Wednesday, January 17, 2024

MICK BROWN: Eastern/Western Journalistic Journeys


Mick Brown's new book The Nirvana Express is a substantial and valuable historical vehicle exploring as it does the Western interest in Eastern religions and spiritual thoughts from Victorian times to the 1960s world of beatniks and LSD hippydom and beyond. There are gurus galore of varying credibility up to the present day. This follows on from two earlier books: The Spiritual Tourist [1998] (an account of his own trip to India) and The Dance of 17 Lives [2004] ( an extraordinary investigation into the world of the Dalai Lama) 

Mick Brown was a top rate journalist for the Sunday Times for ten years and works as a main feature writer for the The Telegraph's magazine and many other outlets. 

His string of remarkable journalistic journeys includes his book American  Heartbeat [1993] which documents his travels across and up and down America from Woodstock to San Jose by Song Title on the grounds that the geography and emotional landscapes of America have been mapped out like no other country's in music and song.


In February1998 I received a curious and completely unexpected invitation... Would I like to interview Carlos Castaneda?' To the uninitiated, the invitation will mean nothing. But those who came of age in the Sixties counter-culture will recognise that it was like being invited to peruse the Cretan Minotaur.'

Mick allowed The Generalist to reprint this piece. It is one of our most popular posts. [See: Carlos Castaneda and Don Juan; Truth or Fiction /May 18th 2016]



[Mick has also written music biographies of  Richard Branson  and  Phil Spector. The latter book called 'Tearing Down The Wall'  is reviewed on April 11th 2007]