Compared to the other book of his I read (The Art of Happiness at Work , which I have to add here yet. I really liked that one.), this one was really a letdown. It was not bad; it just was not as engaging. Lukewarm would be a good way to describe it. I think I was expecting more of the Dalai Lama's points of view and thoughts and less on the biographical/travel details. Anyways, I am sure the book would be good for some people, but I would probably recommend other works by the Dalai Lama rather than this one. ( )

This is a collection of "Intimate Conversations & Journeys" with the Dalai Lama by Victor Chan.

It's about compassion, humanity, forgiveness, and mindful thought. There are parts of conversations with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandala, and Oprah.

Through it all, there is the underlying friendship and conversations between the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, which was how this book came to be written. ( )

A view of the Dalai Lama as a man and a long-practicing monk, the only two ways he characterizes himself. Victor Chan, the co-author, tells the story of his visits and conversations with the Dalai Lama. Overall, the book is about a man with deep compassion and immeasurable forgiveness. ( )

I tend to be pretty wary of the "The Dalai Lama discusses Buddhism and Your Workplace Problems/Anger Management Issues/Fear of Committment" books, because they've always struck me as being more about big $$$ instead of Buddhist philosophy. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised by this volume, the content of which is only tangentially related to its title. For the most part Wisdom is a series of slice-of-life vingettes of the Dalai Lama's travels and everyday routines interspersed with transcriptions of Chan's conversations with His Holiness.

I commend Chan on his decision to transcribe these conversations verbatim, instead of "correcting" the Dalai Lama's English (a la Laird's The Story of Tibet). Thanks to this decision, readers get a sense of the man as a unique individual with his own thoughts and outlook instead of some smiling Buddhist mascot dispensing New Agey platitudes. This in turn stands the book in good stead during its culminating chapters, in which Chan describes the Dalai Lama's brush with a severe illness contracted during a pilgrimage to India; even though readers are well aware (given Wisdom's publication date) that His Holiness recovered, these passages are still tense and moving.

Unfortunately, Chan does employ one of my biggest pet peeves in [Name of Famous Person] with [Name of Not Famous Person] books; namely, instead of frankly acknowledging his position of access as the Dalai Lama's coauthor, he pretends like he's simply some cosmically lucky Everyman who somehow happens to constantly meet with a series of happy coincidences. "There I was, minding my own business in the hotel lobby when Desmond Tutu just happened to drop by and invite me to sit with him at a dinner attended by the world's living Nobel Laureates. Who could ever have seen that coming?!" Uh, your publicist, perhaps?

Still, this is a small quibble in one of the better books with the Dalai Lama that overall manages to stay clear of the tendency to "cutesify" its subject. Readers looking for insight into the Dalai Lama's mind could do far worse.

Great insight into a man revered for his work in promoting peace, not only among peope and nations but provides strategies for achieving peace of mind. Some concepts in this process hard to fathom. ( )