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Alan Watts

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are Paperback – August 28, 1989

by Alan Watts (Author)

2,160 ratings

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A revelatory primer on what it means to be human, from "the perfect guide for a course correction in life" (Deepak Chopra)—and a mind-opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence.

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, Watts has crafted a revelatory primer on what it means to be human—and a mind-opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence.

In The Book, Alan Watts provides us with a much-needed answer to the problem of personal identity, distilling and adapting the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta.

Print length

163 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage Books
Publication date

August 28, 1989
Dimensions

5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0679723005
ISBN-13

978-0679723004
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Modern Western culture and technology is inextricably tied to the belief in the existence of a self as a separate ego, separated from and in conflict with the rest of the world. In this classic book, Watts provides a lucid and simple presentation of an alternative view based on Hindu and Vedantic philosophy.

Review

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

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Books; Reissue edition (August 28, 1989)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 163 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679723005
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679723004
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Indian Eastern Philosophy
- #8 in Humanist Philosophy
- #10 in Philosophy Metaphysics

Customer Reviews:
2,160 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		84%
4 star		9%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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David Wilder

What a Wonderful Book

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

Although I'd first heard of Alan Watts' The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are several years ago, it wasn't until I watched Dakota Wint's YouTube video Top 5 Books Every New Spiritual Seeker Needs that I was motivated enough to actually check it out. First things first—I know that I will benefit a lot from re-reading this book several times. It's extremely dense and packed with a lot of valuable information, a lot of which I likely didn't absorb during my first reading of the book.

The basic premise of the book is that we have been told that we are isolated beings, "unconnected to the rest of the universe", which has led to our viewing the "outside" world with hostility and "has fueled our misuse of technology and our violent and hostile subjugation of the natural world". However, Watts asserts that this belief is mistaken and that we are in fact directly connected to everything else there is. In the beginning of the book, Watts discusses the concept of cultural taboos—things like making direct eye contact with another person or performing an act that is against one's religion. This leads him to make the following point:

"The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your apparently separate, independent, and isolated ego."

The concept of "I" is extremely powerful and commonplace in most societies on Earth, and it is so fundamental to our modes of speech and thought, as well as our laws and social institutions. Watts spends many words of this book arguing against the concept of personal selfhood in favor of a more universal concept of identity—one that includes the rest of reality in addition to the components that we would normally judge as "ourselves".

One of the other things I found interesting was Watts' definition of "attention" as "narrowed perception"—because when we attend to one thing, we ignore everything else. In Watts' own words: "conscious attention is at the same time ignore-ance (i.e., ignorance) despite the fact that it gives us a vividly clear picture of whatever we choose to notice."

These are just some of the concepts that Watts describes in The Book. If either of these ideas sound interesting to you, I would definitely give this a read. I wish that this review was able to more fully show how wonderful this book is, but since this is only my first read-through, I feel like I was only able to skim the surface of its ideas and therefore will likely have more to say about it upon successive readings. I definitely give this one two thumbs up though!

182 people found this helpful

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Branigan

A taboo indeed...

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2017

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I bought this book because I have been very interested in mediation and the true nature of consciousness since reading "Waking Up" by Sam Harris. I will start with a brief caution to the prospective reader. If you, like me, consider yourself an epistemological realist, you might recoil from some of the language and ideas presented in this book. Initially, some of them seem like what many people would call "whew whew" or "hippie mumbo-jumbo." I think it is important to understand that this language is to be expected when attempting to describe the construals of subjective experience. If you have read Eckhart Tolle, I think you will be familiar with what I am talking about. All this being said, what a fantastic book! Watts has a masterful way of using analogies to express relationships that might otherwise go undefined. I especially like his analogy of falling from a cliff, and how it maps on to how we should live. He gave me a lot of valuable insight as to what the Self is. Most importantly, he showed me how in our seeking to relinquish the Self's control, we often reinforce it. The way he walks you through it all in the second to last chapter was masterfully crafted. It felt like what I imagine the "pointing-out instruction" of Dzogchen feels like.

