Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover
- Published by: Pantheon Books 1962
- ASIN: B000GU2V88
Reader ReviewsI see that this book was published in 1965, which is when I read it, so my memory is a little fuzzy. Written by the respected Zen scholar and popularizer Alan Watts, this book followed on the heels of his now-famous "The Way of Zen." In its original hardcover edition it was a typical coffee table photo book, with Dr Watts musing about his "Zen" experiences on LSD (and mescaline, I believe). The photos are typical 60's LSD-inspired close-ups of flowers, galaxies, etc. It's basically an early piece of 60's psychedelia. LSD meets Zen - a phenomenon remembered by thousands of American college students from the 1960's. However, I have the greatest respect for Watts (and Zen and LSD). He was a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Chicago, and through his writings and lecture tours he played an enormous role in the disemmination of Zen Buddhism in the English-speaking world. The book itself is short on substance, but as a piece of 60's Buddhist Americana it has some antiquarian merit.
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