Make no mistake, read this book and , whatever your views on the various routes to enlightenment it espouses, you will laugh a lot. Out loud and, according to my wife, annoyingly. This is the funniest book I have read since, well, Stephen Pile's Book of Heroic Failures (written a long time ago), which, now I come to think of it, has similar themes. I can imagine Mr Pile adding a section on the 'the world's least successful attempt at tantric sex - when a Ms Isabel Losada of Battersea went on a weekend workshop ... without a partner.' Or the world's least successful massage, 'When a Ms Losada of Battersea nearly lost her skin being 'rolfed'.' Indeed a number of these routes to happiness seem spectacularly unsuccessful, but others, surprisingly, appear to actually work - eg. colonic irrigation which left the author with an 'inexplicable feeling of happiness and well-being'. I am definitely going to try it - when I've plucked up the courage.
In addition to finding the book extremely funny and well-written, for me as an anglican Christian,it was also a bit of an eye-opener. I confess to long-harboured, deep suspicions about 'alternative' therapies. For many Christians (and the author appears to be of the 'post-evangelical-sits-lightly-to-actually-going-to-church' variety), there will be lots of questions about some of the 'new-age' practices described, about which the church is usually highly suspicious. But Isabel tackles each of her encounters with a healthy scepticism, and given the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent remarks about the value of new-age insights, this book provides a very accessible cynics guide to a number of well-established 'alternative' therapies. If like me, you too are sceptical then I would heartily recommend this book, at least if you're not easily offended by four letter words....
A great read, a surprisingly useful reference book, very funny (it needs to be placed in at least three sections of your local bookshop - health, humour, religion, books with odd covers, etc) and a book that demands a sequel exploring more roads to happiness - how about pyramids, crystals, yogic flying, thalassotherapy, or astral projection? But, as the book says, take care of yourself out there.
