An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living - Becoming Wise

Thoughtful, inspiring and filled with clarity and passion. A must read for all seekers. There are no answers but invites you to explore diverse spiritual and humanistic paths with the able guidance of Krista Tippet and her guests.

This book is full of wonderful wisdom about life and friends and living with purpose and listening. I highly recommend it for any reader who wants to expand their mind or deepen their understanding of all life.

As with all Krista Tippett's efforts, this is exceptional, a very useful essay that provokes thought, inquiry and encouragement to further one's spiritual progress...the best hope for living peaceably on Earth.

Krista Tippett writes an engaging book studying 5 words/concepts, exploring them through personal story, reflection and narratives from her interviews. Becoming Wise is a door into more refined enlightenment as we move through this time of transition. Well written and engaging. We are using it for an adult Sunday School class. There is both depth and clarity as she explores the 5 words/concepts from a variety of angles.

I loved being able to hear interviews in the voices of the interviewed in the deluxe version. I especially appreciated the chapters on love and hope that came out of the struggles of different peoples' lives.

I am enjoying this book immensely, however the discussion about religion and faith has me, at times, gnashing my teeth. Perhaps this is one of the factors in reading this book that I find so rewarding-it is getting me think about ideas I find difficult. The Jewish story about the foundation of the world and humanity I found especially involving in that to correct the ills of the world one must start with the world in close proximity to us, in other words the man in the mirror. I haven't finished it yet but it is, to my thinking, a worthwhile read.

Probably closer to 3.5. I love Krista Tippett. Her mind and her thinking are so alive. Admit that some of the discussion was at times maybe too mysterious for me. Am looking at her "Einstein's God" now for purchase

Krista Tippett, the host of public radio’s On Being, weaves threads of her own story with sizable clips of interviews from the show to offer us a rich vision of what it might look like for us to become wise in the twenty-first century. This book is especially recommended for those who yearn for something deeper than the daily grind of consumerism in which we are all too often ensnared. Tippett helps us loosen our bonds and imagine a more meaningful and more elegant way of life.

If you are considering buying this for Kindle on Android, be prepared to constantly see: there is content here not available on your device. I would have appreciated this being made clear in the main description of the Kindle edition of this (otherwise very good) book.

A bestseller that confirms my preference for avoiding bestsellers. I did finish the book though - but not for the sake of the book but for subsequent interesting discussions in our Art of Living Meetup group. Some thoughts…

It is a book about wisdom that doesn’t even attempt to address what wisdom is. It is a book about philosophy written in a stream of consciousness style, making it difficult to figure out what point the author is making. Matters are made worse by her using supporting examples that are marginally relevant or too complex to be of value. One case in point is her bringing up love to counter racism while completely ignoring racism’s complexity rooted in evolutionary biological, historical, cultural, economical and political dimensions. Yes, love can help overcome racism, but just as a soothing compress and loving care is good for many illnesses, they alone will not cure cholera or cancer unless the root causes are understood and treated. This is just one of many examples.

It is a book that conflates statements of the numerous highly accomplished interviewees with that of the author – giving an impression of the author attempting to bask in the glow of the interviewees. That perception is strengthened by numerous statements, arguments or assumptions that the author makes in areas where she is obviously not knowledgeable. One case in point is her citing Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence equation (E=mc2) to point out that a discussion can be had about whether or not advances in mathematics are inventions or discoveries. The problem is that Einstein’s equation is not mathematics but physics; in this case physics using mathematical tools to represent a relationship. Such lapses severely undercut her credibility even in areas where she is knowledgeable.

I also find her views somewhat insular in nature. But since this is her only book I have read, and since no single book can be expected to cover all aspects of a complex issue, I am happy to be corrected. However, all in all, this book lacks both depth and focus.

I listened to "Becoming Wise" as an audio book. Ms. Tippett reads her own words and there are snippets from interviews with the people she talks to on the various topics. If you've listened of "On Being" her podcast then this format will feel very comfortable and familiar. Some of the passages are truly dense with nuanced meaning and required this listener to back up and hear again, sometimes several times. Some people have expressed a bit of frustration with the level at which the idea sharing is taking place. It's not you, it's that the brilliant people Krista talks with are super careful with the conveyance of their ideas and choose sometimes heady phraseology to precisely respond to insightful questions. It's worth it to go back and wade through to ride those thought waves back into the home beach. Within the people she's quoted or talked to in these pages are nugget after nugget of pure gold.

My favorite chapter was the last one on Hope. Especially these days. People who actively practice hope are who the globe needs to help help pave the way out of our various dilemmas. A distinction is made between pure optimism and practiced hope allowing plenty of room for hope's champions to be taken more seriously than mainstream media, corporate creed and most political pursuits would have us believe is possible we should. Indeed it is through the valiancy of hope's best practitioners that real change gets made. Martin Luther King, Jr. is an excellent example.

