Meant for a general audience, this is a sincere, good-natured plea for better behavior by all people in all positions, citing the fact that all people want to be happy and to avoid suffering. ( )

My book was by the well known Dalai Lama. It was called Ethics for a New Millennium and is about a spiritual revolution. The Dalai Lama does not try to sound one sided but speaks of all religions. He gives many theories of how we can all achieve happiness and therefore peace and backs every one of these theories with either a personal example or world wide known example. I thought it was a good book with great points, but the format was very annoying to me.
This connects with our theme of Search for Self by the Dalai Lama talking about how to find happiness within ourselves. Through out the book he speaks of spiritual revolutions in happiness. When we find happiness we find ourselves and spiritually religion can help us achieve this.
I thought this book was goodok. He says a lot of good ideas and is very wise but the format of the book was terribly boring to me. I feel like things were worded more than they needed to be, such as saying a simple sentence took a good five pages because he really wanted to get his point across. I understood and knew what he was trying to say every time though for I have thought of many of these pursuits in happiness and so it was very boring to read the same thing again and pointlessly. Also the average chapter was 10-15 pages which made the reading harder to read for it bore me and I love taking breaks at chapters.

Required reading for the practice of humanity. ( )

Rather like dancing in a new club to strange music you've always avoided, there is always a bit of shame involved in coming to terms with yourself. And it's almost a cliche that this is what Eastern Philosophy does to us out here in the West.

Nevertheless, within 30 pages, the Dalai Lama has created with precise and accessible language, a framework for understanding those things that seem ever to torment us: the divide between religion and spirituality, the mystery of causation and existence, the quandries of material progress and scientific achievement amid depression, stress and anxiety. You'd hardly believe such things could be negotiated so quickly and effortlessly, but that is a Western sucker's bet, and this genius of a man has done that and so much more.

I hesitate to give any further clues as to what he writes so clearly. Yet I can assure you that upon completing this book you will feel so much more a part of the world of humanity, that you might even be ashamed at your previous distance. That sounds hokey, for sure. But then isn't there always something reassuring about the hokey?

I loved this book. Now I feel like going out and dancing with strangers.