Meditation Now or Never

Steve Hagen sets out to write a book for beginners and end up scaring those same people away from what he instructs in. One third into the book I started feeling bullied by the author, I'm not regular enough, I need to do more, with more people, harder, faster, longer. And if my life is in the way, just chuck it out, we're meditating here goddamnit! I'd rather beginners read a less biased and rigid book for getting into meditation. I'd recommend "the three pillars of zen" many times over this book.

Hagen does deliver on the promise of this book: a simple and culture/religion-free introduction to meditation. It does get repetitive, especially around the middle sections of the book, but I haven't decided whether or not that was a necessary part of drilling home what meditation really means. It's certainly a book that I will end up re-reading as I continue to develop my own personal meditation practice.

Informative and a great baseline, it was super helpful to read it and implement parts over a week. A few times he either says things that dismiss things like anxiety and depression or doesn't fully explain a point but this doesn't take away from the overall narrative.