An impassioned plea for change, that will make you squirm as it promotes a new set of thoughts and actions for the future. I read it in one sitting. I have nominated this book for a general book discussion at my Unitarian Universalist congregation, but I am not sure I will urge the group to choose it. Certainly, it offers much food for tough thought. ( )

He always makes me feel so optimistic ;-; ( )

It is impossible to describe the way this little book inspired me. I have given out a number of copies as part of a new project - see https://www.taopunk.uk/papergoat.html - and hope to give out more. There is something in the words that does something sorely needed right now - they face up to the challenge we're aware of, instill hope in the future, and celebrate the very idea that a new generation can do something positive about the human race. ( )

This impassioned book from the Dalai Lama, co-written with his interpreter, Sanskrit expert Stril-Rever, is a vociferous call for the youth of the world to take more concern for and control of the planet’s destiny. The set-up and source material of the book come out of a conversation the Dalai Lama had in 2017 with four young French visitors he received in Dharamsala, India. The book calls for a revolution of compassion, which the Dalai Lama advocates for by invoking the neurology behind compassion combined with the central Buddhist insight of the interdependence of all living beings. Compassion, he says, could end the “endemic poverty” that plagues the world, which he cites as the most pressing daily ill for the majority of the globe. He also argues (surprisingly and almost in passing) that religion has failed to improve humanity (“None has succeeded in creating a better human being”)—a significant assertion for a spiritual leader and one that will speak to the young people this volume is aimed at. Instead, he writes, it is people who create better versions of themselves. This slender volume is an excellent introduction for those unfamiliar with the Dalai Lama’s simple-seeming teachings for improving a complex, globally interconnected world.