2021 was an interesting reading year for me. I spent a good portion of my reading time learning about Buddhism and its application in my life and meditation practice.
The following is the first half of my reading list and some takeaways from each book.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
Zen was a doozy to start the year with… It’s a classic counter-cultural indictment of modernity that is just as relevant today as it was in 1974.
Robert Pirsig wrestles with an existential question throughout the book - which is written as an autobiographical novel - is whether or not his son, Chris, will inherit his own mental illness. Pirsig struggled with schizophrenia and underwent electroconvulsive therapy, which left him with some permanent memory loss.
In my opinion, Pirsig writes Zen both as a treatise on values - as the subtitle “An Inquiry into Values” would suggest but also as a guidebook for those of us afflicted with mental health challenges, not necessarily on how to manage them, but that we can live with them. Also, true values transcend time and can be universally applicable.
In that vein, it was challenging for me as a relatively new dad of a toddler who has struggled with anxiety and depression to reconcile the fact that there’s a significant chance my son will face the same challenges.
The Alchemist - Paolo Coehlo
Another classic to start the year, but this one had a more positive tenor than Zen.
Much of what The Alchemist is lauded for is its “follow your passion” ethos and while I understand the desire for that to be its primary takeaway, I also understand the lack of realism in that kind of advice, namely that passion is unsustainable.
My main lesson was more so one of tenacity and identity. Through failure, reflection, and introspection, we develop self-awareness. This self-awareness gives us context for what we are actually capable of and a sense of identity that transcends the transient nature of “passion.”
Coehlo is really a philosopher masquerading as a novelist.
Deep Work - Cal Newport
Deep Work is a detailed handbook on how to live more intentionally by reframing our relationship to time and work
Newport is obviously brilliant and has mastered “time management",’ but he too, is more of a modern philosopher whose philosophy is to re-orient society’s hyper-emphasis on “work.”
The lessons are Deep Work are myriad and applicable. My biggest takeaway is that no one can take away my time without my permission.
Relax and Win - Bud Winter and Jimson Lee
Relax is a masterclass in autonomic nervous system manipulation.
Winter tapped into psychological concepts of “relaxation” as an instructor of pilots first, then a coach of Olympic sprinters after and the lessons in Relax are maybe even more important - for athletes at least - today than in the 50s/60s/70s when Winter was coaching.
Breathing is the gateway to the autonomic nervous system - sympathetic/parasympathetic - and can take an athlete or anyone else from overwhelmed and anxious to quiet and confident in a matter of seconds if utilized properly.
Freedom - Sebastian Junger
Junger is one of my favorite writers because he is so succint - Freedom checks in at just over 100 pages. It is a remarkable skill to say so much while writing so little.
Freedom is both a definitive essay on what liberty is - sociopolitical and personal - and an indictment of what liberty isn’t.
My main takeaway from Freedom is that there are so many elements at play that give us the liberty we think we have that are antithetical to true freedom as a concept.
An example is speed limits: federal and state governments set speed limits to allow semi-trucks to stay “on schedule” so that retailers can stay stocked with product basically 365 days/year. So the “freedom” that allows me to buy fresh produce is dependent on federal regulation that so many rail against.
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching - Thich Nhat Hahn
Aside from the Buddha and the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hahn is history’s most prominent Buddhist, so Heart seemed like a good jumping off point into Buddhism for me.
Buddhism is so dense and is so old that it’s difficult to even pinpoint lessons to take out of Heart.
That being said, the overarching theme is one of consistency of mindfulness meditation practice as the purpose of Buddhism. Read that several more times for it to fully sink in.
Three Pillars of Zen - Roshi Philip Kapleau
Pillars is the foremost treatise on formal Western Zen practice in English.
When I say “formal,” I mean FORMAL.
Kapleau describes in rigid detail every aspect of what a practitioners practice needs to look like, from attending dharma talks, to getting struck by a “keisaku” to ward off sleepiness during Zen meditation.
Kapleau’s brand of Zen doesn’t particularly appeal to me, but I did benefit from practicing meditation as he recommends in Pillars for as long as I was reading it ~3 weeks.