tattdcodemonkey's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
obscuredbyclouds's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked Warner's "Don't Be a Jerk" and since Hardcore Zen was his first book and seemed more like an introduction to Zen Buddhism than the one I'd read, I thought it might be a good present for my brother. Sadly, I did not really like this one. It's less an introduction to Zen and more an introduction to Warner's life up until that point. The language isn't just "edgy" (which I expected it to be) but incredibly try hard, off-putting and makes this book very very dated. As does the fatphobia and weird anti-enviornmental takes.
Warner keeps going on about how he is totally against authority and so 'different' from anyone else - who writes likes like this past the age of 15? - but then tells of the various belief systems he adhered to. That's a totally human thing to do but the way it's presented without a hint of self awareness is incredibly off-putting. And the tone of the book is the opposite of "zen". He's so agressive and spiteful and cynical. Sure, he says you don't need to believe him and should doubt him, but he doesn't doubt any of it.
In the second half of the book, when it concentrated on zen buddhism instead of Warner's life, it got a little better. I found his straight forward way of explaining complicated issues very refreshing but it didn't take away from the bad stuff. Definitely not a book I can give as a present to anyone, and I'm a little sad about the money I spent on it. It will go into a donation bin.
Warner keeps going on about how he is totally against authority and so 'different' from anyone else - who writes likes like this past the age of 15? - but then tells of the various belief systems he adhered to. That's a totally human thing to do but the way it's presented without a hint of self awareness is incredibly off-putting. And the tone of the book is the opposite of "zen". He's so agressive and spiteful and cynical. Sure, he says you don't need to believe him and should doubt him, but he doesn't doubt any of it.
In the second half of the book, when it concentrated on zen buddhism instead of Warner's life, it got a little better. I found his straight forward way of explaining complicated issues very refreshing but it didn't take away from the bad stuff. Definitely not a book I can give as a present to anyone, and I'm a little sad about the money I spent on it. It will go into a donation bin.
chaghi's review against another edition
2.0
Too much about Brad Warner, not so much about Zen. For someone who criticizes a lot the concept of an "authority figure", the author spends too many pages being one, patronizing the reader and throwing shit to other authors / Zen masters / musicians / whatever.
He speaks way too much about himself and his life, which (to me at least) is completely irrelevant, quite ordinary and mostly uninteresting. And he tries really hard to be funny in his writing. And (again, to me) he's not.
But if you can cope with that, make an effort and put that aside, there are quite a few interesting concepts and ideas for someone who is trying to learn a bit about Zen and Buddhism from a layman, secular point of view.
He speaks way too much about himself and his life, which (to me at least) is completely irrelevant, quite ordinary and mostly uninteresting. And he tries really hard to be funny in his writing. And (again, to me) he's not.
But if you can cope with that, make an effort and put that aside, there are quite a few interesting concepts and ideas for someone who is trying to learn a bit about Zen and Buddhism from a layman, secular point of view.
allzen_nochill's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Warner does have a knack for explaining Buddhism in easily-digestible words, but when he gets individualistic about it he starts to lose me. If we are all collective consciousness, it's our duty to look out for each other, not just to make sure we're okay. I can see how he fell down the rabbit hole of "conservative" Buddhism. A shame, considering this is mostly a decent text.
amethyst_hearts_books's review against another edition
5.0
At first I didn't like it (mostly because I'm not interested in punk rock and the author's experiences with it), but then it got better as he focused more on other things. If you're interested in Buddhism, it's a great book.