I keep wondering how much more detailed this memoir would have been if Smith had started writing it several years ago -- or if, perhaps, he were less modest. He is a fascinating, charming, very humanistic person who has lived an incredible life, one which would have easily filled out a memoir four or five times the length of this and remained interesting. But these anecdotes merely provide a graceful outline of his life; they don't dig into the details which would have taken it from "interesting" to "compelling."

Still, this memoir is well worth reading. As a student of comparative religion myself, I most enjoyed the second half, when he wrote about his spiritual explorations, including deep, decade-long dives into Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, his late-arriving exploration of indigenous religions (leading to a re-write of his major work), and even of entheogens as part of the spiritual journey.

There is a great deal of wisdom in the second half of the book, and I highlighted many passages, and shared many of them to my FB page. They will be worth returning to for more contemplation. ( )

The late Huston Smith was one of the great scholars of religion and the philosophy of religion. An explorer of spirituality and convert to the perennial philosophy of Aldous Huxley, he was also one of the clearest writers on complex subjects. This work should be compared to the excellent biography of Smith by Dana Sawyer, entitled 'Wisdomkeeper'. ( )

This book was not at all what I expected. Huston Smith is a very interesting man and this is a wonderful book and comes from him at the age of 90! ( )

This book was not at all what I expected. Huston Smith is a very interesting man and this is a wonderful book and comes from him at the age of 90! ( )

Six-word review: Comparative religionist examines what shaped him.

Extended review:

For an autobiography of anyone, this personal history is short. For a man of (then) nearly ninety to tell his story in under two hundred printed pages seems remarkable. All the more so when the man is Huston Smith, a world-renowned scholar, traveler, author, and teacher in the field of comparative religion, and one who has a considerable appetite for being recognized and admired. So I must begin by awarding bonus points for keeping it brief, crisp, and relevant, with only a modest helping of self-indulgence and very little repetition.

Born into an evangelical Christian family as the son of American missionaries to China, young Huston was exposed to a variety of Eastern and Western religious practices from childhood onward. At sixteen he came to the U.S. to attend college and remained as a permanent resident. As a student he came under the influence of a mentor who encouraged and broadened his thinking in religious studies.

The hallmark of his career is first-hand experience: he didn't just learn about various spiritual traditions but joined them and followed their disciplines and teachings himself for significant periods of time. He was thus able to write about them in The World's Religions and other works from the inside rather than as an academic onlooker and impartial analyst.

The book is structured in two timelines: Smith's personal chronology and his spiritual journey, both depicted with rigorous selectivity through representative sketches rather than exhaustive detail. The two are intertwined but distinct. Together they deliver a moving account of how he came to be a celebrated expert on comparative religion as well as a fulfilled and self-realized individual. We detect some vanity here and a touch of false modesty, but we also see frank admission of error and an inextinguishable ardor for ever greater enlightenment. His narrative, if unapologetic, is also unsparing: he openly admits shortcomings of self-involvement and self-importance that for a time dangerously blinded him to the needs of those closest to him. Once seen, his personal failings are not defended but amended. One hardly thinks that any person could achieve the heights of accomplishment that he has reached without some personal cost.

I have met and spoken with Huston Smith on several occasions: decades ago when he taught a day-long class at Berkeley Extension; during the nineties, when he spoke at a zendo where I was a member; and, most recently, in 2004, when he appeared as a lecturer at East/West Books in Mountain View. In all cases and even (at the last of those times) when he had largely lost the power of speech, he radiated a contagious enthusiasm for his subject and a consuming excitement with the uplift of spiritual understanding. He has known real tragedy in his life, and now, at 95, he lives with considerable physical impairment, and yet his prevailing worldview appears to remain one of confident optimism in celebration of the infinitely faceted jewel of life.

When it comes to inspiration, I'm a hard sell, skeptical, resistant, not readily affected by anything calculated to move, lure, or seduce. I'm also a committed atheist with no place in my life for dogma and empty ritual. Yet I found myself drawn in by Smith's narrative, touched by the authenticity of his experience and, in spite of myself, uplifted by his joyous conviction.

On page 75 he says, "Now I am writing my memoirs, the book you have in your hands, and after it is finished I have still one more book up my sleeve. Stay tuned for what comes next." I'll stay tuned.
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