A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Tired of being an armchair activist, Isabel Losada decides to take matters into her own hands. From the streets of London to the temples of Dharamsala, in this adventure, Isabel falls in love with a monk, impersonates a member of the Chinese army, starts an activist organization, breaks the law, puts lives at risk (including her own), and appears on the news around the world. In the end, she meets the Dalai Lama to ask him the crucial question, "Can one person make a difference?"
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Losada, an English actress, singer and TV producer, detailed her New Age search for happiness in her previous book, The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment. Now she turns away from the "tummy-button" of her search for personal happiness to take on social action on behalf of Tibet, harshly occupied by China, and its leader in exile, the Dalai Lama. Losada is disappointed by British organizations working in support of an autonomous Tibet, because they don't necessarily embrace the Dalai Lama ("the sanest voice on the planet"). To ease her frustration, Losada makes some contacts, develops a Web site and dreams up some publicity schemes, including "tits for Tibet," involving topless women in a van. Cooler heads prevail, and the author settles for a parachutist jumping from Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square while unfurling a picture of the Dalai Lama, a stunt that attracts international news coverage. Losada also travels to Tibet and falls in love with a monk. An audience she has with the Dalai Lama is recounted in glowing terms. She seems unfamiliar with political, historical and religious complexities, but there's no doubt that Losada is a good-humored, hard-working activist for Tibet. Her heart is in the right place, but much of the time her head doesn't follow. Illus. not seen by PW.
