Mediocre Monk: Grant Lindsley on what he learnt in his stumbling search for wisdom in a Thai forest monastery
EPISODE 1431: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Grand Lindsley, author of MEDIOCRE MONK, about Theravada Buddhism, ultimate frisbee, and what wisdom he brought back from his solitary quest for wisdom in a Thai monastery
Grant Lindsley is a writer in Brooklyn, New York. He encountered his first Buddhist monk as an undergraduate at Carleton College, where he majored in psychology and minored in neuroscience, because he was majorly interested in himself and minorly interested in himself on drugs. He subsequently spent months training as a monk with the Thai Forest Tradition, a sect of Theravada Buddhism that seeks to follow the exact rules of the historical Buddha from over 2,500 years ago. Lindsley has worked at NOLS and briefly worked at Google until publishing his resignation letter in The Washington Post. An accomplished Ultimate Frisbee player, he has won multiple national championships and two gold medals for Team USA at the World Games. He received his master of fine arts in creative nonfiction from Pacific University and his master of business administration from Cornell Tech. He enjoys pranks and being outside with his family.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Major Tom Schueman and Zainullah Zaki: Remembering the US War in Afghanistan and the Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter
Wendy Smith on Profit AND Social Responsibility? How Today's Leaders Should Confront Our Toughest Problems
Nick Kostov on the Carlos Ghosn Story: A Modern-Day Greek Tragedy or the Parable of a Shameless Criminal Mastermind?
Kate Finn: Today Is International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. But What Should We Be Celebrating?
Elliot Ackerman: Why the American "Retreat" From Afghanistan Was a Giant Fuck-Up And How It Represents the Final Act of a Classic Five-Part Tragedy
Sabine Hossenfelder: An Existential Physicist Answers Life's Biggest Questions: Does God Exist? Is There Life in the Universe? Are We Living In a Simulated Reality?
Alan Murray: Tomorrow's Capitalism: Searching For that Elusive "Soul" of American Business
Anthony Marra: The Tools Which Allow Novelists to Create More "Realistic" Characters Than Those You See on the Screen
David Chalmers: If the World Itself Is a Giant Simulation, Then What's the Difference Between the Virtual Reality of Cyberspace and "Real Life"?
Liska Jacobs on The Pink Hotel: A California Novel Where You Can Check In But You Can't Check Out
Steven Thrasher: In the Age of Covid and Monkeypox, Should We Be Prioritizing the Health of the "Viral Underclass"?
Dwyer Murphy: How to Write About the City? Go Out Without an iPhone
Isaac Saul: Yes, "Truth" Still Exists in the Misinformation Age, But It's Unlikely to Make Many of Us Happy