Interview with Brendan Kelly, author of The Doctor Who Sat for a Year
Brendan Kelly, author of The Doctor Who Sat for a Year was very kind to answer some questions for me and to include some very interesting book recommendations! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Brendan's book The Doctor Who Sat for a Year:
Review from Book Depository: As a psychiatrist, Brendan Kelly is used to doling out prescriptions and advice. This is the story of what happened when he decided to try his own medicine and take up meditation for a year. The Doctor Who Sat for a Year is a funny, thoughtful and inspiring book about embracing both mediation and our imperfections.
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The Doctor Who Sat for a Year
Buy On:
Book Depository €12.44
Waterstones £14.99
Amazon UK £10.49
Amazon US $10.49
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
My favourite thought-provoking book of all time is The Lady and the Monk by Pico Iyer. I read it in 1992 and it inspired me to go to Japan the following year. It also ignited a love of foreign travel: Japan, China, Russia, India. I've kept up with Iyer's work ever since then, including this years Autumn Light, another meditation on Japan.
The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto
Review From Book Depository: After meeting the well-educated wife of a Japanese "salaryman, " Iyer fashions "a beautifully written book about someone looking for ancient dreams in a strange modern place" (LA Times Book Review)--one that is both a portrait of cross cultural infatuation--and misunderstanding--and a fresh way of seeing the old and the new Japan.
Buy On:
Book Depository €12.53 Waterstones £11.99 Amazon UK £10.04 Amazon US $12.23(All links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells
Review From Book Depository: For decades now, Pico Iyer has been based for much of the year in Nara, Japan, where he and his Japanese wife, Hiroko, share a two-room apartment. But when his father-in-law dies suddenly, calling him back to Japan earlier than expected, Iyer begins to grapple with the question we all have to live with: how to hold on to the things we love, even though we know that we and they are dying.
Buy On:
Book Depository €16.60 Waterstones £20.00 Amazon UK £14.99 Amazon US $18.57(All links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
I recently read The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path by Ethan Nichtern. Nichtern is a superb teacher of Buddhism in the modern world: engaged, committed and pragmatic. He is also very wise and humble - two qualities central to Buddhism
The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path
Review From Book Depository: In this wise and witty invitation to Buddhist meditation, Ethan Nichtern, a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, investigates the journey each of us takes to find where we belong. Drawing from contemporary research on meditation and mindfulness and from his experience as a teacher and practitioner of Buddhism, Nichtern describes in fresh language the basic existential experience that gives rise to spiritual seeking--and its potentially dangerous counterpart, spiritual materialism.
Buy On:
Book Depository €10.92 Waterstones £12.99 Amazon UK £7.99 Amazon US $9.99(All links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
The Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle. I loved Sherlock Holmes as a child. I wanted to be a detective and solve complicated puzzles using only logic and thought! I visited London, saw where Holmes 'lived' on Baker Street, and read all of the stories repeatedly. I enjoy them differently now, but I do still enjoy them.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Review From Book Depository: This book contains all the investigations and adventures of the world's most popular detective, Sherlock Holmes. From 'The Adventure of the Gloria Scott' to 'His Last Bow' we follow the illustrious career of this quintessential British hero from his university days to his final case. His efforts to uncover the truth take him all over the world and into conflict with all manner of devious criminals and dangerous villains, but thankfully his legendary powers of deduction, and his faithful companion Dr Watson, are more than up to the challenge.
Buy On:
Book Depository €20.75 Waterstones £19.99 Amazon UK £17.50 Amazon US $30.11(All links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
I read on paper. I have never owned a Kindle and I do not like listening to spoken words: so I do not listen to talk radio or audiobooks. I read my own book, The Doctor Who Sat For A Year, for the audiobook, but for my own reading I am deeply committed to paper.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
My favourite bookshop is Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street in Dublin. It has been a favourite place to visit for many years, and it remains a treasure house. Long may it last!
Many thanks to Brendan for recommending some great books and for his time in answering my questions about books!
Please don't forget to check out his book The Doctor Who Sat For A Year.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Gill (The Doctor Who Sat For A Year), I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd (The Lady And The Monk), Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Autumn Light), Ebury Publishing (The Road Home), Vintage Publishing (The Complete Sherlock Holmes)
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