Driving to Nirvana: A Woman's Path for Drivers Without Cellular Phones

By Clarice Bryan

Offers humorous help for women who want to practice Buddhist mindfulness. Bryan drives a car - like most of us - and shares driving experiences that have helped her attain connection between herself,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892540370
• ISBN13: 9780892540372
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Nicolas-Hays
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Kinda soothing

This book is a very slim volume, and deceptively easy reading on very profound subjects. Clarice Bryan relates her experiences in driving to virtues such as teamwork, patience, tolerance, and becoming one with the world. The book is peppered with quotes from everyone from Pema Chodron to the Dalai Lama, and has Chinese calligraphic writing marking the end of each chapter. It basically has all the makings of a book that could be prominently displayed in the inspirational or self-help section. While I finished it really quickly, and would consider parts of it worth re-reading, this book does have some disconnects for me. The problems start with the subtitle: "A Woman's Path for Drivers without Cellular Phones". Most people I know can't live without their cell phones. I would count it as part of the driving experience, and why would it matter, exactly? The book doesn't really cover phones or the lack of them at all, and I think it would have been less confusing without the phrase "Without Cellular Phones". And although Clarice Bryan clearly states that she'd like to address woman drivers in her book because they get less help than men, I didn't get very much of that out of "Driving to Nirvana". In the book she talks about her driving and her mother's driving, but says little about how her driving is best related to women's driving in general; how women's driving differs from men's driving, or what women should really know about driving - which I'm sure all women (me included!) would be fairly interested to know. She does talk about being a speed demon but surely that doesn't gel with the stereotype of the inept woman driver? And while I enjoyed reading about Bryan's experiences in driving - giving way for lane changes, and not going so; driving on automatic to the airport while engaged in intense conversation; even going through an accident - the trouble with driving is that most people do it so often and so unconsciously that it's hard to think concretely of how it can be related to the bigger picture of enhancing oneself and thinking positive thoughts. Bryan tries to make the connection, but driving is probably so automatic for most readers that I don't think they are going to "get it", except perhaps with the last chapter (more later). The other point of contention I have with the book are the pages on Chinese calligraphy, which do loosely translate into English as in the captions. The problem is that I could more or less read what was written, and thought it was a cultural misuse of calligraphy. Calligraphy is normally done in traditional Chinese rather than simplified Chinese, and it is usually about something positive or uplifting - a lot of what was written should never have appeared in Chinese mainly because it's so negative and/or reprehensible. Sometimes it was funny. Sometimes it just seemed irrelevant. "Black and white mean the police" (for example is much too mundane, even if the caption reads "Get the binoculars out, hon

This book should be on the DMV's required reading list!

"Driving to Nirvana" is a refreshing and well written alternative to having to struggle through life's highways on our own. Dr. Bryan provides us with a reader friendly, humorous and practical guide to help us navigate the inevitable inward and outward paths most of us face in our daily lives. Get two copies, one for the home and a second one to keep in your car to entertain and help you maintain your sanity during those long traffic-logged "mini-vacations!" This book should be required reading by the DMV!