Becoming Wise: An Inquiry Into the Mystery and Art of Living

I had to stop reading this. I gave it fully 100 pages, but just couldn’t figure it out.

I don’t know what the point of the book is. It’s some kind of metaphysical treatise about…something. Given the title, I assume the writer was trying to explain how we develop some higher level of awareness, but I just wasn’t getting there.

I don’t even know how I came to own this book. I think maybe someone recommended it, and I was banking on it living up to its title? I have no idea how long it’s been on my bookshelf.

There were a lot of interview excerpts, weirdly. The chapter had a narrative, then an “End Notes” section where she interviewed a bunch of people about (purportedly) the topic of the chapter.

There was a point where I realized I was just looking at the words and not really comprehending anything. I kept plowing forward, but finally just gave up.

I hate quitting books like this, because I always fear there’s some amazing point lurking later in the book, and I just didn’t stick with the book long enough to find it. But whenever I get this fear, I remind myself that I usually don’t find anything amazing waiting at the end.

(Examples: Between the World and Me, The Untethered Soul, The Alchemist, Knowledge and Power, etc.)

(One weird exception where I stuck with a book and it paid off: The Reality Bubble.)

I swear, I’m still writing this “review” just because I’m desperate to gain some insight from this book, even if it’s just a meta-insight about the nature of books that I should quit reading.