Product Description

The Last Wilderness, is a remarkable portrait of Canada's wild places.Freeman Patterson selected 140 images from an incredible 9,000 photos that were submitted. The result is a gift book of exceptional qualtiy and beauty.

Customer Reviews (2)

Nature photography at it's best
This book contains over 140 images of landscapes, flora, fauna and close-ups that brilliantly convey the diverse, yet fragile, nature of the wilderness within the Canadian borders.

Short essays on the state of the Canadian wilderness from Freeman Patterson and members of the Canadian Nature Federation accompany the full colour images which have been taken by numerous leading nature photographers.

The images are mostly presented one per page on high quality glossy paper in a large format book. Thankfully, there are few examples of the annoying process of printing images across two pages and thus losing some of the image in the page gutter.

Those interested in the technicalities of the photographs may be a little disappointed to note that the images are not accompanied by any technical information such as shutter speed, aperture, camera/lens, film type etc... However, the images do provide inspiration in abundance for the budding nature photographer.

As well as being a book on the environment /ecology of the Canadian wilderness, the sumptuous images within this book make it a classic "coffee table book". I firmly believe that anyone buying this book will not regret doing so - it would be a fine addition to anyone's collection.

Pretty cool book.
In this stunning book, Freeman Patterson creates stunning images and imaginative uses of the photographic medium. ... Read more

Product Description
Around the world, a growing number of businesses are taking steps to reduce their climate impact by managing their greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, these businesses are discovering that effective greenhouse gas management can enhance their brands, motivate employees, increase operational efficiencies, and save money.

This guide walks readers through the key activities that make up a greenhouse gas management program, including measuring, reducing, and offsetting emissions and developing a communications strategy around the program. Throughout, case studies of over fifty leading businesses from around the world highlight innovation and solutions to common challenges. Further resources are provided for each section.

While this guide was developed primarily for the business community, many of the greenhouse gas management practices explored can also be used by other organizations that wish to reduce their climate impact, including government agencies, municipalities, non-governmental organizations and educational institutions.

Published with the David Suzuki Foundation.
The David Suzuki Foundation is committed to protecting the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Manual... Everyone needs a manual
It's got all the stuff you need to repair, rev up & rejuvinate your old GS... ... Read more

Product Description
Ichiro Suzuki, the rookie All-Star right fielder for the Seattle Mariners has the sports world transfixed. Author David Shields was at first entranced by Ichiro's smart, subtle play--just what the Mariners and Seattle needed. Then he was entranced by what Ichiro said--his smart, subtle words. The result is Baseball Is Just Baseball: The Understated Ichiro, a 120-page quote book of Ichiro in his own words. This selection of quotations takes the reader from Ichiro's decision to play for the Mariners to spring training to the regular season and up to the All-Star Break. It's a fan's book, a wisdom book, life-lessons for kids, for baseball fans, and for wisdom-seekers alike.

Shields says that "Ichiro seems to me to 'get' life, to be in the groove, be in the moment, to have the secret. He mixes Zen distance with Zen focus. According to the Chinese aphorism, 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'; Ichiro is very good at focusing on each step."

Experience reality rather than your expectation of reality. Believe in yourself. Don't take yourself seriously but find an activity to be passionate about and take that activity very seriously. Don't buy the hype. Dissolve hate into love. Care more about the process than the product. Find joy in the seeking itself. Such are some of the simple but profound, powerful ideas embodied in this prize of a little book--a document of not only a popular athlete but an impressive human being. In just the first half of his rookie year in the majors, Ichiro has fully captured the imagination of fans in Seattle, Japan, and everywhere. We've certainly not seen the end of his great run; as Ichiro himself said: "I'm planning to turn on the power after the All-Star break."Amazon.com Review
Anyone with even a passing interest in baseball can't help but look on in amazement at the 2001 Seattle Mariners. After losing heavy hitters Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez in back-to-back seasons, the Mariners have gone on to play "a new ... beautiful brand of team baseball." Mariners' rookie right fielder Ichiro Suzuki--who "like Madonna or Cher or Pelé, went only by his first name," as author David Shields writes in the introduction to his compilation Baseball Is Just Baseball: The Understated Ichiro--is the first Japanese position player to play in the majors.

There's an exhilarating fascination surrounding the young, sphinxlike All-Star and the global audience that tunes in to watch him snag home-runs-in-the-making from the sky. A fixture of baseball highlight reels, he's the first rookie ever to draw the most overall votes for the 2001 All-Star Game (held at Seattle's Safeco Field). Ichiromania even inspired fans to camp out overnight for a chance to claim a bobblehead doll cast in his likeness. Ichiro is much more than Japan's version of Michael Jordan--he's a cultural phenomenon (it's reported that Ichiro's the most recognizable person in Japan, with the emperor running a distant second).