75 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

1932 edition of public domain book

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is the public domain free copy of the 1932 book of the same name. So it's almost 100 years old!
The publisher didn't even paginate correctly so there are long blocks of sentences crammed together.
One paragraph lasted for more than two pages. :0

As for the book itself, I was greatly disappointed. After rambling for pages and pages about how dumb religions are, the author goes on to say there is no God because all beings are part of what is outside of them and what is inside of them. Huh? In one passage he clearly does not understand or has not heard of evolution and Darwinism and in another section he likens personality to sunshine.

I was told this book was on biases and was a new edition (1989). It's NOT. It's a very ancient book (almost 100 years old) on existentialism. Very outdated and uninformed. It's also free online if you really want to read it.

53 people found this helpful

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Astronomere

Ironically Retroactively Pedantic And Mundane

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2018

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For every brief insight or moment of wisdom Alan Watts imparts, he makes you pay for it with pages of blather. My word but this man likes to drone on. He frequently repeats what he must think are clever phrases (within one book and over several books) until you are sick of reading them again and again. He ruins whatever deep thought he's trying to convey by piling insipid words on top of each other. Here's a phrase he must have never heard: less is more.

And with the sudden tinkling of the unseen bell I put the book down and did not pick it up again. Just so much smug western white male self love from this ivory tower icon. There is, to be fair, a good deal of insight in his collective writings, but there is far more cumbersome rubbish one must slog through to find it. So much of this is obsolete or moribund that it chokes whatever wisdom may be lurking within.

At some point I thought I would read everything and copy out the passages that resonated with me and put together a little book of my own favorite sayings of Alan Watts, but then I thought of all the other books I would be missing out on in the process.

40 people found this helpful

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O'Harason

This simple book has been one of my Bibles for ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2016

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This simple book has been one of my Bibles for over 50 years. It conveys the essence of Watts' thought and insight which provides a fundamental philosophic grounding wholly compatible with both modern science as well as a spiritual dimension. Though said to be the first to introduce the West to Eastern religion, he really breaks rigid boundaries of religion, inviting the reader to discover a Natural Theology that makes the Universe our home.

56 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

xxxtinaaa

Stunning

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2017

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This book opened my mind and showed me a new way of looking at the world. It's beautifully written - Alan Watts sure knew how to turn a phrase. Elegant language and complex thought, with no academic jargon sight. Although it's not always easy reading. This book deals with the meaning and substance of life, so the ideas may require a bit of time to digest. But Alan Watts talks to the reader like a friend and like an adult. The ideas are presented with humour, grace and artistry. It was written in the 1960's and has a 60's counterculture flavour. A few small sections are a bit dated. But that just makes it fun and interesting. If you're interested in philosophy, spiritually, self-reflection, self-improvement; if you've ever though about your place in the world, read this book.

21 people found this helpful

JohnsHead

Wake up.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

This book confirms to me that I am not alone in my view of human life, human experiences and death.
It represents a maturity in spiritual thinking, written by a genius who has examined spirituality with an intellectual thought process and learned wisdom.
For me it speaks the truth and it's a delight to read. If you can grasp the message it will bring a new meaning to your life and your self.
As Alan Watts said ' You don't look out there for God, something in the sky, you look in you '

29 people found this helpful

nicmagic

An exceptional read!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

An exceptional book from Alan Watts and highly recommended. "The Book" referred to in the title is The Book you, as a parent, might give your child to teach them of the world. As opposed to simply giving your child the Bible or other "Book" based on the region the child was born in.
it's an exceptional read which covers many aspects of our society and addresses many religious and philosophical tendencies we humans are bound by in general.
if you like Alan Watts you'll Love this book of his. I loved it and, as always, really appreciate the concise and elegant way in which he writes.

6 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Another great book by Alan Watts

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2020

Verified Purchase

I read a few of Alan Watt's book and this is one of my favorites, an easy read but, not so easy to implement in your life as we've been conditioned to think and live our lives a certain way since we were kids.

6 people found this helpful

Paul100

It may change your life.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

I first bought this book in 1978 after coming across it on a bookstand when I was really strung out and wondering "what it was all about"
It's a quick book to read - took me a day and it did change my life.
It doesn't solve problems or even give solutions but just an expanded way of looking at the world and also the knowledge that some other people feel exactly the same as you. You are not alone.
I bought this copy to give to my daughter and my son.
The only thing I would say is that it does require a certain amount of education in order to properly understand what he is talking about.

17 people found this helpful

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