You're It!

Watts' words chime like a bell, inexplicably clear

The experience of hearing somebody talk has never been so fruitful. Watts' clarity and spirit resonate with wonderful energy, reverence an humour.

I listened to the entire 12 hours over the course of a week. I am now about to start listening all over again. The intellect of the man is unrivalled in its expression through the spoken word.

For many years I have been loath to think of the spiritual, due to an association with the seemingly flimsy concepts of the main theistic religions.

It is sometimes tempting to dichotomise a view of the world into scientific or spiritual terms - Alan Watts' genius is in his unrelenting, logical and passionate questioning of all preconceptions, which reveals to us that all our ideologies and rationalities are founded upon ultimately fallible principles.

His philosophical rigour is formidable, but his spirit playful. I think that listening to this audiobook would, to varying degrees, irrevocably alter anybody's world view. A gift.

20 people found this helpful

Strange audiobook

Where does You're It! rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Anything with Alan Watts name on is gong to be enigmatic and motivating. His form of pragmatic spiritualism is great for western listeners as he's mediating between his understanding of eastern philosophy/spiritualism and western culture. This book is not really a book, it's a recording of some his lectures in America. The audio quality is not great - imagine watching lecture video filmed from the middle row. But his content is great and hearing the audience and the way he works with them is as intriguing an experience as reading some high minded literature. It makes you wonder how much his charisma was a cause for his popularity as we're his ideas.Not your regular audiobook and requires some dedicated listening - I tend to dip in and out every few weeks - I enjoy it every time.

22 people found this helpful

Could have been better

Anyone familiar with Alan Watts knows what to expect from this. The downside is how the makers have put it together. They have formed it into ‘sessions’ like they should be the one deciding what you hear and shouldn’t. This results in sessions ending before Alan has even finished the point but the makers have decided you’ve heard all they want you hearing of that specific point so they go on to the next session. Several sessions later you may find it comes back to something mentioned in a previous session resulting in a somewhat distorted and confusing course. Other downside is sometimes you can hear what is about to be said by Alan faintly at a low volume like he is at the front of the room and you at the back, then you hear it repeated at the normal level of the book. This produces a really annoying echo effect where you can’t concentrate on what he is saying because you are already hearing what he is going to say next. At the beginning it’s like watching someone on a merry go round, it’s not that bad; as time progresses however you find your head getting sore and the whole thing difficult to follow. The final downside is the layout of the chapters. Common sense would tell you if the makers have broken it down into sessions that each chapter would be the corresponding session; you’d be wrong. One chapter can have several sessions so if you want to go back to a session to listen again because there was something relevant or important in it; you’re going to have to skip through manually until you find it and then save it because first time round you don’t know what is going to be relevant and what isn’t until you finish it. Conclusion is great as always from Alan; abysmal layout and formatting from the makers.

6 people found this helpful

You really are your own God.

If you could sum up You're It! in three words, what would they be?

This is a clearly illustrated ancient message, put across in excellent audio format.

What other book might you compare You're It! to, and why?

I compare this to the likes of David Hawkins, for its depth, intelligence, and educational value.

What does the narrator bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Alan Watts is a superb, charismatic performer, who brings passion, enthusiasm and most of all a down to earth feel about it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened to it a bit at a time because of its educational purpose.

Any additional comments?

Alan Watts was a talented educator, who knew his subject extremely well.

6 people found this helpful

amazing

This book is exceptional. You can learn and understand so much from listening to this very clever, funny man. I would rate it with ten stars if I could.

6 people found this helpful

Best philosophy book

If you could sum up You're It! in three words, what would they be?

Simple, fun, understandable

Any additional comments?

Allan Watts talks about philosophy in a fun, practical way which is easy to understand and to translate/use in everyday life. Highly recommended!

5 people found this helpful

If you have a hole in your life, get this.

Alan Watts is the real deal. He left the world with a lot of audio & video material for us enjoy, long before we had YouTube. Yet his work has stood the test of time, and is a bit of a YouTube star,



You will not be disappointed with this audio collection. Lots for you to contemplate on, and plenty of laughs, and stories along the way, to help you understand what he is talking about.

4 people found this helpful

There is wisdom, but presented in a ramble

I found this hard to digest and unpack because Alan tends to go off on constant tangents.

1 person found this helpful

Enjoyable

Plenty of fun ideas and perspectives,very fun to listen and potentialy life changing.strongly reccomend it.

1 person found this helpful

very comprehensive

covered all the angles Very good book Well delivered Loved it Deep Funny Thought Provoking

1 person found this helpful