Author David Shields is no stranger to the Seattle sports scene. He chronicled the 1994-95 season of the Seattle SuperSonics in his critically acclaimed book Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season. Shields, too, was swept up by Ichiro's "smart, subtle play" and humble persona, and compiled this collection of Ichiro quotations. The slim volume is packed with elegant wisdom, unexpected observations, and a refreshing sense of optimism from No. 51. Shields wonders, "Was I trying to impart philosophic significance to simple athletic excellence? Maybe the words acquired a lyrical glamour as they got translated from Japanese to English?"

When Ichiro was asked to analyze a particularly acrobatic catch, he replies: "It was a fly ball; I caught it."

On why he hasn't gotten into any arguments with major league umpires: "So far nothing has bothered me."

Individually, Ichiro's "haunting aphorisms" possess the beautiful complexity of Zen koans; together they read like The Tao of Ichiro. --Brad Thomas Parsons ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

He's Just Here for Baseball
This book, especially for Mariner fans, was a nice look at one of Seattle's most loved baseball players. The book holds a nice variety of quotes from various newspapers from the East coast to Japan. By reading this amusing and highly enjoyable book, the reader is able to learn a number of different things about Ichiro, such as his success in Japan to his struggles (not many, but some) in spring training. A nice touch to these quotes is that each time Ichiro speaks, his words are put in italics. This book portrays Ichiro as who he is: a man here to play baseball.

Great stocking stuffer
What a terrific way to find out about the inscrutable superstar! His batting average is matched by his efficiency with language. Even my 3-year old son enjoys the short quips in this book.

Tao, Schmao
This isn't a book. It's a farce. It's actually a collection of mostly one-line quotes -- one per page in this epic tome -- pilfered from local newspapers in Seattle and Tacoma. The great pearls of "wisdom" being described here as some form of simplistic genius are little more than a series of trite quotes offered up by one of Ichiro's translators. Save the dough and do a web search for "Ichiro" on the Seattle Times or PI website. You'll have 90 percent of the text for free. This is a shameless attempt to cash in on the guy's instant celebrity status. You'll find deeper insights into baseball and life on the back of a cereal box.

Another Hit
When Ichiro Suzuki signed with the Seattle Mariners, NHK Television, Japan's equivalent to PBS, in an unprecedented move, negotiated to broadcast not a few, as is the norm, but ALL of the Mariners games in 2001. (Even Hideo Nomo, a local hero in his own right, who went to the LA Dodgers, didn't receive this much broadcast coverage.)Now the two most watched baseball teams in the Land of the Rising Sun are the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants and the Seattle Mariners.

As a long-time resident of Japan I have watched Ichiro make behind-the-back catches since he was in high school.I was amazed when, during one of the All-Star games (they play a series), Ichiro shifted from the outfield to the pitchers' mound and threw like he did such a thing every day.

While friends and I attend a few games a season, I'm just not a big baseball fan...until Ichiro plays on TV.After-work cocktails with "the boys" more often than not starts with someone asking, "Did you see what Ichiro did today?"Expletive-deleted comments are usually centered around "unbelievable!"Now these sessions include "Baseball is Just Baseball".

Ichiro is a hero to all of us here in Japan and this book shows, beyond the remarkable playing skills, why.In a time when big bats are usually accompanied by big mouths, Ichiro shows the world that it just doesn't have to be that way.

Great reading and here's hoping David Shields can put out a new volume every year.

The Rookie's MVB
I have never been a 'die-hard' baseball fan till this year when Ichiro stepped up to the plate. He put the fun back into baseball. Thanks to David Shields we now have an idea of just how much fun Ichiro is having as a baseball player. This book of Ichiro's quotes on baseball- from lighthearted and whimsical to thought-provoking words of wisdom- can be applied to our everyday life. This is a must-have book for any baseball fan. You'll want to share this one with your friends. ... Read more

Product Description
Shunryu Suzuki’s extraordinary gift for conveying traditional Zen teachings using ordinary language is well known to the countless readers of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. In Zen Is Right Here, his teachings are brought to life powerfully and directly through stories told about him by his students. These living encounters with Zen are poignant, direct, humorous, paradoxical, and enlightening; and their setting in real-life contexts makes them wonderfully accessible.

Like the Buddha himself, Suzuki Roshi gave profound teachings that were skilfully expressed for each moment, person, and situation he encountered. He emphasized that while the ungraspable essence of Buddhism is constant, the expression of that essence is always changing. Each of the stories presented here is an example of this versatile and timeless quality, showing that the potential for attaining enlightenment exists right here, right now, in this very moment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Short Stories of Zen Moments
These are short paragraphs of Shunryu Suzuki's encounterswith people seeking his knowledge. A fast read that puts a smile on your face.

