Book Review - Breakfast of Champions

With the completion of Breakfast of Champions, I am now exactly halfway through the chronological reading of all of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels. Up until now, Sirens of Titan had been my favorite, but Breakfast of Champions has eclipsed it and risen straight to the top of the pile.

The narrator describes the book as a story of “two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a planet which was dying fast.” One of the men, Dwayne Hoover, is a deranged Pontiac dealer who comes to believe that he is the only living being in the world with free will (the rest being robots, of course) due to being inside of a science fiction novel written by author Kilgore Trout. Trout is a mostly-unknown (albeit widely published) pulp science fiction writer who appeared in several other Vonnegut novels, who hitchhikes to Hoover’s town to appear at an art convention.

The novel frequently switches focus between Hoover and Trout, with Kurt Vonnegut simultaneously appearing as the author of the book and filling in the narratorial duties. These transitions are exceptionally handled—they help move the story along and are not confusing whatsoever. Common themes in the book include free will, suicide, mental illness, and issues with America and the treatment of its citizens.

Just like Vonnegut’s other novels, the writing itself is simple to read, which seems to be part of his overall style. Generously mixed in with the text are many drawings by the other which give a visual depiction of various objects, such as an anus, flags, a beaver, a vulva, the yin-yang symbol, guns, an electric chair, an apple, and even the sunglasses the author himself wears as he enters the storyline. Like many of the other novels, there are characters from other books which appear, who often have similar, but not exactly symmetrical characteristics across the books.

As I mentioned earlier in this review, I greatly appreciated Breakfast of Champions and would recommend this as the first book a novice Vonnegut reader should check out. It’s funny, smart, and wacky enough to hold your attention, and it’s written simply enough that it is also a quick read.

5/5 stars. 302 pages.

Book Review - Zig Zag Zen

The book Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics is a compilation of articles and interviews written and conducted by several respected people in both the Buddhist and psychedelic communities. The pieces explore the crossovers between Buddhism and psychedelics and offer an honest perspective about whether psychedelic substances have a place in a sincere Buddhist practice, and vice-versa.

Following a foreword written by Stephen Batchelor, a preface written by religious studies scholar Huston Smith, and an introduction written by the book's editor Allan Badiner, Zig Zag Zen is broken into three main sections: "Intersection", which explores the points common to both topics, "Concrescence?", which discusses the coalescence or "growing together" of Buddhism and psychedelics, and "Lessons", which offers advice from the elders in both movements for a beginning psychonaut or Buddhist.

The "Intersection" section covers topics like the Tibetan Book of the Dead and a 1964 psychedelicized version of it called The Psychedelic Experience, the concept of suffering, America's relationship with Buddhism, shamanism, spiritually-influenced artwork, and other various spiritual practices. The authors featured in this section include psychedelic researcher Ralph Metzner, professor Roger Walsh, anthropologist/writer Christian Rätsch, and Allan Badiner, among others.

The "Concrescence?" section begins with a thorough explanation of Buddhist and psychedelic artwork by visionary artist Alex Grey, followed by an explanation by Rick Strassman concerning his groundbreaking DMT research, and then features several chapters on various topics such as "psychoactivism", "leaning into rawness", ayahuasca, cannabis as a harm reduction practice, and a fantastic analysis of psychedelics' potential role in Buddhist practice by writer Erik Davis.

The final section, "Lessons", includes several discussions concerning whether psychedelics are a help or a hindrance on the Buddhist path, features an interview with the well-known psychedelic bard Terence McKenna, the work of Rick Doblin with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Lama Surya Das' "zen commandments", and more.

The book is extremely well-written and edited, and offers an honest look at whether psychedelics can play a valid role in a Buddhist practice. The authors (and speakers) in the book do not all agree on a conclusion, and so it is up to the reader to decide whether psychedelics would truly assist them in their spiritual path or not. Featured throughout the book are a plethora of breathtaking art pieces in full color. I would advise this book to anyone who has an interest in either Buddhism or psychedelics.

5/5 stars. 240 pages.

Book Review - Still Here

Cover image photo taken by David Wilder.

