Tag: Spiegel & Grau

Books, NonFiction

In Love with the World by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

RaeAnna

Worth a Read Meh
Length 288
Quick Review Rinpoche decided to leave the comfort of his home to travel for three years killing off who he used to be to become someone new.

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In Love with the World by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche | Eating ice cream at Sweet Cup in Houston | Shirt | Pants | Shoes

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche was already revered within his religion when he decided to leave his community in the middle of the night to experience life and the world in a new way. In Love with the World is his experience as a wanderer for three years.

Rinpoche grew up within the faith of Tibetan Buddhism and had trained his entire life. He had never experienced life in any other capacity than through the lense of Tibetan Buddhist. One night, he gave no notice to his community. He left. He saved a little money, which is harder than you’d think. He wrote a letter explaining why he left and that he would return in three years. He was 36 years old. In Love with the World is as much a book about his emotional and mental transformation as it is about his physical journey in the world.

There is a sense of who people are by their titles or their clothing. Rinpoche wears clothing screaming buddhist and has the titles and achievements of Master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and is the overseer of the Tergar Meditation Community. He’s a big deal. He is also a person with anxieties and fears and joys and a sense of humor. For as incredibly wise as he is, he is also funny. I highly enjoyed this tidbit, “I had felt rescued by my training more than once, even though that same training ensured the practical life skills of a lapdog.” It’s funny but deeply insightful. He has a knowledge base that is incredibly helpful and meaningful but doesn’t go very far when you’re stuck on a train with just about nothing.

I really enjoyed reading In Love with the World because it is full of wonderful insights into a life completely different than my own. It would be a great read for vacation or on a plane. Something to dive into.

tMemorable Quotes
“I had set off on my own to intentionally seek this disruption through what I had been thinking of as an ego-suicide mission.”
“Until we accept the truth  of impermanence, ignorance and confusion will darken our days.”
“While the luminous mind never dies, the experience – as with any experience, no matter how transformative – was just another cloud passing by.”

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Title: In Love with the World; A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying
Author: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche with Helen Tworkov
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780525512530

Books, NonFiction

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 400
Quick Review Harari looks into the future that could be with the evolution of technology.

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Reading 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari in the Heights. 

Yuval Noah Harari is the #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Sapiens, he returns with his latest work 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. The future is an unknown, but Harari uses his knowledge of history to look into the possibilities of tomorrow.

I am a person who is always on the brink of an existential crisis. This was a hard book to read because so much of it ran along the lines of humans may become irrelevant. Among all the other topics Harari discusses, there was a lot of pausing of the reading to collect my thoughts, have a cup of tea, and remind myself anarchy would be worse… probably.

 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a really interesting read. I can’t speak on the accuracy of everything because, well, I was battling my existential tendencies too much to research the things I don’t know. Technology, biotech, and the foundations of our society are the main concepts the book revolves around. Through these, Harari explores the meaning of how we as a civilization functions today, and how that will change as technology evolves and becomes ever more important in our daily lives, careers, medicine, government, and more.

Harari discusses everything from the job crisis to the algorithm taking over free will to the importance of AI and so much more. He uses historical references from many different cultures and times to support his opinion. Irrelevance and inequality kept cropping up throughout the text. The writing is very engaging and interesting. He writes clearly. Many books by scholars can get muddled with complicated text and references. Harari doesn’t fall into that trap. His writing appeals to the masses with a strong voice, clear message, and enough backstory to his references that they make sense.

There is a sense of humor to Harari’s writing. It usually has a dark twist, which I personally appreciate. The book is split into five parts with several chapters each. The chapters have several sections. I really enjoyed the names of these sections; they were quippy like “Germans and Gorillas” and “Artificial Intelligence and Natural Stupidity.”

I have a feeling this is going to be another highly talked about book, when 21 Lessons for the 21st Century comes out on September 4, 2018. You should definitely check it out, unless you’re hyper prone to existential crisis, then limit yourself to a few pages a day.

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Memorable Quotes
“It is much harder to struggle against irrelevance than against exploitation.”

Title: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (Random House)
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780525512172