Suz;uki Roshi live and in color
ZEN IS RIGHT HERE IS FUNNY AND PROFOUND AND JUST THE RIGHT LENGTH.IT BEARS READING OVER AND OVER AND THE QUOTES AND ENCOUNTERS GIVE THE REAL TEACHING OF ZEN BUDDHISM.THEY STICK EASILY IN THE MIND AND ARE AVAILABLE FOR USE WHENEVER YOU NEED THEM.

Like Being In Dokusan
Dokusan usually refers to a private meeting between a student and the Zen master. "Zen Is Right Here" gave me the feeling that I was in dokusan with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. This is a wonderful collection of teaching stories and anecdotes that need no embellishment. They are short and sweet and to the point. Much like good haiku. A brief example:

A student asked in dokusan, "If a tree falls
in the forest and no one hears it, does it
make a sound?"
Suzuki Roshi answered, "It doesn't matter."

This is a delightful book that I will read again and again. I keep it on my night table. Indeed, Zen is right here!

Same book different name
If you already own To Shine One Corner of the World, this is the same book.This wonderful glimpse of the wisdom of Shunryu Suzuki is a collection of short stories and responses to questions, as retold by his students.Reading this book made me think I would have liked Suzuki as a teacher.He had the ability to get right to the point in a humorous way.You can feel his compassion and empathy for his student's questions in his responses. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Shop Manual
As with all Clymer motorcycle manuals, this one walks you step-by-step through everything you need to do to do everything from changing sparkplugs to rebuilding the engine.I used it replace the clutch, set valveclearance, synchronize the carbs, and many other tasks, saving myself,literally, hundreds of dollars. ... Read more

Product Description
“We say, to shine one corner of the world–that is enough. Not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.”

Shunryu Suzuki’s extraordinary gift for bringing to life traditional Zen teaching in ordinary language is known to countless readers of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.But what was it like to practice Zen with Suzuki Roshi? How did he actually teach? To Shine One Corner of the World illuminates these questions by presenting quintessential stories and moments with this profound teacher.Here are encounters, told in the words of his students, which have remained vivid after thirty years. In reading these simple, eloquent accounts, you can join Suzuki Roshi on the path, in the meditation hall, in lectures, and in private interviews and meet his fresh, piercing, often humorous mind. These often paradoxical moments do not translate into easy prescriptions for happiness or spiritual advancement, and yet they changed lives. Considered carefully, they point to the light that shines from each of us.
Amazon.com Review
Shunryu Suzuki said: "Life without zazen is like winding your clockwithout setting it. It works perfectly, but it doesn't tell time." Thesearethe kind of wise quips that David Chadwick offers in To Shine OneCorner of the World. Suzuki's biographer, Chadwick has never stoppedlooking for information about this always-entertaining andenlighteningZen master. In this collection of short remarks, Chadwick hascontinued the ancient tradition of recording a teacher's memorablequotes-- ones that are cute or puzzling the first time you hear them butthat grow in profundity with time. With the publication of Suzuki's shining words here, his wisdom can illuminate many, many corners of theworld. --Brian Bruya ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Shining one corner ... ten directions, three times
I keep on buying this book. It looks like I can't keep it. Each and every copy seems to find its way into other hands and perhaps minds. I enjoy the aliveness of these interactions, the awareness, being in the moment, beyond conditioning.

Be aware. Zazen. The living Zen of Suzuki Roshi!

Just one corner.....
To Shine One Corner of the World - Moments with Shunryu Suzuki
Stories of a Zen Master Told by His Students
Edited by David Chadwick, 2001
Broadway Books
New York

"We say, to shine one corner of the world -- just one corner.If you shine one corner, then people around you will feel better."
Shunryu Suzuki

It has been said that when the student is ready, the master appears. To Shine One Corner of the World brings Suzuki Roshi to us through the gift of his students' recollections as beautifully as if we suddenly turned the corner and he stood before us. The editor of this delightful book, David Chadwick, studied and was ordained by Suzuki Roshi 30 years ago. The success of this small book lies in Chadwick's ability to allow the essence of Suzuki Roshi to shine through each page without extraneous editorializing. The words are those of Suzuki Roshi's students. The humor, the complexity, the mischievous nature of this Zen master is evident from first page to last.

Chadwick opens with a simple introduction of Suzuki Roshi's journey to the west coast of the United States from his native Japan and his mission to bring Zen Buddhism to the west. The introduction also includes a wonderful, straight forward explanation of the precepts of Zen Buddhism and Suzuki Roshi's teaching method, primarily silence. This leads us to a greater understanding of how, thirty years after his death, his students still recall his words. Chadwick presents these brief moments in time for us to interpret as the lessons appear for us.

