"The Half-Known Life": Pico Iyer's hunt for the roots of human bliss

For more, visit https://www.wypr.org/show/midday  (This conversation was originally broadcast on January 27, 2023.) Tom's guest on this archive edition of Midday is Pico Iyer, who for more than 50 years has been acclaimed as a compelling, insightful and thoughtful writer. He has published widely as a journalist, and he’s written novels, but he is perhaps best known as a travel writer. He has journeyed to the far corners of the globe, and written with a deep sense of wonder, compassion, sensitivity and radiant kindness. Since 1992, Iyer has divided his time between western Japan and a Benedictine hermitage in California. Born in Oxford, England in 1957, Iyer was raised in England, India and the United States. His parents taught philosophy and religion at Oxford University, and at the age of 17, his father introduced him to His Holiness, the Dali Lama. Iyer became the Tibetan Buddhist leader's frequent traveling companion, and in 2008, he published his biography, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. He’s taught writing, literature and journalism at Harvard and Princeton. He’s been a columnist for Time Magazine. He’s published 15 books that have been translated into 23 languages. He’s given numerous TED Talks, which have been viewed more than 10 million times. Pico Iyer's latest book examines how different cultures conceive of, understand and pursue spiritual fulfillment, and the connection of different places to the quest for inner and outer peace. It’s called The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise.  He joined us on Zoom from Santa Barbara, California. Because today's conversation was previously recorded, we won't be taking any calls or emails.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.