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maude_a's review against another edition
2.0
Ce livre m’ beaucoup déçue. Ce que dit le dalaï-lama à travers le livre est intéressant, mais le psychologue qui a écrit le livre est un narrateur plutôt dérangeant. Il semble plutôt fermé d’esprit et ne cesse de donner des exemples scientifiques pour appuyer les propos du dalaï-lama, ce qui coupe le fil de la lecture. De plus, ce livre est vraiment une introduction au bouddhisme. Connaissant déjà plusieurs des principes de cette religion, je n’ai pas appris grand chose. J’aurais préféré un livre écrit par le dalaï-lama lui-même.
frankukdk's review
4.0
Interesting insight into the thoughts of the Dalai Lama on western mentality, psychology and happiness.
francisjshaw's review
5.0
I found the mixture of the Dalai Lama's thoughts and that of a scientist a nice combination. As two sides of the same coin the questions and answers both raise made it an interesting read. I like the fact that neither profess to have all the answers and the Dalai Lama's words are always thoughtful. How we can contribute to each other's growth is a great takeaway from this dialogue.
sarahrigg's review
4.0
I enjoyed it and read it slowly on purpose so that I could really savor and think about the ideas in it. I'm working really hard on the concept of compassion right now. I think there's something for many people here- I'm an atheist but got a lot out of the book.
haleyshealy's review
3.0
The Dalai Lama is presented merely as a nonfictional character in this book. This reads more like an inflated "Tuesdays with Morrie" psychiatry edition as it's more of a constant interview. I was disappointed because I expected to get a lot out of this book. I did take away some great things but nothing like you would expect. I found myself glossing over things and skipping pages because I got bored of listening to the repetitiveness of it. It was not interesting to me and I'm glad I can move on to something else now.
alex_whitehall's review against another edition
2.0
The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, MD
Overall
Rating: 2.5/5
I read this with my brother and we had discussions about each chapter, which worked well since we were able to bounce ideas off one another and make sure we really understood what was going on. I'm glad to have read the book, but it's probably not one I'd keep on hand to read again. It started strong, then the last few chapters were really slow. The last section re-established my interest, but that was because it was discussing religion and spirituality.
I didn't agree with everything the Dalai Lama (DL) said or proposed, but I tried not to let that color my experiences.
What I liked
I enjoyed hearing the DL speak about different topics such as happiness, contentment, selfishness, and religion. I felt he had some good ideas and life would be better if people applied those ideas more often. Of course we can't force them to, but I think the DL makes some good points for what these behaviors/thoughts are beneficial to the individual as much as the larger community.
Cutler backs up much of what the DL says with studies, which my left brain congratulates while my right brain ignored it.
What I didn't like
Cutler was a little love-struck with the DL, which tainted his writing and influenced what he said and how he felt about the DL. Of course this could taint the reader in favor of the DL, but it just annoyed me.
When he quoted studies, he rarely gave the number of participants. There is no reference section. While this isn't a scientific work, I am often surrounded by articles that try to use a study for their own purposes. If the study only had 40 participants, it's not as impressive as if it had 400. Not to mention differences in set up, etc. This won't bother the average reader, most likely.
I felt like the author was talking down to me sometimes, which is a giant "NONO."
Overall
Rating: 2.5/5
I read this with my brother and we had discussions about each chapter, which worked well since we were able to bounce ideas off one another and make sure we really understood what was going on. I'm glad to have read the book, but it's probably not one I'd keep on hand to read again. It started strong, then the last few chapters were really slow. The last section re-established my interest, but that was because it was discussing religion and spirituality.
I didn't agree with everything the Dalai Lama (DL) said or proposed, but I tried not to let that color my experiences.
What I liked
I enjoyed hearing the DL speak about different topics such as happiness, contentment, selfishness, and religion. I felt he had some good ideas and life would be better if people applied those ideas more often. Of course we can't force them to, but I think the DL makes some good points for what these behaviors/thoughts are beneficial to the individual as much as the larger community.
Cutler backs up much of what the DL says with studies, which my left brain congratulates while my right brain ignored it.
What I didn't like
Cutler was a little love-struck with the DL, which tainted his writing and influenced what he said and how he felt about the DL. Of course this could taint the reader in favor of the DL, but it just annoyed me.
When he quoted studies, he rarely gave the number of participants. There is no reference section. While this isn't a scientific work, I am often surrounded by articles that try to use a study for their own purposes. If the study only had 40 participants, it's not as impressive as if it had 400. Not to mention differences in set up, etc. This won't bother the average reader, most likely.
I felt like the author was talking down to me sometimes, which is a giant "NONO."