Suzuki Roshi may not have spoken large quantities of words, but the words that he did speak were not limited to intensely serious profundity. From the student who received jelly beans after lamenting his snack habit to the student who was told "You get a gold star" when he sought the master's approval to putting a napkin on his head in a New York restaurant, we are shown that the master believed in levity as a powerful teaching tool. And yet, Chadwick also gives us a glance of the complexity of the master as Suzuki Roshi tells a group of students "When I say don't move, it doesn't mean you can't move."

To Shine One Corner of the World offers 122 moments experienced by students present during Suzuki Roshi's lifetime.Each vignette appears on an individual page leaving generous space for your own hand written thoughts as you contemplate the light of the master's words. The contributors to the book are listed in the back of the book so that there is no distraction from your experience of Suzuki Roshi within the pages. This small book shines with peace as the Suzuki Roshi's impish smile looks out from underneath shade trees in a photograph set within the lovely graphic design of a lotus blossom. David Chadwick has given us a jewel to be read again and again throughout all the days of our lives.
*****************************************************************
Kathryn Lanier lives in Colorado with her nine year old twins. She is a freelance writer, editor, and review columnist educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the College of Charleston. She is an internationally published author and works world wide with clients from four continents! She can be contacted for services and workshop information through Innerchange Magazine online.

I keep coming back to this slim volume
It has a directness and brevity that seem to cut through in a way that longer works do not. I will say that having read other books by Suzuki Roshi, I found extra meaning in some of the shorter quotes that may not be there for all readers.

I was concerned that the book's brevity would detract, but I've come to feel that this is it's real strength. If you are like me, you get more books on subjects like this than you can ever read. This one was so short and pleasant that I did read it. And finish it. And re-read it. Good for a quick dip into it's pages or to read cover to cover.

Highly recommended.

Nice Daily Reminder Book
This book's contents is approximately 123 pages long, on each page there is anywhere between 2 to 6 sentences. Very short, yet often insightful, tidbits of wisdom on each page. The way I would recommend reading this book, is to not read it all at once. Rather, pick the book up for those times of great doubts, select any page-and read. It's simplicity is it's best quality. Sometimes we can become so lost down the philosophical or intellectual road, that we need a book like this to say: the tree is a tree. But no, there is more to the book then that.

For anyone interested in further reading into Zen, I would recommend The Compass of Zen by Zen Master Seung Sahn. Seung Sahn delves right into the 3 schools, Hinayana, Mahayana, and Zen (the two latter being the same mostly). The reason why I mention Seung Sahn is because I have a lot of admiration for his teaching style-no one compares. But, that said, Shunryu Suzuki's books, especially Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind-are at the very least-insightful.

The following is an example of the sort of page you may come across in this book:

A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored,"Why is there so much suffering?"

Suzuki Roshi replied,"No reason."

Enjoy this book:)

I love this book
Yet another stunning book from David Chadwick.Though it resembles a classic koan collection, Chadwick deftly skirts the hazard of presenting a collection of "profound stories".Chadwick's own considerable personality is not in evidence, the tone of the book is always sweetly understated, and the reader is not obligated to grapple with worshipful pretensions to piety.What fun..... ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Margaret Atwood, David Suzuki, George Woodcock, Carl Wieman, Rudolf Vrba, Michael Ignatieff, Timothy Brook, Bill Mathews, Terry Eastwood, William Pinar, Adam Jones, Keith Maillard, Pat Mcgeer, Beverley Mclachlin, Jim Green, Anthony Pawson, William E. Rees, C. S. Holling, Vijay Bhargava, Stephen Toope, John Krebs, Baron Krebs, Donald Calne, Judith Goslin Hall, Dorothy E. Smith, Leonard Marsh, Alan Cairns, Rocke Robertson, Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside, Christianne Balk, Kerry Jang, Charlotte Froese Fischer, Lalith Gamage, Richard J. Pearson, Meryn Cadell, Martha Piper, Susan Wood, Roy Daniells, Brian Christie, Bill Unruh, Ivan Head, George Volkoff, Clayton Oscar Person, James Fankhauser, Merton Yarwood Williams, Peter Levitt, David Dolphin, Ping-Ti Ho, Cyril Belshaw, Jasper Wood, Shūichi Katō, Dale Kinkade, Arif Dirlik, Henry Angus, William L. Holland, Sydney Segal, Larissa Lai, William Boyd, Rona Murray, John Milsum, Joel Bakan, W. Wesley Pue, Anne Fleming, Claude Ernest Dolman, John S. Macdonald, Cole Harris, Kogila Moodley, Stephen E. Calvert, Evan Adams, George F. Curtis, Alan Mackworth, Bruce Bagemihl, Alexander Hrennikoff, Peter Hochachka, Bogdan Czaykowski, Lawrence Ward, Howard Charles Clark, Warren Tallman, Holger H. Hoos, Brett J. Gladman, Nassif Ghoussoub, Terry Mcgee, Robert Turner, Linda Svendsen, Timothy R. Parsons, Charles M Dollar, Michael Ames, Harold Copp, Derek Gregory, Patricia Alice Shaw, David G. Lowe, Brett Josef Grubisic, Patrick J. Keeling, Barbara J. Spencer, Lionel G. Harrison, David G. Kirkpatrick, Jeremy S. Heyl, Paul Russell, Kalervo Gulson, Larry Cochran, Joseph Tonzetich, Charles Thomas Beer, Gregor Kiczales, Robert Daum, John Beatty, Charles Menzies, Lorna Mcghee, Werner Cohn, Richard Unger, Brian S. Leander. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. N...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=5043162 ... Read more