So purchase, read or listen and prepare to feel better about your own chances to help make this a better life and a better world. Let these many minds inspire you to reach higher and jump back into your life already in progress with renewed hope and understanding of the insights and challenges of every other change-making dreamer you'll be better prepared to recognize all over the place!

Becoming Wise is a book that takes a unique approach to understanding spirituality and meaning. The author is someone who is committed to finding meaning and beauty everywhere. She mines these things not simply through solitary reflection but through the lives and stories of remarkable people from around the world. These people overturn the common narrative of the community they belong to. An evangelical environmentalist, a paleontologist/monastic, a physicist and Buddhist monk, an international conflict-mediator/poet. It is rare to find someone that is serious about finding deeper meaning and beauty everywhere. It is rare to find someone that is interested in the intersection of spirituality and other academic disciplines. Someone who questions the hard boundary lines we have placed around various arenas of conventional wisdom. She looks deeper into the things we think we know and asks questions of value and being. I find I can relate to her in that I am passionately curious as well, I believe that the world can improve, and that it is more beautiful and complex than we realize.

I will say at times in her attempt to break down big concepts it can be a lot to take in and I would probably have liked it better reading it instead of listening to it through audiobook so I could read it slower and understand it better. As well the thing that it's strength, taking bite-sized big ideas from interesting people, could also be something people won't like. It's like a cliff-notes of a wide variety of ideas and disciplines. That is another reason why I would say reading it would be better, so you can more easily look up people interviewed that have hard to spell names. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the deeper questions of life and interested to hear the stories of people who think and live differently and beautifully.

I love the author's interviews and listen carefully to them via her podcast. I appreciate her thoughtful curation of subjects and how she proceeds in them to sublimely delve into the deep aspects of how to live. So, I was very excited to delve into some distillations of her learning, but I found her writing to stand in the way. Firstly, let me say that my review is of her audiobook. Specifically, her choice of esoteric words in many sentences is akin to driving down a very very bumpy road at excessive speed: it's jarring and distracts from her work to communicate with the reader. Many, perhaps most of her sentences from chapter one seem pulled out of the conclusion of some story that we aren't seeing. Thus, even if she gets to that later, she is starting on the wrong foot. This work needs a lot more work by her and her editors to make this shine. I know she has brilliance that she can bring to this project, and I hope she keeps working at this, but this work is premature.

For years, I have known Krista Tippett, author and broadcaster, as the nationally revered creator of On Being, a forum for social justice, and winner of the Peabody Award.

In her most recent publication, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living (2016) distills the views of her conversation partners, all of whom, like Krista, are on a spiritual quest.

Tippett’s first lines announce her intent: “I’m a person who listens for a living. I listen for wisdom, and beauty and for voices not shouting to be heard.” The thoughts of persons on the other side of her listening ear are grouped into four divisions: Words, Flesh, Love, Faith and Hope.

In my opinion, the book lives up to its blurb: “The book is a master class in living, curated by Tippet and accompanied by a delightfully ecumenical dream team of teaching faculty.”

These teaching “faculty” are disparate in views but single-minded in purpose. Among them are interviewees like John Paul Lederach, Professor at the University of Notre Dame, Mennonite in background; Parker Palmer of “Let Your Life Speak” fame, Brene Brown, American scholar/researcher and public speaker; Reza Aslan, who declares that “religion is not faith, it is the story of faith.”

I captured two quotes in my journal, one on aspiration, and the other on travel:

Aspiration: “Later I discovered that you have to have this sense of faith that what you’re moving toward is already done. It’s already happened . . . and live as if you’re already there, that you’ve already in the community, part of that sense of one family, one house.”
(Tippett, 111)

Travel: “I think no one who travels knows that you’re not really doing is in order to move around -- you’re traveling in order to be moved. And really what you are seeing is not just the Grand Canyon or the Great Wall but some moods or intimations or places inside yourself that you never ordinarily see when you’re sleepwalking through your daily life. (Pico Iyer, 196)

On the occasion of Tippett’s receiving the National Humanities Medal the White House, President Obama spoke then what this book reflects now: “thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence.”

I see boomers all around me struggling to understand where they belong, how they will make a living and who will care for them as they age, as well as how to make sense of the tumultuous, political upheaval worldwide. We need wise voices like Tippett's to help us find clarity, peace of mind, and MEANING... Enabling us to step fearlessly forward, confident that love and community will embrace and protect us. I gifted this book to many friends - it is the gift of life and hope...