Review by ab2020 -- Fearless Thinking, Stress-free livin...

[ab2020]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Fearless Thinking, Stress-free living, Guaranteed (Almost)" by Purandar A. Amin.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Each of the 21 chapters in Fearless Thinking, Stress-Free Living, Guaranteed (Almost) consists of a letter from the author, Purandar A. Amin, to his wife, Uma. Uma serves as a representative for Amin’s general audience, and the letters present various techniques for spiritual self-improvement. As the subtitle suggests, Amin’s goal is to present “a life-changing solution for peace and happiness”. Most of the chapters contain similar content on the subjects of one’s thoughts, the ego, emotions, and love, and some contain exercises for implementing the author’s ideas.

The letters an unusual format for a self-help book—most such books are directed explicitly at the reader—but they provide Amin’s writing with a more conversational tone and help to make his abstract prose somewhat more accessible and concrete. Though Fearless Thinking, Stress-Free Living presents little more than what has been said thousands of times already by authors of greater professional clout, some readers may find it helpful in its structure and directness.

The book’s opening and closing chapters provide a straightforward demonstration of Amin’s thought process. He begins by enumerating what he believes to be Uma’s (the reader’s) fears and ends by describing the progress that Uma (the reader) has made on the journey in confronting those fears. The chapters in between focus heavily on the concepts of energy, karma, spirituality, and meditation. Amin invites the reader to let go of the self, social constructs, thoughts, grudges, desires, and even joys. He urges the reader to look beyond themselves and embrace both an outer existence beyond the individual and an inner existence closely linked to the spiritual and the divine.

His writing is deeply grounded in religion, especially Hinduism, though he is never explicitly religious. He proselytizes because he believes detachment from the human, social, and material world to be the key to freedom. At the same time, he advocates for the reader to become aware of their thoughts, feelings, and actions, as well as the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the people around them. By doing this, he argues, the reader will infuse peace and love into the world.

Fearless Thinking, Stress-Free Living is not a poorly-written book, but it is also not a well-written book. Among self-help books advocating a similar spiritual-stoic-meditative philosophy, it is perfectly average. Seasoned readers of such books may find Amin’s work boring, rudimentary, or unnecessarily abstract, showy, or disorganized. Newcomers, however, may be charmed by his openness and earnestness, his pride and enthusiasm.

Though the practices he advocates seem ideal and liberating, the greater picture of Amin’s book contains a few paradoxes. This is less a problem with the author and more a problem with the way in which he presents his beliefs. For example, he urges complete detachment from one’s thoughts and self, but his description of karma seems to advocate for restless concern about one’s next life. Once or twice, his enthusiasm for reincarnation verges on disparagement for those who do not share his beliefs in the next life. In another instance, his enthusiasm for detachment from the physical body verges on an offensive comment about grief.

The greatest problem with Amin’s book is perhaps is patronizing tone. This cones through especially clearly at the end, when he portrays himself as a divinely-inspired spiritual leader brought to Earth to guide others onto his path. Though this is indeed the foundation of his religion, it may alienate more independently minded readers. Besides this flaw, Amin’s chapters occasionally seem out of order—or, perhaps, he is simply discussing too many things in each chapter, thereby causing them to bleed together in a disorderly fashion.

These faults lead me to rate Amin’s book 2 out of 4 stars. Nonetheless, his work generally still contains merit; it is not entirely worthless. The strongest of these merits is his guidance on meditation and his secular philosophizing. He provides explicit exercises in meditation and self-awareness, including the suggestion that the reader should set aside time each day to reflect on their thoughts. He also provides ideas on how to forgive people and how to have successful relationships. His definition of love is innovative, and, overall, he is kindly optimistic. Despite its flaws, Amin’s book may be a good investment for those determined to read widely on the subject of meditation-driven self-help.

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Fearless Thinking, Stress-free living, Guaranteed (Almost)
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[Erin Painter Baker]

Perhaps not the reaction the author is looking for, but I can't help but put myself in his wife's place, and if I were her, I would be annoyed at him writing a whole book telling me how I was doing life wrong and need to get better at it...

[maggi3]

The reason I usually stay away from self help books is because I feel that a lot of them give the same advice over and over. This one seems not to be an exception. The patronizing tone would also irritate me. I think I’ll take your advice and skip this one, but thanks for the review!