Saturday, September 24, 2022

The Half-Known Life: In Search of Paradise by Pico Iyer

 

Where truly does paradise lie? What does it even mean? Part travelog, part rumination, Iyer visits the most spiritual places in the world – the high plains of Ladakh, Varanasi, in India, Iran, Jerusalem, Sri Lanka, the holy Japanese mountain, Koyasan – to unearth the meaning of paradise. “Paradise could seem the cruelest notion of all if it meant pretending that the real world didn’t exist,” says Iyer in his deeply affecting book. With his signature searching and soothing voice, Iyer proves to be a trusted companion, brilliantly balancing nuggets of philosophy against descriptions of breathtaking and memorable places the world over.