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Product Description
Chapters: David Suzuki, Japanese Canadian Internment, Glenn Michibata, S. I. Hayakawa, Justin Nozuka, Mel Wakabayashi, Masajiro Miyazaki, Japantown, Dennis Akayama, Joy Kogawa, George Nozuka, David Tsubouchi, Michelle Sagara, Nobu Mccarthy, Kanao Inouye, Kazuo Nakamura, Midi Onodera, Raymond Moriyama, Robert Ito, Terry Watada, Bruce Kuwabara, Hiro Kanagawa, Naomi Yamamoto, Tetsuro Shigematsu, Kerri Sakamoto, Asahi Tigers, Ken Adachi, Reference Re Persons of Japanese Race, Thomas Shoyama, Roy Miki, Irene Ayako Uchida, Kenzo Mori, Miyazaki House, Noriko Yui, Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre, Grace Kosaka, Roy Kiyooka, Takeshi Miyazawa, Mutsumi Takahashi, Mary Ito, John Sakamoto. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 150. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC, OBC, Ph.D LLD (born March 24, 1936), is a Japanese Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001. Since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known for his TV and radio series and books about nature and the environment. He is best known as host of the popular and long-running CBC Television science magazine, The Nature of Things, seen in syndication in over forty nations. He is also well known for criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment. A long time activist to reverse global climate change, Suzuki co-founded the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990, to work "to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that sustains us." The Foundation's priorities are: oceans and sustainable fishing, climate change and clean energy, sustainability, and David Suzuki's ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=149128 ... Read more

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Chapters: Japanese Canadians, David Suzuki, Japanese Canadian Internment, Glenn Michibata, Paul Kariya, Jason Krog, Jamie Storr, S. I. Hayakawa, Vicky Sunohara, Justin Nozuka, Mel Wakabayashi, Masajiro Miyazaki, Rick Shiomi, Bev Oda, Japantown, Dennis Akayama, Steve Kariya, Issey Nakajima-Farran, Devin Setoguchi, Jonathan Matsumoto, Joy Kogawa, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, George Nozuka, David Tsubouchi, Catherine Manoukian, Michelle Sagara, Martin Kariya, Nobu Mccarthy, Kanao Inouye, Kazuo Nakamura, Midi Onodera, Christine Yoshikawa, Raymond Moriyama, Andrew Kishino, Robert Ito, Terry Watada, Noriko Kariya, Bruce Kuwabara, Hiro Kanagawa, Catalina Yue, Naomi Yamamoto, John Tucker, Tetsuro Shigematsu, Kerri Sakamoto, Kimiko Zakreski, Asahi Tigers, Ken Adachi, Reference Re Persons of Japanese Race, Lori Fung, Thomas Shoyama, Jennifer Anne Lee, Roy Miki, Irene Ayako Uchida, Kenzo Mori, Miyazaki House, Paris Nakajima-Farran, Noriko Yui, Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre, Grace Kosaka, Raymond Sawada, Roy Kiyooka, Takeshi Miyazawa, Mutsumi Takahashi, Kim Moritsugu, Kristy Odamura, Tim Tamashiro, Mary Ito, John Sakamoto. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 233. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt:Andrew Kishino (born in Toronto, Ontario , Canada ) is a Japanese -Canadian voice actor in video games, animation and voice-over narration.Filmography Animation Announcer/Narration Video games Television Career Kishino was formerly known as Kish , a rapper who is considered as a one-hit wonder in 1991 with his song "I Rhyme the World in 80 Days", which was accompanied by a music video that received airplay on MuchMusic . The song was followed up with the single "She's a Flirt".Later he moved to Los Angeles to work as a hip-hop music producer. Currently, he's a voice over artist including the voice work of Goose - Wang Chow - Vulture in Kung F... ... Read more

Product Description
Since the publication of the landmark Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind 25 years ago, the influence of Shunryu Suzuki has grown extensively. His followers have long hungered for a full portrait of the man whose wisdom touched so many, but until now no book has been published by or about this extraordinary individual.

