Siddhartha

Siddartha By Herman Hesse is my favorite book of all time. I have read it on numerous occaisons. It oftens sees me through darker times in my life. However the three copies I received were of the lowest quality books I have ever seen. Theres no page numbers, no copyright or publishing information in the front, no forwards, nothing. The first page in the book contains the title and Hesse and Holden Crowthers name and page two begins the story. The book is very tall and it seems like whoever published it was trying to save money on paper. Upon initial glances the actual translation seems off as well but I will have to confirm this using my older copies of Siddhartha. I will update this review with the names of my preferred translations as well as photos as I learn more. This has to be the cheapest physical copy of a book I have ever touched. It feels and looks more like a manual on how to put your IKEA furniture together. I bought 3 intending to gift these but Im a little apprehensive to give such a great book away in this form as it seems to very poorly put together. I purchased it for $5 bucks and some change for the soft cover with the bird on the front. One final thing I found odd was the date found on the very last page of the book. It says made in San Bernadino, Ca June 19, 2016. That is the same day I ordered it. Very odd. I dont mean to jump to conclusions but it seems like somebody has a fancy printer and is illegally reproducing and selling this book on amazon(surprised I should not be). The best way I could describe it is counterfeit. I would seriously look elsewhere for a copy of this magical text.

Siddhartha takes the reader on a journey with a man as he starts his physical and spiritual growth. The reader clearly sees the mans wants, desires, ego, and conceptions/misconceptions. There are so many nuggets of perception that I will reread passages many times for the insights they give me. Love this book for its message which is as timely now as when it was written in 1921.

I used to learn about Siddhartha, but this book is different. The new journal of Siddhartha is here. I like it.

It is apparent why this book is so highly regarded. As we struggle all of us at the pulls of the world it is grounded in the recognition that all is valuable. A lesson the world had time to contemplate in 2020... and which may serve as a path back.

excelent book again and again. Can be read every 10 years or so. Recommended for all ages. My son asked me to read it again and I did.... Fantastic.

I bought the hardcopy 5 years ago and read twice. This time I bought an e-copy so that I could read anywhere in the world and do not need to carry it with me. A very good book to read to understand life and human suffering.

Wonderful book. Five stars, but I have to dock one star because of the way Amazon is handling the translations. If choosing the right translation matters to you, be aware that the Kindle version on Amazon is the Susan Bernofsky translation, no matter what the cover image shows or (seemingly) what the author information says on Amazon. After initially downloading a Kindle version (reasonable at 99¢) I found the translation to be awkward in places and wanted to compare others. The translator is not listed anywhere in the actual Kindle book. I determined, by searching on other websites, that I probably was reading the Susan Bernofsky translation. After doing some investigating, I decided I wanted to read the Hilda Rosner translation and looked for a Kindle version of that translation. Twice I thought Id downloaded the preferred edition--once going by the cover, which matched the Rosner paperback, and once going by the fact that Rosner was listed along with Hesse as the author. Both times the downloaded copy turned out to be the Bernofsky. Caveat emptor.

This is an excellent read. I am not a big fan of religion and topics in said matter so I was quite apprehensive when I picked up the book. I read the book because it was part of a 10 mind blowing books list I found on the great wide intraweb I challenged myself to read. Needles to say I was completely surprised when I finished the book. While expecting it to be full of religious jargon not once during the entire time did I feel that this was a religious book that compelled me to repent and change my ways. Siddhartha is more a story of self discovery and allowing oneself to experience life as it comes and to grow from it. It is a story about love, anger, friendship, peace, sorrow, loss, and self reconciliation. It is a story abut coming to peace with oneself and accepting our choices and their consequences come what may. I am proud to include this as one of my top favouriite books, which is not an easy thing for a true bookworm to say.

I loved this book. Definitely gave me Alchemist (Paul Coelho) vibes...another book I also love. Lots of life lessons. Great story.

Yes, the Kindle edition has some typos and translation issues, but these are the sorts of issues that are par for the course reading translated texts, you can certainly get the overall gist of the story. Its an acceptable edition. Siddhartha is beautifully written, and worth reading. Its essentially a collection of essays, each trying to explain and illustrate concepts of Buddhist thought. The first story stands alone, and is as close to perfectas literature gets. The short version of the story is that a young boy named Siddhartha is trying to learn to lead a more perfect life, and after many trials and tribulations he comes to meet a mystic by the name of Gautama. For anyone who doesnt know, Siddhartha Gautama is the full name of the Buddha. This story serves as a biography for how the young Siddhartha came to be the Buddha, while at the same time serving as a metaphor for how people of the time- or indeed you as the reader- can come to understand the Buddha and his teachings. From that description alone you should be able to see all the layers in this book, its wonderful. The book does everything right. Its a good story on its own, but its also written in the style of Buddhist literature. There is a lot of repetition, as were present in the Buddhas own words, without getting annoying. There is adventure, metaphor, allusion, and biography. Its food for thought. Anyone worried about this sounding overly religious or hokey need not worry- the stories here are just as powerful if you read them in a perfectly secular way where the Buddha was just a wise man and not any kind of deity. As someone whos advanced in Buddhist/Zen thought myself, the message of the opening chapter is absolutely perfect. This continues through the book. If you want a play-by-play for exactly what Englightenment is supposed to be, how to attain it and how to live with it, the first story is one of the best examples Ive ever read. Id almost go so far as to say that you cant read the first chapter without getting it- its just too perfect of a description of what Enlightenment is- but human beings have an amazing ability to miss the point. So this book is great prose in and of itself, read as pure fiction its lovely. As a biography of the Buddha and his travels, its light on detail but rich in imagery. As a how-to manual for meditation and better living, its similarly amazing. An all-around class act, I wish this text- in a better translation- would be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to consider themselves learn-ed.