Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine, an Autobiography - Hardcover

Smith, Huston

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061154261 ISBN 13: 9780061154263

Publisher: HarperOne, 2009

Synopsis

A world religions scholar and author of such titles as The Soul of Christianity and Why Religion Matters presents a travelogue of his experiences at key turning points in twentieth-century history, during which he met such figures as Mother Teresa, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Ram Dass.

About this title

Review:

Smith is America's best-loved religion tutor. -- -Jack Miles

Smith is America's best-loved religion tutor.----Jack Miles

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.----Anne Lamott

Huston Smith is the world's ambassador to religions everywhere.----Thomas Moore

"It is the pulse of Smith's humanity that breathes life into Tales of Wonder."--CNN.com

"Smith parts the curtain on his past and says, "Look!" with the enthusiasm of a child--something he has not yet lost at age 90. The result is a joyous romp with a favorite uncle among holy places and mystics--the most interesting of them the author of the book."--Publishers Weekly

"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). Highly recommended."--Library Journal

"Tales of Wonder brims with fascinating insights and tidbits."--Boston Globe

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.--San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

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.----Anne Lamott"

From the Back Cover:

Huston Smith, the man who brought the world's religions to the West, was born almost a century ago to missionary parents in China during the perilous rise of the Communist Party. Smith's lifelong spiritual journey brought him face-to-face with many of the people who shaped the twentieth century. His extraordinary travels around the globe have taken him to the world's holiest places, where he has practiced religion with many of the great spiritual leaders of our time.

Smith's life is a story of uncanny synchronicity. He was there for pivotal moments in human history such as the founding of the United Nations and the student uprising at Tiananmen Square. As he traveled the world he encountered thinkers who shaped the twentieth century. He interviewed Eleanor Roosevelt on the radio; invited Martin Luther King Jr. to speak at an all-white university before the March on Washington; shared ideas with Thomas Merton on his last plane ride before Merton's death in Bangkok; and was rescued while lost in the Serengeti by Masai warriors who took him to the compound of world-renowned anthropologists Louis and Mary Leaky.

In search of intellectual and spiritual treasures, Smith traveled to India to meet with Mother Teresa and befriended the Dalai Lama; he studied Zen at the most challenging monastery in Japan; and he hitchhiked through the desert to meet Aldous Huxley, dropped acid with Timothy Leary, and took peyote with a Native American shaman. He climbed Mount Athos, traipsed through the Holy Land, and was the first to study multiphonic chanting by monks in Tibet, which he recorded with Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Most important, he shared the world's religions with the West—writing two bestselling books and serving as the focus of a five-part PBS television series by Bill Moyers.

Huston Smith is a national treasure. His life is an extraordinary adventure, and in his amazing Tales of Wonder, he invites you to come along to explore your own vistas of heart, mind, and soul.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0061154261
• ISBN 13: 9780061154263
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240