John Burdett
John Burdett
John Patrick Burdett is a British crime novelist. He is the bestselling author of Bangkok 8 and its sequels, Bangkok Tattoo, Bangkok Haunts,The Godfather of Kathmandu, and Vulture Peak. His most recent novel in this series, The Bangkok Asset, was published on 4 August 2015...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 July 1951
intuitive shapes understanding
In the West, we've lost our intuitive understanding of how poverty shapes thinking.
discovered earlier few lives people thailand total
I discovered that Thailand was one of those countries, like Sri Lanka and India, where memory of past lives used to be commonplace. Go back a few generations, and you find people talking about earlier lives with total certainty.
advise agonizing aspiring block complain maybe novelists
'Shun security,' I advise aspiring novelists when they complain to me that they are stuck. 'Get disoriented. Maybe your agonizing writing block isn't agonizing enough. Your enemy is comfort.'
although fascinated time
I'm fascinated by Buddhism. I adore Buddhism, and I read about it all the time, but I haven't formally become a Buddhist, although I don't really know why I haven't. I guess I feel I don't need to.
ambition attitude driven drives legitimate life people spent thai time totally understood
In essence, the Thai people are not materialistic at all. They're not in the least driven by the kind of ambition that drives us. The more I got to know them, and the more time I spent with them, the more I understood that this was a totally legitimate attitude to life, and why not?
telling
If the world is telling you you're successful, but you don't feel it, you might as well have failed.
sorry enlightenment want
I don't want enlightenment, I want him. Sorry Buddha, I loved him more than you.
las-vegas expression glitter
Las Vegas is the expression, in glitter and concrete, of Americas brittle and mutating id.
world amazing-places
The world other than as advertised can be an amazing place.
buddhist mind contradiction
To a Buddhist, contradictions only exist in a mind that has been forced to cultivate them.
humility thinking kind
Expecting to be wrong about most things most of the time brings, finally, the kind of humility that leads to peace. I think.
income alternatives world
In Southeast Asia the world is understood to be a vast, complex network of interdependent relationships. So when global capitalism makes it impossible for small-time rice farmers to feed their families and make a living, it is a natural thing for anyone in the family who can find an alternative source of income to do so.
safety imagination rehearsal
It is quite amazing how hard the subconscious works when it is made to understand that this life is not a rehearsal, there is no safety net and no assurance of any final closure. It is also quite appalling to realize how catatonic the imagination can become when we hedge our bets, opt for the safer direction at every fork in the path.
buddhist buddhism talking
Just studying Buddhism, then meditating and going to Buddhist monasteries, talking to Buddhist monks, combined with the Thai people themselves, changed the way I look at the world.