Ram Dass is an American spiritual teacher well-known for his bestselling 1971 book Be Here Now, as well as his personal and professional relationships with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the 1960s, his travels to India and relationship with his guru Neem Karoli Baba, and for founding the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. He wrote the book Still Here: Embraced Aging, Changing, and Dying after experiencing a stroke in 1997.

The book covers many topics (mostly related to aging and dying) that a person may encounter on their spiritual path. As we age, many things change with our physical bodies and minds, as well as our roles in society. However, Ram Dass attempts to point out that there is another level of being—the Soul level, which is experiencing reality through a human body while simultaneously being untethered to it.

A section discussing changes with our minds—due to the aging process—introduces the concept of mindfulness practice and covers several mentally-related common fears of aging: senility, loneliness, embarrassment, powerlessness, loss of role and meaning, and depression. Following that, Ram Dass gives some advice for facing those fears head on.

The next section covers bodily changes that occur due to aging, such as discontent with body image, low energy, focusing on a list of physical woes, the difference between healing and curing, working with pain, and disease.

Following the discussion on the body, Ram Dass explains how our societal roles change and shift during the aging process, how to live in the present moment, learning to die, and the effects (both positive and negative) that a stroke had on his life.

I greatly enjoyed this book. Like Be Here Now, it is filled with wisdom and sage advice for spiritual travelers. I would recommend this to anyone interested in stepping further down their own spiritual path, especially those who are currently in the later stages of life. I imagine that Still Here would have a lot to offer the average person that is on the verge of entering the next phase of their Soul journey.

4/5 stars. 206 pages.

Book Review - The Last Laser Show

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. However, rest assured—the following review reflects how I genuinely felt about the book.

The Last Laser Show: A Dark, Laugh Out Loud Comedy is a debut novel from the English author Ian Avery, and it is described as "a wild dark comedy with underlying themes of longing and loss".  It follows the adventures of Arthur Deadman, a writer who is attempting to sell his story and make it in show business.

The writing style is reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson, although it has more of a British feel to it and the protagonist doesn't appear to be as crazy and reckless as Thompson was. As a debut novel, I was very impressed by the book. There were some parts that could have been edited a bit better, with spelling or grammatical errors, but it didn't really take away from my overall positive impression of the book.

There certainly are many laugh-out-loud moments, the plot is thoroughly engaging, and the characters are interesting, fresh and believable. The book takes a bit of a turn toward the end, away from action-packed events and focusing more on a fledgling romance, but that change seems to be for the best.

All in all, I'm very glad I read this book. I encourage you to read it if you get a chance!

4/5 stars. 334 pages.

Click here to buy the book.

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Book Review - Distrust That Particular Flavor

Cover image photo taken by David Wilder.

William Gibson is best known for his fictional works, including best-selling novels like Neuromancer and Zero History. He also has a fascinating Twitter account, that includes a lot of interesting quips and retweets. It's well worth following, in my opinion. I have read all three of his trilogies (Sprawl trilogy, Bridge trilogy, and Blue Ant trilogy), a short-story compilation titled Burning Chrome (in which he coined the term "cyberspace"), and a collaborative novel he wrote with Bruce Sterling called The Difference Engine, and this book was next in the queue for me (I am in the ongoing process of reading many authors' works in chronological order, Gibson included).

Distrust That Particular Flavor is different from the rest of Gibson's works because it is non-fictional: a collection of essays, articles, speeches, introductions, book and music reviews, travel journalism, etc. that he wrote over the past few decades. It's a refreshing take from an author that I have grown to admire over the past decade or so for his fictional works.

The book takes us to foreign lands like Singapore and Tokyo, analyzes the evolution of communication media, observes of the early forms of the Internet, pays tribute to famous writers like H.G. Wells and George Orwell, details Gibson's obsessive quest to find wrist watches on premodern eBay, and many more interesting tidbits. I especially liked how autobiographical some of the pieces were at times. This was a really easy read for me, which is exactly what I was looking for at this point in time.

For now, Distrust That Particular Flavor provided an excellent set of pieces that should tide me over until I re-dose with Gibson's latest novel, The Peripheral, published in 2014, which I am greatly looking forward to tackling sometime in the (hopefully) near future.

5/5 stars. 260 pages.