Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to an ARC of this book.

When I was in my early twenties, Alan Watts was a name that anyone interested in psychedelics and eastern philosophy had to read. The Doors of Perception was passed around to all my friends.
I was excited to see that this book was available and that it was actually the first time being published.
I had a very hard time getting through it. I think there were various reasons.
It is extremely academic. The writing, his phrasing, his research, and how he presents his theme of polarity.
YOu had to batten down the hatches and vow to stay put in your chair.
I found the narrator very difficult to listen to. He made an academic treatise -- well much like being in university and you had to read this.

That said, Watts says what he has to say by telling stories, old legends that are as true today as they were thousands of years ago. The stories are fascinating. I particularly like the ones from India. And if the reader is interested, he shows us how these stories highlight polarity as a way of being. Something westerners have a hard time embracing.

I might try and read the book as opposed to listening to it. I'd like to know if my own voice would make the academic nature of Watt's storytelling and explanation more attractive to me.

I requested this audiobook because I spent many hours in my formative years reading and appreciating Watts's wisdom. The audio did not work for me, however. The narration is slow and ponderous in its discussion of polarized imagery in mythology throughout human history. But it was hard to follow when moving around and functioning as I often do while listening to audiobooks. Perhaps a female narrator would have worked better; the very introductory acknowledgments irked me in a way reading the author's printed work never did: I heard this pompous-sounding male voice thanking other (male) scholars and then naming two women who assisted in the typing of the work and screwed up my face in irritation.

Given how my attention wandered, I reached the end and thought about some of the beautiful imagery and ideas that had flitted through my mind while I listened, but I could not express any concrete ideas about God's two hands. This edition might be beneficial for anyone able to listen in quiet contemplation or as an adjunct to the written word, but I don't think it provides a good intro to Watts' work to a modern listener.