Money back please?

Why does he have to say "shit" every other sentence? Waste of time and money.

9 people found this helpful

Down From The Himalayas!

How you do one thing, is how you do everything... Uh-oh...! I can be a coffee-guzzling spaz who zones out when I have time to relax. Can I be different?
Yes, thank heavens, I now know I can. "The Urban Monk" is a step-by-step practical guide to self-discovery and peace of body and of mind. Here's what's covered: Stress, The Art of Mastering Time, Energy, Sleep (and deprivation), Stagnant Lifestyle, Weight Gain and Negative Self-Image (which is a big one for me >sigh< ), Lack of Connection with Nature, Loneliness Even in a Crowd, Never Enough Money, and (YAY!) Living a Life with PURPOSE! What I like is that there's all this positive philosophy which has you thinking, "Yeh, yeh, yeh. But that's not applicable in the real world. I don't have those options;" and then Shojai has a specific case of a specific person, all of which you can relate with, and, son of a gun, there is help; there are options. Like, sometimes exercise is great, stress-relieving, right? But if you listen to your body, maybe you're doing the wrong kind of movement. The book is filled with a million things like that. Plus meditations (and I had to start with the most basic: Scanning your thoughts... because, really, I have a plethora of hamsters running around in my brain when I try to meditate), to media fasts, to herbs to have on hand, to, yes: Skipping on the Caffeine. Also, that time you're stuck in line behind that person with all the coupons? Great time for yourself, for your breathing, for your questioning of life and its wonders.
This is a wonderful little book that you can listen to again and again (but I was disappointed that Resources are referred to but Audible doesn't have any PDF files to go with it), with Shojai as an earnest and enthusiastic narrator. Yes, he does use some minor swearing (Hence the "Urban"?), but that just made things more authentic to my lifestyle (and by no means do I swear like a sailor, I assure you).
Worth the price, worth the time, worth the rest of your life...!

85 people found this helpful

my opinion.

every thing that he states that is wrong with our society is one hundred percent correct. however he spends to much time explaining and focusing on the problem. And not enough time focusing on the solution. I personally now the problem. and try to live in the solution. but it's very difficult. When most of the world is spiritual sick. we need more solution in this book.

50 people found this helpful

Goes from Ok, to Woo, to Outright dangerous

The book starts with simple and tried advice "Drink less caffeine, eat more soups and sleep more" to THIS COMMON CHINESE HERB HAS ANTI-CANCER SECRET BIG PHARMA DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW in a heartbeat.

Snake Oils salesman are a dime a dozen, saying the western world is filled with consumerism and then saying you should visit their website and buy the new life package for $49.99, but when you ourtright say a chinese herb can help prevent cancer, that's just dangerous.

4 star performance because he knows his snake oil pitch, but has to cus' every 3 words, something that really takes out of the "inner peace" mindset he's trying to sell.

28 people found this helpful

Extremely superficial

I get the feeling listening to this that self-confidence replaces real insight. This is spiritual and lifestyle thinking 101.

42 people found this helpful

The Urban Monk swears a lot.

I really enjoyed this book and found many great topics for myself and some I can share with my patients. I do however think the author should curb his cuss words. I am the first to use them in various situations but in a book like this? It just seemed incongruous and quite tacky. There was a lot of it. The author should realize that his readers are not only millennial who might find this cool, but I can assure him, it wasn't.
Pedram, you don't need to swear to emphasize your points. You are obviously very articulate and have an abundance of valuable information but I think you can take your writing to another level by omitting the poor word choices.

90 people found this helpful

Stereotypical pseudoscience

What would have made The Urban Monk better?

The author clearly has some biases against modern medicine, lifestyle and conveniences that don't mesh with 'the way of the ancients'. I can understand having a preference for what you find valuable in life, but insinuating how big pharma is in cahoots to destroy and enslave us is pretty ridiculous. There was a lot of questionable recommendations in the book, like how modern shoes prevent us from sharing electrons with the earth, so you should spend time walking barefoot. Also a lot of comments about restoring / maximizing your vitality. Its a vague goal that is difficult to track and measure but sounds enticing.

What could Pedram Shojai have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Use some science to back up the claims to make it more credible. I listened to 'The Big Picture' immediately before this one and the two are basically on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of credibility. I also find that most respectable Buddhist-style mindsets are open to having the theories challenged, so that they can either be improved or you can find truth for yourself, but this book feels more like "do as the ancients did because ancient lives were better."

What aspect of Pedram Shojai’s performance would you have changed?

The performance was alright, I appreciate it when the author reads their own material.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It will appeal to a certain demographic who already follow suit with the same train of thought (i.e. if you want to reinforce your pre-existing beliefs, this will be another nod). One redeeming quality - its not a long book.

Any additional comments?

I could only get through about 3/4 of the book before I had to end it, just couldn't get through it all and take it seriously.

66 people found this helpful

Expected more

the advice given is not original or thought provoking in any way...

on the plus side, the author limits the no of examples from biz / his personal life focusing on the advice itself. this resulted in a reasonably inspiring book.

15 people found this helpful

Good message, sometimes distracting

The book if full of great ideas and practices to help make positive changes, though there moments where the author's language choices become distracting (writing a book of philosophy while using urban slag and calling things out for being "bullsh*t" was challenging for me to maintain focus on the message)

2 people found this helpful

too much cussing

loved content. but hated all the cussing. wish I had hard copy for the resources

44 people found this helpful