After a health scare leaves him reeling, Eric Weiner-an atheist by default-sets out on a worldwide search for an experience of the divine. Propelled by the confrontation with his own mortality and questions about the best way to raise his daughter, Weiner travels to Nepal, where he meditates with Tibetan lamas and a guy named Wayne; to Turkey, where he whirls (poorly) with Sufi dervishes; to China where he attempts to unblock his chi; to Israel where he studies Kabbalah, sans Madonna; and to Las Vegas, where he has a close encounter with Raelians (followers of the world's largest UFO-based religion).
Weiner's journey takes place at a time when more Americans than ever-nearly one in three-are choosing a new faith. At each stop along the way, Weiner tackles our most pressing spiritual questions: Where do we come from? What happens when we die? How should we live our lives? Why do socks abscond? With his trademark wit and warmth, Weiner leaves no stone unturned.
After a health scare leaves him reeling, Eric Weiner-an atheist by default-sets out on a worldwide search for an experience of the divine. Propelled by the confrontation with his own mortality and questions about the best way to raise his daughter, Weiner travels to Nepal, where he meditates with Tibetan lamas and a guy named Wayne; to Turkey, where he whirls (poorly) with Sufi dervishes; to China where he attempts to unblock his chi; to Israel where he studies Kabbalah, sans Madonna; and to Las Vegas, where he has a close encounter with Raelians (followers of the world's largest UFO-based religion).
Weiner's journey takes place at a time when more Americans than ever-nearly one in three-are choosing a new faith. At each stop along the way, Weiner tackles our most pressing spiritual questions: Where do we come from? What happens when we die? How should we live our lives? Why do socks abscond? With his trademark wit and warmth, Weiner leaves no stone unturned.
The author of the bestselling Geography of Bliss returns with this funny, illuminating chronicle of a globe-spanning spiritual quest to find a faith that fits.
Eric Weiner is author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. A New York Times Bestseller, it has been translated into 16 languages. Weiner, a former correspondent for NPR and the New York Times, has written stories from more than three dozen countries. His work has appeared in the New Republic, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The New York Times Magazine, and the anthology, Best American Travel Writing. He writes a regular column for the literary travel website, worldhum.com.
"Book of the month... Much of the power of this pilgrimage comes
from the characters Weiner encounters-informed, impassioned, and
idiosyncratic guides who lead the ever-questioning, ever-doubting
author on a magical mystery tour that illuminates our inner and
outer paths."--National Geographic Traveler
"Books about God tend to fall into two categories: objective
inquiries into the nature of belief and personal tales of spiritual
awakening...Weiner's 'Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the
Divine' nimbly and often hilariously straddles the fence between
the two genres....He's Woody Allen channeling Karen Armstrong."
--New York Times Book Review
"I came to Eric Weiner's MAN SEEKS GOD looking for a fight. But in
the end, I didn't find the fight I was looking for; instead, I
found an affable, candid, deeply thoughtful, sometimes ironic and
funny soul, with whom I shared certain similarities.... In the end,
despite my proclivity for theological fisticuffs, Mr. Weiner's
candor and thoughtfulness were entirely disarming. Whereas some
people spend a lifetime searching for their god, Mr. Weiner's
whirlwind speed-dating of deities is a thing to behold. I came to
admire Mr. Weiner's tenacity and verve, trotting off to places I'll
likely never go -- at least not for the same reasons -- pursuing
and spending long hours with the kinds of people I'll likely only
meet in passing, all in an effort to better understand the world
and himself and to 'find his God.'"--Pittsburgh Post Gazette
"In a time when many religious people insist only their own faith
is valid, Weiner traveled the world in a quest for answers to
spiritual questions.... Not taking himself (or others) too
seriously, Weiner's travels take him to Turkey, where he whirls,
dervish-style; and Las Vegas, where he encounters Raelians, who
base their beliefs on UFOs. He studies Kabbalah (without Madonna)
and meditates with Tibetan lamas."--New York Post
"It is not so much the various religions and religious practices
examined that make MAN SEEKS GOD compelling, but the people Weiner
encounters and spends time with as he travels around the world in
search of something to fill the proverbial 'God shaped
hole.'...[an] honest and neurotic, generally entertaining
book."--Bookreporter.com
"Throughout this marvelously entertaining journey, precious and
universal truths emerge amid the churning of Weiner's
self-conscious intellect and self-deprecating sense of humor.
Weiner manages to suspend disbelief long enough to share tales of
divine wonders, a possibility in all of us."--Booklist (Starred
Review)
"Well-researched, informative and engaging, MAN SEEKS GOD is packed
with facts and wisdom that, regardless of which God you root for,
will leave what a Buddhist friend of Weiner's calls 'Post-it Notes
on the brain.'"