David Chadwick, who studied with Suzuki at the San Francisco Zen Center from 1966 until Suzuki's death in 1971, has interviewed his mentor's family, friends, and disciples and was granted full access to Japanese and American archives. Crooked Cucumber begins with Suzuki's earliest days in Japan, where his teacher nicknamed him "Crooked Cucumber," claiming Suzuki was too absent-minded and dim-witted to ever become a successful priest. Chadwick follows Suzuki through his new life in San Francisco amid the cultural upheaval of the '60s, creating a context for his refreshing and profound teaching. Brief, illuminating chapters, with previously unpublished lecture quotes, convey the down-to-earth message of a man who continues to transform countless lives.Amazon.com Review
"He's big Suzuki, I'm little Suzuki."

In the literary world, Shunryu Suzuki has always played second fiddleto D.T. Suzuki. WithDavid Chadwick's biography of this extraordinary man, Shunryu Suzukiwill take his rightful place as one of the progenitors of AmericanBuddhism. Chadwick, a long-time student of Suzuki's, takes us back toSuzuki's childhood, his entry into monastic life at age 13, subsequenttrials with his ornery master and in the notoriously strict EiheijiMonastery, as well as life as a houseboy with a British tutor to theChinese emperor, marital tragedies, and the political minefield ofWorld War II while he served as abbot of his own temple. Theoverarching theme of Suzuki's teaching is practice--in a communitysetting--and when he takes over a temple of aging Japanese Americansin San Francisco, his practice begins to attract youngerAmericans. The second half of Crooked Cucumber relates thephenomenal growth of the San Francisco Zen Center and becomes abiography of the growing community and its members, inasmuch as thecenter was Suzuki's life. A monk who was thought to be as useless as acrooked cucumber, under the pen of Chadwick turns out to be abrilliant, witty, tireless patriarch of American Zen.--BrianBruya ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

A book of many charms
This is a terrific biography, but it's also much more.Students of Zen, and of Buddhism generally, will appreciate the rich selection of pithy quotes and excerpts from Suzuki's teachings.Japan-o-philes will find vivid pictures of the second world war, from the inside -- a view of what it felt like to be Japanese in those years of collective insanity. Idealists and realists alike can ponder Chadwick's counter-posing of Zen's contradictory, anti-authoritarian philosophy with the rigid, hierarchicalinstitutions and infrastructure that grew up around it in Japan.People like me who just missed out on the Sixties will find them here in all their glory -- San Francisco in its heyday. And for those who love a good cry, Suzuki-Roshi's death from cancer is told achingly.I could not put this book down; I mourned not only Roshi's passing at the end but also the fact that the book was over, and I have been thinking about it ever since.Whatever your angle of approach, there is much here to satisfy you.

More Than a Biography
Chadwick has done a wonderful job in telling the story of a remarkable teacher who rose above his own limitations by hard work and persistent effort. This book is interesting both as biography and as an insight into the practical implications of spiritual teachings.

Great Things Come in Small Packages
What was it about this simple little Japanese Buddhist priest who was less than fluent in English that inspired San Francisco hippies and other misfits to completely abandon their lifestyles and adopt rigorous meditation practice and that produced one of the great lineages of American Zen Buddhism that almost 40 years after his death is still going strong?More than anything else, it was his total devotion to Zen practice and to his students.Although he had his faults and shortcomings, including neglecting his family at times, there was still a greatness about him and a singularity of purpose along with warmth and a sense of humor.This biography follows his life in exhaustive detail, and yet it fascinates and inspires and exposes the heart and soul of a great teacher.How does the saying go about a prophet not being recognized in his own land?He was considered a nobody in Japan within Zen circles.Yet he had the desire to bring about a revival of the true spirit and practice of Zen Buddhism.(An interesting sidenote: among Zen priests in Japan, he, leading discussion groups, almost singlehandedly questioned the militarism that led to Japanese conquests and WW2.All the mainstream Zen masters backed the government 100 percent.)He knew he would find eager, sincere students in America, but had he lived longer he still wanted to return to his homeland to see what he could accomplish there.Who knows?Maybe he's doing just that right now with a young, strong body and a different name!His spirit definitely lives on as does the Buddhadharma.

