MEDITATION FOR FIDGETY SKEPTICS
Dan Harris • Spiegel & Grau
A few years ago, ABC News reporter Dan Harris wrote 10% Happier about his unlikely journey from professional skeptic to meditation “evangelist” following an on-air panic attack. A naturally witty, even acerbic, commentator, his take on mindfulness is in-your-face and gritty—with a large dose of mockery of syrupy language or lofty accounts of “finding oneself” through the practice. His latest book, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, dishes up more “real” talk about meditation, packaged in the form of a travelogue from the 10% Happier Meditation Tour with Canadian mindfulness teacher Jeff Warren, his equal in sarcastic wit and aversion for fluff or naval gazing.
Harris aims to make mindfulness even more accessible to people like him, so the book, like the tour, takes its cue from real questions from real people along the way. We hear about not having the time to meditate, thinking you (and you alone) are no good at it, and more, peppered with practices that feel friendly and doable. It’s often laugh-out-loud funny and refreshingly candid about Harris’ and his entourage’s foibles, head trips, and frequent ego crashes.
“Just because you’ve started meditating—or even if you’ve written a whole book…
