Delightful, insightful and fun. This book weaves clear,classic Buddhist concepts with the adventure of snowboarding. This is a wonderful story of a young man encountering a spiritual teacher in Nepal.

I was cleaning out my bookshelves while I was reading "Turtle Feet" and came across "Surfing the Himalayas". Looking at the blurbs, I thought it might be interesting to contrast it with Grozni's book.

Unfortunately "Surfing the Himalayas" is truly awful--so dreadful I could barely make it through half of the book. Written in the style of a bad middle school essay ("How I Spent My Summer Vacation"), it makes Buddhism sound like an eternally sunny, self-centered, new-agey joy ride. No struggle, no searching--just find your teacher and your bliss. Variations on the words "happy", "ecstasy" and "enlightenment" are too numerous to count; in a "see no evil" view of the world, malevolence doesn't matter--just meditate and ignore your way past lies, war, oppression, cruelty, killing, hunger, poverty, slavery, death, and suffering.

Just how does one see and experience this light without acknowledging the darkness? It never sounded very appealing to me, this totally self-indulgent vision of happiness, which, of course, "can't be explained in words".

Read "Turtle Feet", instead, not only for the vibrant writing, but for a real view of the conflicts, contradictions, and constant inquiry involved in the practice of any spiritual life.

Not bad. Read it quivk, not quite my thing but written well

Good information, not well written.

2.5 A bit of a slog to get through. Lenz does give the reader a basic understanding of Buddhist principles - even so, I still was confused half the time.

Gawd, I tried to get through this book, and finally tossed it after this, on page 152:

"I asked Master Fwap if he would explain, in more physical terms, the high- and low-range "frequencies" he had mentioned to me. I thought I understood some of what he had said to me, but parts of his explanation still seemed difficult, if not impossible, for me to grasp.

"Master Fwap, would you please tell me a little more about these high- and low-range frequencies?

Yes, of course."

and, two paragraphs later

"What does that mean, Master Fwap?

It means that enlightenment exists..."

152 PAGES OF THIS! Plus, I'll bet tantric Buddhist monks don't! use! exclamation! points!

Bah.

This book was soooo fun to read! Not only was it fun, it was a very spiritual journey. I read this book in 2 days and loved it so much. It really gave me a lot to think about in the spiritual sense.

A solid introduction to the ideas behind Buddhism. I enjoyed the connection to board sports and American/Western society. Easy to read with interesting content.

Simply the best read I've had this year.

It was easy reading in the beginning but then it was work to get through and then the last half was a breeze. Buddhist thought mixed in with adventure and a bit of humor.

Good read - higher level Buddhist thinking for sure...so if you do not read a lot of B. philosophy, you might not like it.

Fairly interesting book about Buddhism, but it carries a strong whiff of exaggeration, even hoax. It's also very brief and doesn't come to any structural (or other type) conclusion.