HE FRENCH-BORN writer and photographer Matthieu Ricard earned a PhD in molecular genetics in 1972, and then walked away from his career to become a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan tradition. Today, Ricard is perhaps best known for his collaborations with neuroscientists studying the effects of meditation on the brain, and the results of some of these studies, which included him as a subject, have led to him being labeled as “the happiest person in the world.” Ricard’s memoir, , recently translated into English by Jesse Browner, beautifully illustrates the unconventional path that Ricard followed as a traveler in India, as a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in France, and as a world-renowned Buddhist monk. The book begins with the author’s first meeting at
