Transcend

Transcend, Richard Joseph, Stoic Press, 2001

Most of this book is an autobiography of your average New Yorker, who, after college, was not sure what he wanted to do with his life, so he decided to see America. He bought a used car and headed west. He slept at campsites and hostels and worked as a cook at Glacier National Park along the way. He hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and discovered, the hard way, that he had chosen the wrong trail on the return trip.

He got word of a job teaching English at a school in Korea, so, after getting the required permission, off he went. He left the school after a few months; the trip turns into a sixteen-month odyssey through Asia from Korea to India. His companion is Jes, a young woman from British Columbia. To say that the trip, especially their time in India, could be described as "sensory overload," would be a huge understatement. Joseph begins to realize that after seeing people forced to live on the equivalent of a couple of dollars per day (most of the world), the urban American complaints about traffic and work stress seem pretty silly and meaningless.

Returning home to New York City, he attempts to reconnect with his friends. To his dismay, he finds that they haven't done any emotional growing up during his absence. They just want to stay home and watch TV, while Joseph wants to, at minimum, have a few beers at the local bar.

On a later trip to Japan, he discovers a huge market for American vintage clothing, the sort that would be found at the local Salvation Army. Driving cars cross country for a car rental company, he stops in thrift stores along the way to check out their stock. Upon reaching the West Coast, he continues on to Japan and sells the clothing at 10 or 20 times the purchase price.

The rest of the book is Joseph's attempt at psychology. He talks about what he calls Objective Truths. Everyone will die someday. There is no objective, scientific proof that an Afterlife exists. Is it possible that the Afterlife was created by early humans to give them something to look forward to; to tell them that this life isn't "it"? He also talks about how America is the richest, and most wasteful, society on earth.

Others are more qualified than I to judge the psychology part of this book, but I enjoyed the whole book. I appreciated the travelogue, and the perception that there is much more to life than work and TV and thinking that Americans are The Chosen People. It may take some effort on the part of the reader, but this book is more than worth the time. It is well worth reading for all Americans.