I've had this at home for years and decided to give it a go for my yearly "cleaning". That means trying at least 10% of the books I've had at home/on Kindle/Audible or on my TBR for a long time.

It was nice, I felt good listening to some of the Buddhist teachings. It's an interview between the author, Howard Cutler, and Dalai Lama XIV. Some of the things discussed were common sense but some made me consider changing my mentality.

Howard Cutler, a psychiatrist, does several interviews with the Dalai Lama, and then writes this book. Umm ... I was underwhelmed. I do appreciate what the Dalai Lama teaches, but this book didn't really live up to the hype. If you know absolutely nothing about the Dalai Lama, you might get a starter course from this book. But for me, it wasn't anything new. I think part of the problem was Howard. I felt that he was a bit silly at times, and shallow at others, and just irritating most of the tim...

DNF @ 15%I mistakenly thought this was a book by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is listed as one of the authors - or the only authors in some book databases - but it is not. This book was written by Howard C. Cutler, a psychiatrist, who spent one week with the Dalai Lama, and then used his interviews with the Dalai Lama as a basis for this book.Now, once I found out that I was mislead by the book, I still wanted to read on and see what the author had to say. Unfortunately, I was quickly put of...

Despite the 'author' being the Dalia Lama, this book was actually written by a Western Psychologist named Howard Cutler. It is mostly presented as interviews or meetings between himself and the Dalai Lama. I really enjoyed the segments that were pure quotes from the Dalai Lama, but found myself constantly frustrated by Cutler's questions and (obviously inserted after-the-fact) 'summaries' of the responses. I would paraphrase the entire book like this:Cutler -- "So what can every person do to be ...

Dalai Lama believes in fundamental goodness in all human beings, in the value of compassion and kindness, and a sense of commonality among all living creatures.Happiness is determined more by one's state of mind than by external events.Excessive desire leads to greed, which leads to frustration, disappointment, problems and unhappiness. True antidote of greed is contentment - to appreciate what we already have.Relationships are not about just knowing people and superficial exchange, but to reall...

The Moms was watching a movie that was so filled with awkward and embarrassing social interaction that I cast desperately about me for something else to do. Near at hand was "The Art of Happiness" by Dolly and some doctor guy. I picked it up and began to read. I'm about half-way through (guess I'm 50% enlightened) and it's really quite good. Except for the parts that are stupid or wrong. The problem is not so much what the Big D has to say, but the doctor guy's interpretation or amplification. T...

This book always brings me a lot of peace when I read it. It calms me down and puts me at ease. I actually bought this book for josh but spent a lot of time reading it myself and its very enjoyable remind you about all the little good things in life and about what really matters.

This is a book that has to be read slowly and with determination, with many pauses for looking-off-into-the-distance-deep-in-thought. It is not BY the Dalai Lama so much as it is about the Dalai Lama, interviews with him, thoughts on his beliefs and practices. It took me a long time to get through, but I really enjoyed it. I think that if everyone tried to fit a little Buddhism into their lives (not a little Buddhist, but a little BuddhISM), we would all be much calmer and happier, more patient ...

I love the Dalai Lama and everything he says in this book. However, Cutler's input mostly detracts from the teachings of the Dalai Lama. At best, he makes small, often insignificant links between the Dalai Lama's point and western science. Like how he made the connection between Buddhism's idea of training the mind to the scientific idea of "plasticity" which proves that, indeed, you can train the mind. Was that ever really a question though? I didn't need to be convinced of that... At worst, he...

This book is actually written by a psychiatrist and includes extensive interviews with the Dalai Lama about how to be a generally happier person. Parts of the book are really great, and a couple of sections are a little bland, mostly depending on what questions the author is asking. The Dalai Lama's amazing traits come across throughout, however. His pragmatic, logical, and yet also spiritual approach to everything.