There was something both disquieting and uniquely calming about these strange little books that Hesse wrote detailing his love and fascinating with Eastern thought and philosophy. I remember reading Hesse's 'Siddhartha' and 'Narcissus and Goldmund' right out of high school. Hopefully, Hesse shows us the way of a modern spirituality. I highly recommend Hesse to anybody looking for a spiritual experience devoided of the cheap magic tricks of «New age» culture.

In the Glasse Bead Game explore the tension between Joseph Knecht's love for his art and realization that he is hiding in an ivory tower avoiding the real world, its dangers but also its wonder. This book being its masterpiece, I shall say it was quite a reunion. It had been a while since I've read a book by Hesse, and reading the Glass Bead Game felt like rediscovering an old friend. He is not concern with magics or miracles but with the true nature of being human experience. The spiritual essence of his books is truly modern and devoid of supernatural claims. This is far from being the case of Hesse.

As a strong atheist - Hitchen like, I am very suspicious of any author who inflicts upon us superstitious fallacies. This is such a misunderstanding of the beautiful universe of wisdom and thoughtfulness to which Hesse invites his readers. Someone I met, was saying about Hermann Hesse that he did not wish to read his book as he perceived them to be new age litterature. Modern Spirituality devoid of Magic Tricks This is a great book, but many a reader may likely wonder what the heck is going on. The stories are only linked by their common exploration of the life of the mind.

These are very nice and have the spirit of parables or religious teaching stories. This is followed by the inclusion of three fictional stories written by the fictional protagonist. The last chapter of the book leaves the historical narrative format and is touching. If you love German histories and philosophers, you will likely love this book. If you are looking for a light science fiction story, this is not the book for you! If you have read Jung, Nietzsche & Mann you will likely appreciate the allusions to their ideas. Instead this history is used to explore philosophical ideas around thought and knowledge, belief and religiosity, and education and learning. The first part of the book is written as a future history of an individual player of the glass bead game and (like most histories) has rather weak characterization and story. This is an excellently written book but is much more an exploration of the ideas around the life of the mind than it is a novel.

The glass bead game by hermann hesse