Review of 'If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I am one of the people to read this book because of it being mentioned in the TV series "The Fringe". It was recommended reading to understand the relationship between Peter and Walter. I have never read a book on Psychology (the voices in my head had up until now convinced me I didn't need to) and I didn't expect to enjoy this or understand what was going on. I actually did enjoy this, I think I even understand the reason it was mentioned in the TV series, the journey is not just for the patient it is for the psychologist too.
If Sheldon B. Kopp had been born 10 years later he would have fit right in with the beat generation, his general outlook on life fits right in with them. He comes across in this book as very honest, He talks about a breakdown he had after an operation, he writes about his early patients and the journey had to being able to help them better.
This book is about taking a journey/pilgrimage, doing something life changing, i would recommend this to anybody who has been on one or is planning too, it may give you a bit of insight.
My favourite part of the book is the section where he is talking about literature which features some kind of journey, from the canterbury tales to Dante's inferno it gives you a look at a side of these stories you might never have considered before. My only wish (and this is why it only gets 4*) is that he never covered anything by Jack kerouac, the writer who has been on so many journeys, it would have been interesting to see what he thought of that.
I really enjoyed this book and glad I gave it a chance.
Blog post is here> felcherman.wordpress.com/2018/08/05/if-you-meet-the-buddha-on-the-road-kill-him-the-pilgrimage-of-psychotherapy-patients-by-sheldon-b-kopp/