In My Own Way: An Autobiography by Alan W. Watts - 9781577315841 - Compare Prices on New & Used Textbooks, Cheap Textbooks

In this new edition of his acclaimed autobiography — long out of print and rare until now — Alan Watts tracks his spiritual and philosophical evolution from a child of religious conservatives in rural England to a freewheeling spiritual teacher who challenged Westerners to defy convention and think for themselves. From early in this intellectual life, Watts shows himself to be a philosophical renegade and wide-ranging autodidact who came to Buddhism through the teachings of Christmas Humphreys and D. T. Suzuki. Told in a nonlinear style, In My Own Way wonderfully combines Watts’ own brand of unconventional philosophy and often hilarious accounts of gurus, celebrities, psychedelic drug experiences, and wry observations of Western culture. A charming foreword written by Watts’ father sets the tone of this warm, funny, and beautifully written story of a compelling figure who encouraged readers to “follow your own weird” — something he always did himself, as his remarkable account of his life shows.

		In My Own Way: An Autobiography by Alan W. Watts ISBN-10: 9781577315841 ISBN-10: 1-57731-584-7 ISBN-13: 9781577315841 ISBN-13: 978-1-57731-584-1 Paperback 2007-05-02 New World Library Find Lowest Price
Editorials

Product Description In this new edition of his acclaimed autobiography — long out of print and rare until now — Alan Watts tracks his spiritual and philosophical evolution from a child of religious conservatives in rural England to a freewheeling spiritual teacher who challenged Westerners to defy convention and think for themselves. From early in this intellectual life, Watts shows himself to be a philosophical renegade and wide-ranging autodidact who came to Buddhism through the teachings of Christmas Humphreys and D. T. Suzuki. Told in a nonlinear style, In My Own Way wonderfully combines Watts’ own brand of unconventional philosophy and often hilarious accounts of gurus, celebrities, psychedelic drug experiences, and wry observations of Western culture. A charming foreword written by Watts’ father sets the tone of this warm, funny, and beautifully written story of a compelling figure who encouraged readers to “follow your own weird” — something he always did himself, as his remarkable account of his life shows.
Reviews

Surprising reading Alan Watts' autobiography is an engaging read, and surprisingly easy going if you expected leaden profundity. He is also very funny, largely because he is quite unable to take himself too seriously.
quite a guy. I saw Alan Watts speak at Oklahoma University. Dressed in a suit, he began by saying that he usually war robes but said that "I'd been told I was going somewhere called 'Norman' in 'Oklahoma.'" He'd given a speech the night before and the head of the philosophy department had presented him with a list of 13 logical objections to his speech. He thought that was pretty funny and didn't even bother to reply. I recall thinking how humiliated I would be if I'd been that guy. Watts was my first introduction to Asian thought. As Buddhism became popular in America I began reading other authors who seemed to take it more seriously. For years I thought of Watts as a lightweight. When I picked up one of his essays a couple years ago I began thinking that really, his gift was his light heart. He lived quite a life. He was born in Victorian England and he died in psychedelic America. He was a sharp observer of the world and understood both places very well. He was wise enough to avoid taking an ideological position on religion. He was a guy who was way out there living life just as it was. Anyone intersted in a breezy history of the counterculture will find this book a fascinating read.
Highly entertaining and a nice compliment to his other work If you have any interest in Alan Watt's writing, you will enjoy reading his autobiography. He is a great storyteller and this book contains some of this most funny stories. I found myself laughing out loud in many sections. One of the most memorable stories for me was his recounting of a game he used to play called, "you are the target." In this game, you shoot an arrow up in the air and measure how close it lands to you. This was done in the context of adolescent competition and Watts brings this spirit and fearlessness of youth alive. Alan Watts had a great sense of humor and was a deep thinker. He also had a gift for analogy and getting his points across with rich prose. This book represents some of his best writing in terms of vulnerability, openness and reflecting on his own life. It may or may not be very accurate, but it is certainly quite entertaining. I also found that this was a good book to get a sense of the context for various other books that Alan Watts wrote over the course of his life. I have found some to be better than others, but all of them to be useful in some ways. My favorite books by Alan Watts are the WAY OF ZEN, THE WISDOM OF INSECURITY and THE BOOK. Some of his later books, I found to be of lower quality, but he was in the zone when he wrote the three above. NATURE, MAN and WOMAN was also quite good and there is a lot of humor and deep insights throughout.
Superb autobiography This is the finest autobiography I have read. Watts was a master of prose and many of the paragraphs in this work are memorable for their lyrical beauty. He was a very complex human being and does a frank job of highlighting his imperfections. Whatever missteps he took, though, he had a tremendous amount of wisdom to share. An added bonus to this book is that it gives the reader a vicarious introduction to many of the intellectual luminaries of the 20th century, many of whom were close friends of Watts.
a courageous and original mind Though I was skeptical when handed this book - I am neither into religion nor do I desire to have a hip-zen lifestyle in Southern California - I was immediately drawn in to the way this amazing man's life unfolded. Early on, he set out to be an independent intellectual, constantly learning and living in his "own way." He succeeded, in spite of the odds, on the terms that he set out for himself. This was deeply inspiring to me, and it turned out that despite the surface differences of interest, Alan Watts had a lot to say about the choices one makes in life and how to go about living. The book is also filled with details that are as fascinating as they are hilarious. A friend of his youth made a pilgrimage to a famous and ancient monastery, which he discovered was "an elaborate homosexual organization." Though he lacked a university degree, Watts was allowed to study at Northwestern, which he described as "the type of place where philosphers worked from 9 to 5." Later, in LA, he hung out with Aldous Huxley, experimenting with hallucinogens, beating drums all night long, and listening to the incredible rhythm of that brilliant man's speech, which he says arrested all conversation in entire restaurants. The list goes on and on. Warmly recommended.