--Washington Post
"Winsome, self-deprecating humor marks every page."
--Publishers Weekly
"Writing about spirituality is fraught with ironies: Isn't the
divine supposed to be beyond words? How to describe the inner
landscape without sounding insane or precious? Eric Weiner's quirky
religion-hopping travelogue, MAN SEEKS GOD actually embraces these
pitfalls, while poking good-natured fun at the genre.... a
refreshing departure from more weighty spiritual tomes."
--San Francisco Chronicle
Former NPR reporter Weiner (The Geography of Bliss) turns his journalistic and travel-writing skills to the terrain of the inner life in this ironic, informative, if somewhat flat, spirituality memoir. A more-or-less agnostic cultural Jew, Weiner decides in midlife to get serious about investigating God-is there a God, and if so what is God like? To answer these questions, the author travels around the world, apprenticing himself (briefly) to teachers and practitioners of eight different religious traditions, from Sufism to shamanism. He reads Rumi in Istanbul and takes a mikvah dip in Tzfat, Israel. Franciscans bring him along to an antiabortion protest, and Jamie, a witch in the Pacific northwest, helps him crash a coven and sends him stern e-mail telling him to address his chronic depression. Winsome, self-deprecating humor marks every page. But the spiritual takeaways Weiner offers feel a bit thin-as when, at the end of his time in Nepal, he concludes that the fleetingness of an experience (be that experience life or breakfast) makes the moment not "less sweet," but "more. Definitely more." (Dec. 5) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
"Book of the month... Much of the power of this pilgrimage comes
from the characters Weiner encounters-informed, impassioned, and
idiosyncratic guides who lead the ever-questioning, ever-doubting
author on a magical mystery tour that illuminates our inner and
outer paths."--National Geographic Traveler
"Books about God tend to fall into two categories: objective
inquiries into the nature of belief and personal tales of spiritual
awakening...Weiner's 'Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the
Divine' nimbly and often hilariously straddles the fence between
the two genres....He's Woody Allen channeling Karen Armstrong."
--New York Times Book Review
"I came to Eric Weiner's MAN SEEKS GOD looking for a fight. But in
the end, I didn't find the fight I was looking for; instead, I
found an affable, candid, deeply thoughtful, sometimes ironic and
funny soul, with whom I shared certain similarities.... In the end,
despite my proclivity for theological fisticuffs, Mr. Weiner's
candor and thoughtfulness were entirely disarming. Whereas some
people spend a lifetime searching for their god, Mr. Weiner's
whirlwind speed-dating of deities is a thing to behold. I came to
admire Mr. Weiner's tenacity and verve, trotting off to places I'll
likely never go -- at least not for the same reasons -- pursuing
and spending long hours with the kinds of people I'll likely only
meet in passing, all in an effort to better understand the world
and himself and to 'find his God.'"--Pittsburgh Post Gazette
"In a time when many religious people insist only their own faith
is valid, Weiner traveled the world in a quest for answers to
spiritual questions.... Not taking himself (or others) too
seriously, Weiner's travels take him to Turkey, where he whirls,
dervish-style; and Las Vegas, where he encounters Raelians, who
base their beliefs on UFOs. He studies Kabbalah (without Madonna)
and meditates with Tibetan lamas."--New York Post
"It is not so much the various religions and religious practices
examined that make MAN SEEKS GOD compelling, but the people Weiner
encounters and spends time with as he travels around the world in
search of something to fill the proverbial 'God shaped
hole.'...[an] honest and neurotic, generally entertaining
book."--Bookreporter.com
"Throughout this marvelously entertaining journey, precious and
universal truths emerge amid the churning of Weiner's
self-conscious intellect and self-deprecating sense of humor.
Weiner manages to suspend disbelief long enough to share tales of
divine wonders, a possibility in all of us."--Booklist (Starred
Review)
"Well-researched, informative and engaging, MAN SEEKS GOD is packed
with facts and wisdom that, regardless of which God you root for,
will leave what a Buddhist friend of Weiner's calls 'Post-it Notes
on the brain.'"
--Washington Post
"Winsome, self-deprecating humor marks every page."
--Publishers Weekly
"Writing about spirituality is fraught with ironies: Isn't the
divine supposed to be beyond words? How to describe the inner
landscape without sounding insane or precious? Eric Weiner's quirky
religion-hopping travelogue, MAN SEEKS GOD actually embraces these
pitfalls, while poking good-natured fun at the genre.... a
refreshing departure from more weighty spiritual tomes."
--San Francisco Chronicle
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