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Rating: 
Summary: Leftovers Again...
Review: I was expecting something special after reading the review on "Zen Soup" but was sorely disappointed to recieve only another compilation of witty one-liners from apparently every man who ever felt he had something to say. (The usual six women also made the cut; Mother Theresa, Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc.) Henry Ford is quoted almost as often as Buddha. (What does that tell you...) There is a summary at the beginning of each chapter telling how these quotes relate to a Zen concept but the relationships are simplistic and the majority of the quotes are worn thin (ie. "What you see is what you get"....Flip Wilson.) Quotes are a wonderful, quick way of seeing the world from a new perspective, but labelling this book "Zen Soup" (instead of perhaps, "Yet More Cool Quotes From Smart People") seems like a quick way to make a buck.
Rating: 
Summary: An enlightening blow to the head!
Review: Laurence G. Boldt has put together a first class selection of quotes from a wide range of famous men and women, each of them known for some kind of exceptional human achievement. As Boldt says, "the diversity of the sources highlights the timeless and universal nature of these principles", so there are many Westerners quoted aswell as more traditional Zen Eastern sources. The book is divided into 25 different sections, each of them covering a quality associated with the Zen tradition e.g. Be Here Now, Beginner's Mind, Responsibility, Compassion, Joy, Discipline, The Game Of Life, Selfless Service, Letting Go, Everyday Zen. There is a brief introduction to each quality, then a selection of associated quotes. Many readers of self-development books and spiritual ideas will be familiar with some of these sayings, but as befits the Zen emphasis, the quality and depth of these quotes really makes an impact. Some of the people quoted several times are Krishnamurti, Confucius, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Lao-Tzu, Goethe, Carl Jung, Albert Camus and texts from every major religion.
Rating:
Summary: Zen 101: Zen made fun and easy
Review: This book is all quotations from Seneca & Sun-Tzu to William Blake & Noel Coward and many more. This is one of my favorite books and I recommend it to anyone.
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