The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without—John Oakes—Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster—Hardcover —9781668017418—320 pages—$30—February 13, 2024—ebook versions available at lower prices
If you’re expecting to find a “how to guide to fasting” you will have to look elsewhere. John Oakes is far too good a writer and thinker to spend his time writing something simple like a guide book or even a “rah rah” tome aimed at encouraging you to take up the idea of “intermittent fasting” for yourselves. You might decide to try it out after reading The Fast, but that’s not his purpose and not why you should want to read this book. If you are already engaged in fasting, you should read this book. Perhaps it will be most especially useful during the meditative moments while you are in the midst of your own fast.
Oakes is more interested in a deeper approach to this practice, giving it historicity and enabling us to explore for ourselves how denial of a core bodily function can alter consciousness and help us better understand ourselves. This kind of antidote to the habits of modern life does have an appeal to many of us, but even if you are not going to be a practitioner, you will find yourself captivated, as he is, by the science, history, philosophy and spiritual background of fasting and the denial of physical needs. For Oakes, the ideas and the connection to human spirituality are as important as the specific practices themselves. I’m glad of that, as it makes reading this book that much more rewarding to engage with.
I will also note that Oakes, who has been an editor and publisher for many years, is a really terrific writer and therefore you can read this book for the pleasure good writing affords. As I am sure many of you who listen to this podcast have noticed, there are a lot of badly written books out there and no one wants to spend their limited time reading them. Given the vast number of choices of what to read, it is a particular joy to discover a really good writer. Bravo Oakes for spending a lifetime learning how to write, and bravo Avid Reader Press for publishing this book. I hope you will consider reading it yourself after you listen to our conversation here. Whether you decide to fast or not. For myself, much as I like this book, I am happier eating than not, even if it is an indication of my generally shallow approach to spirituality.
I’ve known John Oakes for a number of years through our mutual involvement in independent publishing. He is currently the publisher of The Evergreen Review. He is also editor-at-large for OR Books, which he cofounded in 2009. OR has been a singularly contrarian publisher for many years, built to demonstrate an alternative approach to traditional reliance on a certain popular online bookseller. Oakes has written for a variety of publications and The Fast is his first book.
We had alot of fun talking together about John’s book. Enjoy…
You can buy The Fast here.
The post John Oakes: The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without first appeared on WritersCast.Lan Samantha Chang: The Family Chao (A Novel)
William J. Peters: At Heaven’s Door-What Shared Journeys to the AfterLife Teach about Dying Well and Living Better
Enrique Salmón: Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science
Peter Quinn: Banished Children of Eve: A Novel of Civil War New York
Geoff Rodkey: Lights Out in Lincolnwood (A Novel)
Publishing Talks: Interview with Jeff Deutsch of Seminary Co-op Bookstores
Publishing Talks: Interview with Ben Fox of Shepherd.com
Susanne Paola Antonetta: The Terrible Unlikelihood of Our Being Here
Nelson Johnson: Darrow’s Nightmare-The Forgotten Story of America’s Most Famous Trial Lawyer
Publishing Talks: Interview with Roxanne Coady of R.J. Julia Booksellers
Ross Benes – Rural Rebellion: How Nebraska Became a Republican Stronghold
Anders Dunker: Rediscovering Earth
Frank Figliuzzi: The FBI Way – Inside the Bureau’s Code of Excellence
Publishing Talks: Interview with Angus Yuen-Killick of Red Comet Press
Publishing Talks: Interview with Kyle Schlesinger of Cuneiform Press
Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics by Sydney Ladensohn Stern
Publishing Talks: Interview with Arthur Attwell
Surviving Genocide: Native Nations and the United States from the American Revolution to Bleeding Kansas: Jeffrey Ostler
Even as We Breathe, A Novel: Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Grimms’ Fairy Tales
The Count of Monte Cristo
Esquire Classic Podcast
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi