The Weekend Read – The Buddha, Geoff and Me by Edward Canfor-Dumas

Sometime during the days following October 10th 1957 my father delivered my 4 year old self, wrapped in pyjamas and dressing gown, to The Laurels, Huntley. We made the journey because my brother had just been born, a home delivery, and I presume my Mum, whose 86th birthday it would have been today, needed some space.

The Laurels in those days was the home of Bill and Nan Lane and their family, they had 5 children, the youngest of whom Christopher was at least 10 years older than me. The next up was Rachael at that time in the sixth form at Gloucester High School for girls in Denmark Road.

It was during this visit that Rachael taught me to read, I can still remember the patient way she helped me distinguish the shapes and forms of the words and how they made sense. I have never looked back.

I was frequently “left” with the Lane family, who had been a part of my parent’s “courting” days, I loved being there, in what seemed to me to be a huge house in the country. Later on I remember sitting outside the house at the side of the A40 selling plums for  a week or more reading my way through Enid Blyton’s Famous Five novels, I must have been 8 or 9 – what would the Daily Mail say now? (Child left at roadside to peddle fruit, at risk from every passing pervert!).

Books again, so having “got it” my home was a treasure trove, my father worked for William Collins the publishers and so was forever coming home with all sorts of books, I couldn’t tell what was “adult or child” so if it was on the shelf I helped myself and got on with it or didn’t.

I have bought, skimmed, scanned, read or just ignored most of the popular, self-improvement books. It’s my nature, it’s part of being a coach to know what tools to suggest for my clients to use. So when I read in an ezine (ironically I can’t remember whose) someone suggesting this book as a good read I gave it a go.

The story is straightforward, Ed has just split up from his girlfriend, he hates the job he’s doing and his life is generally going nowhere. He bumps into Geoff in the pub one lunchtime, falls into conversation with him, helps him unblock a drain and listens to little of his philosophy. This first meeting leads to many more and follows Ed’s exposure to the form of Buddhism followed by Geoff, through Ed’s devout scepticism of all forms of religion to a gradual acceptance of the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin.

What’s unusual about this book is the effect it had on me, I read it in three sittings and, on completion,  started it again and am more than half way through my second read.

I have problems explaining why it’s so good, it’s well written without a doubt, the author is a highly skilled and experienced writer for TV, both drama and comedy, and advertising. Perhaps the message was right for me right now as I felt it’s a book I had been waiting to read.

Whatever, I urge you to read this book, enjoy the experience and let it weave its spell on you.

It’s available from my Amazon store here.