Ian Lamberton’s small but powerful book offers a wonderfully accessible descriptive narration of his meditation practice.

Lamberton has been fascinated by his mind’s workings since he encountered Transcendental Meditation as a Peace Corps volunteer in the mid-1970s. In 78 short thought pieces, he shares how he learned to take a break from the world’s and the self’s demands to accomplish, acquire, and consume. By sitting in silence for two minutes to an hour, he has discovered “the ideal moment of quietness, [when] you are entirely awake, alert, and aware. But there is no thought in your mind, nor any urge to think.” Energy rushes in and personal transformation is possible.

Lamberton offers simple instructions for how to make the time and physical comfort to meditate and how to observe the inevitable thoughts without engaging with them. Most of the thought pieces describe the physical sensations of seeing, floating, observing the errors of a lifetime’s worth of assumptions, and experiencing “for a moment of indeterminate length, the fullness of peace.” Throughout, Jason Ramay’s winsome pen-and-ink illustrations complement the text.

In the book’s crisp design and its concise length, Lamberton and Ramay have created a book that tantalizes readers with the possibility of inner peace. Not a beginner’s guide, this is a thoughtful travelogue of one man’s practice, much of which will be relatable to anyone bedeviled by deadlines, responsibilities, and self-doubt.

Lamberton has a gentle sense of humor (“If a thought does approach, you are as light and buoyant as a beachball and nearly as unconscious”), a nice contrast to his edgy descriptions of how “thoughts course your brain like disembodied jaws, snapping, biting…” Ramay’s illustrations convey both the jagged edges of the mind’s wiles and the joyful lightness of not thinking.

Replete with vivid metaphors, this is a highly user-friendly, enjoyable offering that readers seeking peace through meditation will cherish.

Also available as an ebook.