The Cosmic Giggle: The Life and Music of Alan Watts

HE CALLED HIMSELF AN ENTERTAINER. THE WORLD CALLED HIM A GURU.

Before the YouTube sages and the mindfulness apps, there was a voice. A rich, rolling English accent that cut through the static of the 20th century, armed with a Zen koan, a glass of wine, and a mischievous, cosmic giggle.

Alan Watts was the trailblazer who took the profound wisdom of the East and presented it to the West not as a solemn religion, but as a joyous performance. He was the philosopher who preferred a ferryboat to a ...