Tales of Wonder

Written by Huston Smith

Narrated by Michael McConnohie

“In this delightful autobiography, Smith tells us how he became the dean of world religion experts. Along the way we meet the people who shaped him and shared his journey—a Who’s Who of 20th century spiritual America: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Merton and Pete Seeger.... A valuable master class on faith and life.”
— San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

As Stephen Hawking is to science; as Peter Drucker is to economics; and as Joseph Campbell is to mythology; so Huston Smith is to religion. Tales of Wonder is the personal story of the author of the classic The World’s Religions, the man who taught a nation about the great faiths of the world, and his fascinating encounters with the people who helped shape the 20th century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061952579

Huston Smith

Huston Smith is internationally known and revered as the premier teacher of world religions. He is the focus of a five-part PBS television series with Bill Moyers and has taught at Washington University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and the University of California at Berkeley. The recipient of twelve honorary degrees, Smith's fifteen books include his bestselling The World's Religions, Why Religion Matters, and his autobiography, Tales of Wonder.

Reviews for Tales of Wonder

[Kevin O Mutterback · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great mind. An essential read. Thank you Mr. Smith

[jsabrina-219220 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I keep wondering how much more detailed this memoir would have been if Smith had started writing it several years ago -- or if, perhaps, he were less modest. He is a fascinating, charming, very humanistic person who has lived an incredible life, one which would have easily filled out a memoir four or five times the length of this and remained interesting. But these anecdotes merely provide a graceful outline of his life; they don't dig into the details which would have taken it from "interesting" to "compelling."

Still, this memoir is well worth reading. As a student of comparative religion myself, I most enjoyed the second half, when he wrote about his spiritual explorations, including deep, decade-long dives into Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, his late-arriving exploration of indigenous religions (leading to a re-write of his major work), and even of entheogens as part of the spiritual journey.

There is a great deal of wisdom in the second half of the book, and I highlighted many passages, and shared many of them to my FB page. They will be worth returning to for more contemplation.

[georgee53-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The late Huston Smith was one of the great scholars of religion and the philosophy of religion. An explorer of spirituality and convert to the perennial philosophy of Aldous Huxley, he was also one of the clearest writers on complex subjects. This work should be compared to the excellent biography of Smith by Dana Sawyer, entitled 'Wisdomkeeper'.

[meredy_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Six-word review: Comparative religionist examines what shaped him.

Extended review:

For an autobiography of anyone, this personal history is short. For a man of (then) nearly ninety to tell his story in under two hundred printed pages seems remarkable. All the more so when the man is Huston Smith, a world-renowned scholar, traveler, author, and teacher in the field of comparative religion, and one who has a considerable appetite for being recognized and admired. So I must begin by awarding bonus points for keeping it brief, crisp, and relevant, with only a modest helping of self-indulgence and very little repetition.

Born into an evangelical Christian family as the son of American missionaries to China, young Huston was exposed to a variety of Eastern and Western religious practices from childhood onward. At sixteen he came to the U.S. to attend college and remained as a permanent resident. As a student he came under the influence of a mentor who encouraged and broadened his thinking in religious studies.

The hallmark of his career is first-hand experience: he didn't just learn about various spiritual traditions but joined them and followed their disciplines and teachings himself for significant periods of time. He was thus able to write about them in The World's Religions and other works from the inside rather than as an academic onlooker and impartial analyst.

The book is structured in two timelines: Smith's personal chronology and his spiritual journey, both depicted with rigorous selectivity through representative sketches rather than exhaustive detail. The two are intertwined but distinct. Together they deliver a moving account of how he came to be a celebrated expert on comparative religion as well as a fulfilled and self-realized individual. We detect some vanity here and a touch of false modesty, but we also see frank admission of error and an inextinguishable ardor for ever greater enlightenment. His narrative, if unapologetic, is also unsparing: he openly admits shortcomings of self-involvement and self-importance that for a time dangerously blinded him to the needs of those closest to him. Once seen, his personal failings are not defended but amended. One hardly thinks that any person could achieve the heights of accomplishment that he has reached without some personal cost.

I have met and spoken with Huston Smith on several occasions: decades ago when he taught a day-long class at Berkeley Extension; during the nineties, when he spoke at a zendo where I was a member; and, most recently, in 2004, when he appeared as a lecturer at East/West Books in Mountain View. In all cases and even (at the last of those times) when he had largely lost the power of speech, he radiated a contagious enthusiasm for his subject and a consuming excitement with the uplift of spiritual understanding. He has known real tragedy in his life, and now, at 95, he lives with considerable physical impairment, and yet his prevailing worldview appears to remain one of confident optimism in celebration of the infinitely faceted jewel of life.

When it comes to inspiration, I'm a hard sell, skeptical, resistant, not readily affected by anything calculated to move, lure, or seduce. I'm also a committed atheist with no place in my life for dogma and empty ritual. Yet I found myself drawn in by Smith's narrative, touched by the authenticity of his experience and, in spite of myself, uplifted by his joyous conviction.

On page 75 he says, "Now I am writing my memoirs, the book you have in your hands, and after it is finished I have still one more book up my sleeve. Stay tuned for what comes next." I'll stay tuned.  

[auntmarge64 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Huston Smith has been a well-known professor and lecturer on religion for decades, both around the world and on television. In 2009, he celebrated his 90th birthday as he was completing this autobiography.

Although he was raised the son of Methodist missionaries in China and has maintained his practice of Christianity, he has also immersed himself in and practiced Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. He's a close friend of the Dalai Lama, was present for a number of the dramatic events of the 20th century, including Tienanmen Square, and Kent State, and was instrumental in integrating Washington University (St. Louis) after he invited Martin Luther King there to lecture. Aldous Huxley, another of his guest lecturers, introduced him to Timothy Leary, who invited him to participate in the 1960s Harvard experiments into whether psychedelic drugs could provide religious experiences (his conclusion: they may, if taken under the right conditions, although "it is far less clear that they produce religious lives". Then he quotes Ram Dass on the continued use of these drugs - "After you get the message, hang up."). After the phenomenal success of [The Religions of Man] (1958), Dr. Smith investigated native religions in the U.S., Australia and elsewhere and in 1991 a new edition was published with the title [The World's Religions]. The book has been regarded as one of the best texts in comparative religion for over 50 years.

In his autobiography, Dr. Smith explores the three areas of his life: upbringing and career, married life and fatherhood, and spiritual journey. He uses few words, but they are perfectly chosen to give the reader a sense of intimacy with his experiences. Trying to sum up my feelings about this book, my first thought was that I'd been blessed - as though I'd been touched a bit by the holy myself.