About the Book: Half-Known Life: In Search of Paradise
Paradise: that elusive place where the anxieties, struggles, and burdens of
life fall away. Most of us dream of it, but each of us has very different ideas
about where it is to be found. For some it can be enjoyed only after death; for
others, its in our midst-or just across the ocean-if only we can find eyes to
see it. Traveling from Iran to North Korea, from the Dalai Lamas Himalayas to
the ghostly temples of Japan, Pico Iyer brings together a lifetime of
explorations to upend our ideas of utopia and ask