Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine, an Autobiography

Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine, an Autobiography

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by Huston Smith
     
 

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“In this delightful autobiography, Smith tells us how he became the dean of world religion experts. Along the way we meet the people who shaped him and shared his journey—a Who’s Who of 20th century spiritual America: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Merton and Pete Seeger.... A

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Overview

“In this delightful autobiography, Smith tells us how he became the dean of world religion experts. Along the way we meet the people who shaped him and shared his journey—a Who’s Who of 20th century spiritual America: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Merton and Pete Seeger.... A valuable master class on faith and life.”
— San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

As Stephen Hawking is to science; as Peter Drucker is to economics; and as Joseph Campbell is to mythology; so Huston Smith is to religion. Tales of Wonder is the personal story of the author of the classic The World’s Religions, the man who taught a nation about the great faiths of the world, and his fascinating encounters with the people who helped shape the 20th century.

Editorial Reviews

Matthew Shaer
Midway through his lush new memoir, the religious scholar Huston Smith pauses to rattle off a list of fond remembrances: dancing among the whirling dervishes in Iran, camping with the Aborigines in Australia, sharing a chuckle with a gaggle of Masai warriors on the darkening Serengeti plains. Each anecdote is offered up with minimum explication and just a few choice adjectives, as if Smith's sense of marvel at the strange bounty of the world should suffice. And in most cases, it does.
—The Washington Post
Library Journal

Nearing 90, the author of the classic The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions has at last written a memoir. Remarkably brief and humbly written for a man of Smith's fame and accomplishment, Tales deals simply with his life and his encounters with the great and the good (Eleanor Roosevelt, D.T. Suzuki, and Frithjof Schuon, to name a few). Essential for students of religion and highly recommended for others as well.


—Graham Christian
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
In this delightful autobiography, Smith tells us how he became the dean of world religions. Intellectual playfulness is definitely the spirit with which this book was written. Right to his final act, Smith is proving to be the consummate professor, giving us a valuable master class on faith and life.
Newsweek
Poignant and readable, Smith recounts professional adventures—meeting Martin Luther King Jr.,befriending Aldous Huxley and the Dalai Lama, dropping acid with Timothy Leary . . . this is what it feels like to have lived a long and interesting life.
Boston Globe
“Tales of Wonder brims with fascinating insights and tidbits.”
Washington Post Book World
In his lush new memoir, the religious scholar Smith dances among the whirling dervishes in Iran, camps with the Aborigines in Australia, shares a chuckle with a gaggle of Masai warriors on the darkening Serengeti plains. Each anecdote reveals Smith’s sense of marvel at the strange bounty of the world
San Jose Mercury News
Smith . . . [has a gaze that] bespeaks mischief, curiosity, bluntness and wonder . . . In an age of generalized fear and “just say no,” Smith, who taught for years at Berkeley, a venerated figure there, has said “yes” to life’s possibilities.
CNN.com
“It is the pulse of Smith’s humanity that breathes life into Tales of Wonder.”
Pico Iyer
Smith has long been our clearest and most radiant explorer of all the world’s great religions. Thank heavens for such wisdom, delivered with light and fire!
Bill Moyers
One of our foremost scholars and interpreters of the world’s religions . . . What he has learned, he has applied to life.
Anne Lamott
My admiration for Huston Smith’s work is boundless. With each new book I have been astonished, edified, and greatly heartened by his brilliant mind and heart. He is the wisest, sanest religious scholar of them all, and so wonderfully readable.
Jack Miles
Smith is America’s best-loved religion tutor.
Thomas Moore
Huston Smith is the world’s ambassador to religions everywhere.
—Pico Iyer
Smith has long been our clearest and most radiant explorer of all the world’s great religions. Thank heavens for such wisdom, delivered with light and fire!
—Bill Moyers
One of our foremost scholars and interpreters of the world’s religions . . . What he has learned, he has applied to life.
—Anne Lamott
My admiration for Huston Smith’s work is boundless. With each new book I have been astonished, edified, and greatly heartened by his brilliant mind and heart. He is the wisest, sanest religious scholar of them all, and so wonderfully readable.
—Jack Miles
Smith is America’s best-loved religion tutor.
—Thomas Moore
Huston Smith is the world’s ambassador to religions everywhere.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:
9780061879449
Publisher:
HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:
05/12/2009
Sold by:
HARPERCOLLINS
Format:
NOOK Book
Pages:
240
Sales rank:
254,983
File size:
3 MB

What People are saying about this

Jack Miles
Smith is America’s best-loved religion tutor.
Bill Moyers
One of our foremost scholars and interpreters of the world’s religions . . . What he has learned, he has applied to life.
Pico Iyer
Smith has long been our clearest and most radiant explorer of all the world’s great religions. Thank heavens for such wisdom, delivered with light and fire!
Thomas Moore
Huston Smith is the world’s ambassador to religions everywhere.
Anne Lamott
My admiration for Huston Smith’s work is boundless. With each new book I have been astonished, edified, and greatly heartened by his brilliant mind and heart. He is the wisest, sanest religious scholar of them all, and so wonderfully readable.

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