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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
the stuff about trains flashes to mind every time a train rolls by our house...lovely stuff...
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this book and went camping asap. Far better than any other of his books. YES EVEN BETTER THAN [b:ON THE ROAD|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573].
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
8.7
LOVE.
LOVE.
This has been VERY good! I'm glad I decided to give it a try despite not loving On the Road; the narrator def makes a difference, but this is also so funny and reverential to CA and adventure; like these people don't quite exist anymore, but I've met the people these peope became and ahve heard their stories to know this is true
bum tiddy bum - as an account, this works. i'm still constantly amazed at what went on during the late 1950's.
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Too much bum. Not enough dharma.
(Totally lifted that from another Goodreads review of this book. Relieved that other people thought this douche was a self-aggrandizing f*ck boy).
(Totally lifted that from another Goodreads review of this book. Relieved that other people thought this douche was a self-aggrandizing f*ck boy).
Liked the sections about hiking in the Eastern Sierras and the Cascades at the beginning and the end, but could have skipped the entire middle 60% of the book about drinking and meditating and rambling around. Maybe I would have liked it more 10 years ago.
“Finding Nirvana is like locating silence.”
"O Ray, the career of your life is like a raindrop in the illimitable ocean which is eternal awakenerhood. Why worry ever any more?"
things do not have to be permanent to be valuable
life is not to be taken too seriously
everyone's religion is equally valid and that all are worthy of compassion, differences are trivial and effectively meaningless.
Pragmatism
Ray and his companions effectively get by not by following a hard-and-fast religious doctrine but rather by doing "whatever works."
Absurdity
The truest interpretation of Buddhism, it seems, is not as a solemn and depressing philosophy of futilely struggling against an inevitable descent into nothingness. Rather, as Ray understands in his most lucid moments, it is the assurance that "nothing matters." Ultimately it is a religion that frees its believers from worry and concern because there is nothing to be concerned about.
Spontaneity
Ray's lives a spontaneous and "liquid" lifestyle. He almost never justifies his decisions or shifting beliefs, but rather "rides them out" without considering which path to take or which choice to make.
Simplicity
Ray repeatedly returns to the idea that the frugal lifestyle is not only admirable, but indeed superior to the avaricious lifestyles of most people.
---
Definitely lost some impact from the first time I read this in my early twenties, but I can see how the themes presented here were formidable in shaping my outlook in life.
"O Ray, the career of your life is like a raindrop in the illimitable ocean which is eternal awakenerhood. Why worry ever any more?"
things do not have to be permanent to be valuable
life is not to be taken too seriously
everyone's religion is equally valid and that all are worthy of compassion, differences are trivial and effectively meaningless.
Pragmatism
Ray and his companions effectively get by not by following a hard-and-fast religious doctrine but rather by doing "whatever works."
Absurdity
The truest interpretation of Buddhism, it seems, is not as a solemn and depressing philosophy of futilely struggling against an inevitable descent into nothingness. Rather, as Ray understands in his most lucid moments, it is the assurance that "nothing matters." Ultimately it is a religion that frees its believers from worry and concern because there is nothing to be concerned about.
Spontaneity
Ray's lives a spontaneous and "liquid" lifestyle. He almost never justifies his decisions or shifting beliefs, but rather "rides them out" without considering which path to take or which choice to make.
Simplicity
Ray repeatedly returns to the idea that the frugal lifestyle is not only admirable, but indeed superior to the avaricious lifestyles of most people.
---
Definitely lost some impact from the first time I read this in my early twenties, but I can see how the themes presented here were formidable in shaping my outlook in life.