For once, a thick book on Zen
Few books about Zen near 400 pages; this balances Suzuki's unpublished reflections deftly with an in-depth, but briskly told and slyly affectionate biography by an early American follower. At 55, in 1959, Suzuki left Japan to fulfill his dream of spreading Zen in America. His success in founding the San Francisco Zen Center came just as Westerners began to seek out a Zen master; Tassajara retreat also proved well-timed with the rise of the hippies in the mid-60s. Chadwick, who joined Suzuki's circle in 1966, adds a personal touch to the saga that enlivens the tale.

The first half of the book precisely stays in Japan; the subject's called here "Shunryu." Nicknamed "Crooked Cucumber," he was raised within the rather moribund tradition, following his father as a priest. In 1924, he has an early epiphany while in a market as he looks at the tawdry merchandise readied for export: he wonders why the best of Japan, its Zen teaching, cannot instead be sent abroad. Learning English, quietly asserting the ways of peace within a frenzied patriotic regime, surviving the hardships of WWII and its aftermath that included the murder of his first wife at the hands of a demented monk, Suzuki struggles against the tired systems of monastics, bureaucrats, and politicians in his own modest way.

Chadwick is not a showy writer, and as with many who practice Zen his prose stays simple and steady. As one who'd previously written about his an "American Zen failure in Japan," this volume benefits by his careful context that shows readers unfamiliar (as I am) with Japanese culture and Zen terminology employed over 1500 years of tradition. (No index, but a glossary helps and all terms are introduced within the text smoothly.) You may not learn as much about Zen itself as abstract, but here it is dramatized-- by its embodiment within one of its foremost practitioners. I never thought four hundred pages of such a life would prove engrossing. I was wrong.

By interspersing Suzuki's own unpublished recollections and correspondence within the follower's recounting of his life, you gradually learn how Suzuki's mind worked, and how his low-key appeal might have effected those who met his penetrating gaze, under what seems in photos a left eyebrow quizzicly raised a fraction. He battled anger and impatience, and in his outbursts one recognizes a frailty beneath what may have often been a rather imperious mien. Still, deep down there's a still center that calms us. Chadwick pauses to convey his last glimpse of his homeland in 1959.

"As the western sky turned pink in Yaizu on May 21, Shunryu stood by his pond in the chilly morning. He had concluded his last morning service at Rinso-in. Carp swam in the murky water as tadpoles darted about. Goodbye to the big living stone, now covered in moss. Goodbye to the frogs. As the rays of the sun struck the bamboo on the hill, the air heated quickly, and the stalks expanded, emitting sharp, pinging noises of different pitches, a strange little song of farewell in the still morning." (161) Such passages, filtering Suzuki's own perspective, dramatize well how he saw the world he loved so well even as he strove to separate himself from attachments to its beauties.

Without comment, "Suzuki" replaces "Shunryu" as he arrives in the converted synagogue that comprised Sokoji, the temple he took over in San Francisco. Soon, Americans sought him out for 'zazen' and his reputation grew. This led to tension with the Japanese American immigrant congregation, and the Zen Center took over a Jewish women's residence for its own growing needs. Tassajara followed, Suzuki shared a dais at a Be-In in Golden Gate Park, and his transcribed talks as "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" led to his own minor celebrity within the counterculture.

Yet, unlike his own American-born successor, Suzuki avoided scandal. His practice as it had all his life remained modest; he stayed humble. He lived austerely and with grace (except for a temper, and even then one feels that Suzuki knew he was half-serious, half-playacting). He stepped away from the limelight, showing by example. As conveyed through Chadwick's narrative of an early adept: "All he had to do was face the wall and follow his breath-- no faith, nothing to hold on to, just the nagging question to solve for himself under the guidance of this marvelous, dignified little man." (209) Or, later as at Tassajara, Chadwick tells of their daily regimen. "It was waiting patiently like a hunter, not moving for hours." (287)

Who would find such a routine appealing? Chadwick introduces those who gathered around Suzuki, and their brief stories enrich the milieu recreated by one who had been there early on. The doctrine they learned emerges slowly, as it may have been for a seeker, and while largely clear of philosophy per se, Chadwick does take care in elucidating the teaching. "Things-as-they-are" link to the multiplicity, the seeming solidity, the realm of forms we see around us; "things-as-it-is" refers to the underlying, often unseen or ignored level of oneness, that beyond the empirical, that emptiness sought by Buddhists in meditation. The "first principle" might be buddha-nature, absolutes, God, the Tao, truth, reality or simply what "I don't know"; the "second principle" becomes all the rules, dharma-teaching, explanations and interpretations we build up as we try to understand the ultimately inexplicable.

