Siddhartha

An extremely inspirational book. Truly loved how this book broke down the concept of Oneness at the end. The author’s bio at the end was just as interesting:)

This book was recommended to me by a friend of mine. I was hesitant at first, but Im glad I gave it a chance. Many life lessons to be learned on human nature. From our desires to learn and explore the world at a young age and seek knowledge, to getting lost in the pleasure of power, material things and sex, this book covers it all. It also shows the many levels of changes we go through as we learn about ourselves and the world. And finally finding your true purpose and fully embarrassing it. It was a great read and I would recommend Siddhartha to anyone looking to seek a deeper meaning of life.

When I was in my mid-teens Siddartha was a coming of age journey about the search and discovery of what might be down the more difficult path. As a teacher I used this book for many years ( the discovery of sex had to be glossed over of course) to take both young men and women on the journey to find out who they were and what maybe they would like to be given the strictures of parental morality and public school dishonesty. This book I sent as a gift to someone who has taken many journeys, none of which led to that `ah ha` moment. They feel as if there is no tomorrow, and no more inviting pathways. The person is in their mid-40s. I am hoping that Mr. Hesses short novel can rekindle in this person the curiosity they once had about their unfolding world, and hope that through Siddartha that they can rekindle the hope required to take on a new difficult road with an open mind ready to take in new possibilities. Dr. Tim Scully

A very good book for a person searching for meaning. The book resonated well with me and i felt that it took me along a new search during its reading. I must wait some time and read it again, and I suggest you do to.

I loved this book. Definitely gave me Alchemist (Paul Coelho) vibes...another book I also love. Lots of life lessons. Great story.

Siddhartha is a classic. It is for the thoughtful not for the light reader. I first read this in high school in the 70s and have read it several times since. I will not talk about the plot or characters. Both are well developed. It is the message of the book that matters and why this book has persisted for so many years. It isnt a long book. You can probably finish it in an evening.

Siddhartha is a classic novel of a journey of self discovering by Hermann Hesse. Originally published in 1922, it was first published in the US in 1951, and because of its theme of self discovery, became a touchstone during the 60s. I would be a fool to try and delve in to the intricacies of the book - way beyond my ken, but the one page that stood out for me was when Siddhartha realizes that because he was so focused on searching, he neglected to do any finding. He was so wrapped up in the goal that he couldnt see what was really around him. That revelation just resonated with me more than any other. But regardless of what you take from the book, I just found it really interesting to read, with some revelation on every page. If you havent read it, give it a go. Youll know pretty quickly if its a book you will like.

There appears to be many versions available for the Kindle. I can only comment on this version that I have read on my DX. The translation appears to be excellent and in the true spirit of the lyrical style of the novel. However, I noticed a few minor issues. First, there were a number of instances where the translator used the incorrect word (e.g. woman vs. women and want vs. went), but it did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the novel. Second, the other problem I noticed was with formatting. It did not appear to be optimally formatted for viewing on the screen. I had to adjust the text and I could not eliminate gaps in many sentences. There are no links to the various chapters. Overall, this is a great book to own for your Kindle at a great price!

This is literature in the Mark Twain sense, a book I want to have read but dont want to read. First off, I want to mention that the translation I got was abysmal. When I first started reading I though it might be like the Spanish in For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is translated directly rather than idiomatically so you knew when they were speaking Spanish instead of English. Like How are you called? instead of Whats your name? But as I read on it was obviously not that. This wasnt someone writing in German but trying to convey the feel of Maghadi Prakrit, or whatever language would have been spoken where the story took place. No, it was someone who has a horrible grasp of English translating the original text. Badly translating, and not being edited AT ALL. Seriously, there were even points where the translators notes to the editor were left in, in German, with some words he cannot decide on the correct translation for. The left them in, in a different font and bracketed to make them obvious. The grammar was not just bad, but inconsistently so. The same sentence would be repeated in the same context and the verb tense would change. Commas would, randomly, be, placed so that they made no, sense. And the word choice was so bad that no subtlety of meaning was conveyed anywhere. In case Amazon smooshes this review in with reviews for all versions, mine was the paperback with the green cover and gold Siddhartha on top and Herman Hesse in green on a gold stripe along the bottom. If you insist on reading this book dont buy this version. As for the book itself, ignoring the fact that it was translated by someone for whom English was probably not their primary language, I thought it was awful. I always heard stories about how it changed peoples lives, changed their view of the world, and the like, so I guess I had too grand of an expectation. Im giving it three stars because, for some reason, lots of people seem to like it so Im obviously out of the mainstream. But I threw my copy in the recycle bin rather than give it to a friend, I thought it was such a stupid story. The story is very linear. It is stilted, contrived storytelling at best. Without throwing in spoilers, you have to suspend belief to understand that characters and events all happen (even decades apart) at the exact time and exact place with the exact people you know. There would be absolutely no reason for many of these coincidences, and theyre obviously just a plot device. The philosophy is similarly contrived. Its the story of the son of a priest who wanders around what I assume is Maghada (because thats where Buddha attained enlightenment) trying on different lives until he finds his own enlightenment. Hes an amazingly crappy, selfish, small minded, self centered, awful human being. He has no control over himself, even though he was supposed to have been an ascetic. He has no regard for anyone else, either. The story assumes that you have to be lustful if you engage in commerce, that you have to be evil if you are part of the material world, and that the only path to true spiritual enlightenment takes a lifetime void of any practical applications. Even after setting up all these straw men, it is still not compelling in how it tries to knock them down. Im sorry to say it, but you cant have a billion beggars and expect everyone to get fed. The people looked down upon, called children (though confusingly so as its bad in one context but childlike in the context of the Buddha is a good thing -- I think that was the horrible translation) and worse pejoratives, are the only reason those shaven headed beggars had rice in their bowls and an ex whores pleasure garden to sleep in. Those children are viewed as lesser animals because the hero of the story couldnt love himself, couldnt stop gambling, abandoned his pregnant whore girlfriend and future son, and decided to sit beside a river and row a boat for a couple of freaking decades to think. Somehow this special dude, this guy who listened to the water for 20 years before he finally thought of something came to the same conclusion that every damned stoner burnout in the parking lot of a Dead show worked out the first time the dropped a tab and listened to American Beauty at the age of 19. God is everywhere, Everything is connected, blah blah... I suppose if youre 15, or you really havent read anything too deep, and you dont know anyone from anywhere other than your tiny town, this is mind bending. If you read Jonathon Swift and though he just wrote a book about a dude who got to see giants and tiny people, Siddhartha is just about your speed. If you honestly think he wanted the Irish to eat their babies, then Siddhartha will totally wrinkle your brain. If you understand allegory, farce, or metaphor, skip this one and move on to something written for adults.

Sometimes You just want to take action After Reading a book. I know I’m Reading a great book When IT triggers me to think About My own life and to think about What new things I want to do or experience. This book Really Give me the desire to find happiness in small things. It gave me a desire to slow down a bit and look at ordenary things with childlike quriosity. I just wanted to meditate and write and become extremely happy after Reading This book. I wish I Read IT earlier.