Fifteen Paths: How to Tune Out Noise, Turn On Imagination and Find Wisdom

Written by David Weitzner, PhD

Narrated by Steve Menasche

Prescriptions for imaginative living in today's noisy and ever-narrowing world

Our social conversation has gone awry. We are surrounded by noise and retreating to social media bubbles. As conversations across ideological divides become increasingly difficult, we as a society need to rethink what it means to listen, to think, to create, and to be democratically engaged citizens. Fifteen Paths documents the journey of a disillusioned business professor who came to realize that in order to transcend the noise, we need more imaginative expressions and fewer argumentative ones.

David Weitzner sought the counsel of fourteen iconoclastic artists, including Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band), Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Lydia Lunch, and Del the Funky Homosapien. The book offers fifteen concrete courses of action to reimagine a socially engaged life and an afterword documenting the surprising outcome of the author's personal journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ascent Audio
• Release date: Apr 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781469073668

Reviews for Fifteen Paths

[landschaft_archt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Weitzner describes his personal relationship with non-traditional creative professionals through a series of fifteen conversations. We learn how these individuals approach their craft and career related life history. These fifteen represent a variety of creative professionals from the author’s personal network, mainly in the indie music and stage performance fields. By describing the variety of approaches to making a living as a creative professional in our current era the author also confronts his angst generated by the era of Trump mass delusion. Well written and documented this reviewer found this book interesting to read and appreciated the introduction to unfamiliar artists. This book will be of interest to those readers interested in exploring approaches of how to live and work “outside the box” of the mass media capitalist mindset. Bibliography recommended.

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

Fifteen Paths tells us how discordant art can bring harmony and wisdom into our lives. It's a refreshingly original book that I devoured in just two sittings. One caveat though: David Weitzner is a huge music nerd and many of his ideas are inspired by alternative rock artists of the 80s. For me, reading this book was a blast in the past. I enjoyed the interviews with artists and the references to various live shows. However, if you're not familiar with Sonic Youth, Fishbone, Sisters of Mercy and other bands of that ilk and era, you may be more disoriented than enlightened.

Note: this book was provided free by the publisher. This review is strictly my own.