who couldn't or wouldn't walk the walk, where does that leave us with regard to Alan Watts? How should we see him -- as a teacher, an object lesson, a joke? Do his personal shortcomings undermine his work, and if so how badly? How do we reconcile the man and the work?

It's not that I want to be told what to think, but Furlong had access to people who were close to Watts and who, presumably, have some opinions about questions like these. They seem like important questions, too, when assessing the value of a spiritual figure. Perhaps I'm asking too much of Furlong here, though if I am it's because when she does shift into a critical mode it makes for some good, compelling reading. But the questions left unresolved here only leave room for another biography.