One for the Books: Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll
Through the magic of reading, you can spend time with a true rock 'n' roll legend -- Ozzy Osbourne, who shares his life story in "I Am Ozzy." For his fans, and for anyone interested in music and pop culture, this is a real treat. It's written in the first person, as if he were sitting in the room, talking to you -- expletives included. Be warned: Ozzy's words are candid, irreverent and even raw.
John Osbourne was born in England in 1948, one of six children in a poor family. He hated school, so he would "think up all sorts of insane things to do to make the other kids laugh." And he looked for ways to escape: "I loved anything that could change the way I felt," he writes, which included beer and drugs. He also got into trouble: "Crime came naturally to me." After he and school were finished with each other, he tried and failed at several jobs and even spent some time in prison. "Then the Beatles happened," and hearing their music changed his life. He explains why he decided to be in a band, and he details the beginnings of Black Sabbath. ("I can honestly say we never took the black magic stuff seriously for one second.") There were ups and downs with the many musicians he knew in the 1960s and beyond, and way too much drinking, sex and drugs.
Ozzy tells funny stories, and all the time we're laughing, we're repulsed by his actions (yes, he bit the head off a live dove and later a bat), but somehow we still like him: "I'd try to win people over with my craziness. ... But, of course, behind the mask there was a sad old clown." Even after his manager stole his money, he tells us, "But I don't hate him. ... There's enough hate in the world as it is, without me adding to it." And then he met Sharon, and his life became a real love story: "I'd never known what it was like to fall in love before I met Sharon"; "It's not enough to say that I love Sharon. I owe my life to Sharon."
The book has two sections of photos, including nudity. Spending a weekend with Ozzy was great fun. He expressed his ideas surprisingly well and the reader can pretty easily visualize everything he described. He put me right into the rock scene of the past 40 years or so.
Drugs are the reason behind "The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America" by Don Lattin. In this remarkably engaging read, Lattin focuses on the four men named in the title, who came together at Harvard in 1960 to chart new territory as psychological and social experimenters. Much of the book's material comes from author interviews with the surviving three (Leary died in 1996) and people who knew them.
Timothy Leary "was once considered a rising star in mainstream psychology," but he was an iconoclast who came to "believe that traditional psychotherapy was a waste of time." After a friend raved about "magic mushrooms" in Mexico that gave him "mystical insights," Leary sought and completely embraced the mind-altering experiences he obtained from psilocybin in mushrooms, mescaline in the peyote cactus, and later, the synthetic drug LSD. He set up the Harvard Psychedelic Project, "thoroughly convinced that psychedelic drugs would revolutionize the practice of psychology." The egotistical Leary later thought of himself as the "high priest of the LSD movement," and at the Gathering of the Tribes at the Human Be-In in San Francisco in 1967, he famously urged everyone to "Tune in, turn on, and drop out!"
Richard Alpert was part of Harvard's Department of Social Relations Center for Personality Research, which hired Leary in 1959. Lattin calls him "the seeker," because he was looking not for a drug high, but for a religious experience. And he found it; in 1968, he returned from India as Ram Dass, wrote the now-classic "Be Here Now" and became a popular speaker and spiritual adviser. Huston Smith was born in China in 1919 to Methodist missionaries, studied in the United States and was ordained as a minister. He took part in the psychedelic research as a means of learning how people find a spiritual connection with God. But he left the group because he couldn't condone its members' "sexual immorality" and "heresy." Andrew Weil was interested in altered states of consciousness, but mostly those naturally produced -- laughter, physical exertion and chanting. He was drawn to Leary's research with "psychoactive drugs" found in plants. But he too became disillusioned.
The author tells anecdotes about all four men as they move around the country and the world. With them, we encounter famous scholars, authors, poets and rock stars. I was fascinated at how the four men were so dissimilar, each interested in different aspects of the mind/body/soul connection. These men "changed the way we see the very nature of reality," writes Lattin. They all went on to write books, and I jotted down several titles for further reading.
I have always been drawn to Huston Smith's writings on comparative religion, and I am pleased to say that finally, at the age of 90, he has written his autobiography, "Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine." Smith calls himself a "religious communicator, ... not a religious scholar." He writes that growing up in a village in China, "I didn't learn Christianity in Sunday school; I drank it in with my mother's milk. ... The Transcendent was my morning meal, we had the Eternal at lunch, and I ate a slice of the Infinite at dinner."
He plays down his interaction with Timothy Leary, but reveals that he met "special" people who opened his mind to complex ideas and a worldview of religion. He became well known when he taught a TV course on comparative religion and in 1958 wrote the popular "The World's Religions." He traveled extensively, carrying on a "love affair with the world." He writes, "I trained with Zen roshis in Japan. In India I practiced yoga with Hindu yogis. I whirled with the whirling dervishes in Iran. In Mexico I sweated in sweat lodges and took peyote with the Huichols. I meditated with Buddhist monks in Burma. I camped with Aborigines in Australia. ... My teacher of the world's religions was the world." He says he "practiced Hinduism unconditionally for ten years, then Buddhism for ten years, and then Islam for another ten years -- all the while remaining a Christian." At 90, he says he feels grateful and "finally" has a mantra: "God, you are so good to me."
Copyright © 2010 by Mary Louise Ruehr.
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LOCAL BOOK CLUBS:
The Kent Free Library’s book discussion group meets at 6:45 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month in the second floor meeting room at the library. Previous books discussed include “Moby-Dick” by Herman Melville, “The Great Gatsby,” “A Christmas Carol” and “Anna Karenina.” Members come from Kent, Stow and Rootstown, and everyone is welcome. The discussion is led by librarian Kristin Pool. Any questions should be directed to her at 330-673-4414.
The Book Discussion Group at the Randolph Library meets the first Monday of the month, except August, at 6:30 p.m. in the Randolph Senior Center. The group is open to everyone, and new members are always welcome. The library will stock copies of the books each month. Call the library at 330-325-7003.
Pierce-Streetsboro Library’s Book Discussion Group meets regularly on the second Monday of each month at 6:45 p.m. in the library’s meeting room. New members are always welcome to attend and participate in the discussion. The library is located at 8990 Kirby Lane in Streetsboro, next to the administrative offices of the Streetsboro City Schools. For more information, call the library at 330-626-4458.
The Book Discussion Group at the Mogadore Branch of the Akron-Summit County Library, 144 S. Cleveland Ave., 330-628-9228, meets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays to discuss books.
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The NCR Book Club looks at THE SEARCH FOR MEANING: A SHORT HISTORY by Dennis Ford
http://ncronline.org/node/17005
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For best-seller lists and more book news, go to:
http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4765547
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Here are links to other recent One for the Books columns. More links are available on my blog at http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light/one-for-the-books/
Keep It Short! -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4758011
The “Dome” Tome and “U” -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4753011
Revisiting Jane Austen -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4743712
Fun Christmas Reading -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4727452
Palin-Tology -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4718844
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Thanks for reading One for the Books. Please let us know what kind of book news you’d like to see on this page. Send e-mail to Books@recordpub.com. Send other mail to Mary Louise Ruehr, Books Editor, Record-Courier, 126 N. Chestnut St. (P.O. Box 1201), Ravenna, OH 44266.
“One for the Books” appears the second and fourth Fridays of the month in the Record-Courier. Extra columns may appear on occasion, especially preceding Christmas and Hanukkah.
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