Non-Fiction Book Reviews

Book Review: You Don't Have to be Buddhist to Know Nothing

By Sandy Amazeen Nov 16, 2009, 1:29 GMT

" \'Nothing\' is the force that renovates the World." --EMILY DICKINSON "I love talking about nothing....It is the only thing I know anything about." --OSCAR WILDE"Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being like a worm." --JEAN-PAUL SARTRE"Who in this world has not felt the power of this: a nothing!"--VICTOR HUGOWhether a subject of dread or of fascination, nothing (often spelled with a capital "N") has intrigued writers, philosophers, and ...more

Conceived for the sound -byte generation, this anthology of quips and quotes exalts the virtues of Nothing. Based on the concept that Everything comes out of a state of Nothing, it follows then, that Nothing is a vital part of the universe and our consciousness. Attaining a state of nothingness, shedding the ego is a part of Buddhist theology but pertains to all. Divided into eleven chapters, the quotes come from philosophers and deep thinkers across the ages including such notables as Franz Kafka, T.S. Eliot, Edward Abbey, Winston Churchill and Seneca.

Each carefully selected quote represents an attempt to demonstrate that you can’t have Everything without Nothing, not an easy idea for many people to grasp but in the words of Antoine De Saint-Exupery, “In silence alone does a man’s truth bind itself together and strike root.”