Books on Buddhism risk getting mired in the Buddhist laundry lists (8 of these, 51 of those, 36 of these…). This book meanders through them and I found myself forgetting where we were going quite a bit. Red-blooded American men interested in exploring Buddhism: be prepared for phrases like ‘renewing your flowerness’. It’s a bit unecessarily political, perhaps, to go with the time in which it was written, e.g. manufacturing ammo and being a butcher are wrong livelihood, but no mention of performing abortions. Whatever. In fairness, he does criticize violence and sex in Hollywood. Treatment of the 8-fold path is clearer in this book, in my opinion, than in some other books I’ve read, so it’s helpful if you want more perspective on that. Time might have been better spent meditating.