Zen and the Beat Way by Alan Watts Is set in the late fifties and sixties. Its author reminds me of a pre- hippie. He was a former Episcopal priest who left his home in England and his religion for California and Zen Buddhism. He was against the culture of the time. His seems his thoughts of eastern religion were a bit of center. He was humorous at times and definitely was against the rat race and opted for one to have more fun.

The book is basically about several radio lectures from the radio series Way beyond the west. He says Zen is "a cure for education and culture."

He states in the book "The materialistic industrial societies are increasingly caught in a round-the clock whirl in which people are trapped, day after day, in a breathless grind of facing deadlines, racing the clock between several jobs...