Shifting ancient methods of seeking such wisdom into Western terms proved challenging. "Establishing Buddhism in a new country is like holding a plant to a stone and wanting it to take root," Suzuki mused. (252) Still, realizing his life's dream, he loved sharing what he knew by decades of training. He could be unpredictable. The FBI investigating Tassajara's sponsorship of conscientious objectors found that Suzuki fit in with pacifist and Quaker terms of resistance, but he then told them that his son was serving in Vietnam. Suzuki expounded on karma with the caution that many antiwar demonstrators "talk about peace in some angry mood, when actually you are creating war with that angry mood." (317) As with many Buddhists, he sought to change the way people acted with one another once they got off their meditation cushions. He strove to eliminate the root causes of war that even peaceniks might carry within themselves to the detriment of all around them.

By such nuances, Suzuki emerges as a tolerant, admirable man. He eschewed dogmatism, insisting that "not always so" remain the touchstone for testing theory against practice. He comforted a woman who transcribed his talks as she died of cancer, recognizing the "buddha-nature" within her poignantly. At 67, when he was himself dying of cancer, he rejoiced that at least it was not hepatitis, and he could eat whatever he wanted. Even as he was dying, Suzuki told Chadwick about his concern for taking care of guests at Tassajara and for Chadwick to pursue scholarship that would keep himself out of trouble and "express my true nature." It appears that his master's advice paid off. Chadwick directly but effectively transmits the dignity and compassion that his role model demonstrated. He does not avoid his failings, but he does emphasize his strengths, which far outnumbered his shortcomings.

Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki
Being from the San Francisco Bay Area and having read several other books by Suzuki Roshi, I looked forward to reading about his life. The book is insightful, instructive, helpful, and so, so human. It shows the tremendous rigours, and up and downs of his life and training with its humor, tragedy, sadness and joy. I am moved by this man's humility, service, dedication to Buddhism and hard work. It is definitely worth reading and savoring. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: David Suzuki, Thomas J. Hudson, Judith Goslin Hall, Tak Wah Mak, John Irving Bell, Charles Scriver, Clayton Oscar Person, Charles Leonard Huskins, Manuel Buchwald, Robert Haynes, Rima Rozen, Clarke Fraser, Marco Marra. Excerpt:Charles Leonard Huskins (1897-1953) was an English-born Canadian geneticist who specialized in the field of cytogenetics . He is also sometimes referred to as C. Leonard Huskins or C.L. Huskins. Huskins was born in Walsall , England and moved with his family at the age of 9 to Red Deer , Alberta , Canada . He served in the Canadian Infantry and as an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps (which became the RAF ) in World War I . After the war Huskins returned to Canada and enrolled in the University of Alberta from which he received his Bachelor's degree in 1923 and his Master's degree in 1925. With the aid of a scholarship for graduate study abroad, he went to England where he obtained his Ph.D. from King's College London in 1927. Huskins stayed on in England from 1927 to 1930 to do research with the renowned geneticist William Bateson at what is now the John Innes Centre . In 1930 Huskins returned to Canada to teach at McGill University in Montreal . He taught initially (1930-1934) in the Department of Botany and then (1934-1945) as Professor in the Department of Genetics , the first head of a Department of Genetics in Canada. In 1945 he left McGill for the University of Wisconsin Madison where he was Professor of Botany until his death. In 1942-1943 Huskins spent a year at Columbia University on a Guggenheim Fellowship he was awarded "to prepare a book on the cytology and genetics of plants, animals and man." Except for that year, he spent essentially all of his career at McGill and Wisconsin. Huskins worked at first on mutations in oats and wheat. At the ... ... Read more

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This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: David Suzuki: the Autobiography, Tree: a Life Story, It's a Matter of Survival, Genethics, the Sacred Balance. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: David Suzuki: The Autobiography is the 2006 autobiography of Canadian science writer and broadcaster David Suzuki. The book focuses mostly on his life since the 1987 publication of his first autobiography, Metamorphosis: Stages in a Life. It begins with a chronological account of his childhood, academic years, and broadcasting career. In later chapters, Suzuki adopts a memoir style, writing about themes such as his relationship with Australia, his experiences in Brazil and Papua New Guinea, the founding of the David Suzuki Foundation, and his thoughts on climate change, celebrity status, technology, and death. Throughout, Suzuki highlights the continuing impact of events from his childhood. This is Suzuki's forty-third book and, he says, his last. Critics have called the book candid, sincere, and charming, with insightful commentary if occasionally flat stories. Suzuki's scientific background is reflected in the writing's rational and analytic style. Suzuki's autobiography spent four weeks at #1 on the Maclean's list of non-fiction best-sellers and six weeks at #6 on the Globe and Mail's list. The book won two awards in 2007: the Canadian Booksellers' Association's Libris Award for Non-Fiction Book of the Year and the British Columbia Booksellers' Choice Award. The publishers, Greystone Books and Douglas ... Read more