I find it kind of interesting that I haven't really read anything in a while. When I first went "all in" on STEEM and kind of left behind the mundane world of wage slavery for the most part, I was in a very different place and while I used to read quite a bit, I don't really recall ever reading much outside of fiction. I did certainly read my mandatory literature assigned for school and some interesting political pieces, but as far as I can recall this was possibly my first autobiography.
Much of my writing and personal philosophy was heavily influenced from listening to old Watts lectures, along with several others, but it got me into the habit of "hearing" and not reading what these great thinkers had to say. Anyway, with the new job, I am currently able to get some reading time in while being paid to do so, so why not use it productively?
This book was quite interesting to me, because it took Watts outside of the role of "Alan Watts" and the entire book just feels like having a long, one-sided conversation with him where he tells you about his life. Sure there are some nice philosophical nuggets spread throughout, but on the whole, it was less about sharing his philosophical ideas and more about explaining where they came from and how he became the "Alan Watts" that people remember.
One thing that resonated very thoroughly with me is that he saw the persona, the name, the ego of "Alan Watts" as very much a character that he was playing. He was very aware that the person he presented to the world was never an accurate encapsulation of his entire being, no matter how authentic and straightforward he was with others. Because as he has taught many people, we only exist in relation to the other.
Any experience that we have that we can consider "I" does not and cannot manifest without a concept of "You", "They", or "Them." He focuses mainly on sharing the "others" that helped define the being that we remember and goes into great detail about what he learned from who and doesn't really get into the things that I expected in an autobiography. Like aside from mentioning where he met his wives and their names, or randomly mentioning a few of his children, there's not much discussion about his family other than when sharing about his childhood and how his parents and intermediate family had some early influences on him.
Would I recommend the book? Honestly, I don't know, because I don't know that anyone that isn't a pretty serious Watts fan would find it all that interesting. For fans that want a glimpse of the being behind the legendary "Western Zen Master," then it's certainly a fascinating read that will likely turn you on to a lot of names you may not be familiar with to study. Personally I enjoyed it and have gotten quite a few recommendations on where to take my reading next from some of his influences. I'll try to keep you all update on my literary journey and I'll surely discuss them on the talk show.
Much love.