The Billionaire and The Monk: An Inspirational Story About Finding Extraordinary Happiness

I enjoyed the book and passed it along to my brother who absolutely loved it too. ❤️

Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness. It consists more in conveniences of pleasure that occur everyday than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him. It is a beautiful book which is very inspiring and equally motivate the reader and answer the questions one had. It is not just a book it is an experience that is going to remain always with them who reads this book. Are you Happy ? Why can't you be happy ? To know the answer of these question give this extravaganza book a quality read. The author has penned all the characters and scenes very well. The book is narrated and written very amazingly. The cover and the title of the book is very captivating and catchy which holds the attention of the readers towards it and because of which the emotions flows lively. It is an amazing and inspiring read I must say. It is a page turner and motivating Book. The narration was smooth, and it captivates readers throughout. Overall its an excellent book and I would recommend it to everyone to give this book a read because it is not just a book it is the answer of your questions related to your life ....

The pursuit of happiness is a universal quest and this book holds out to every potential reader a possible understanding of how happiness may be achieved. As the relationship between money and happiness is the substance of many a debate --- some suggesting one cannot come without the other, some others advocating the possibility of a trade off, and some others insisting that one has got nothing to do with the other, the subject evokes interest and curiosity. The author has used a fictional vehicle to bring together ideas from an enormously wealthy “billionaire” and a world weathered “monk” who collaborate on a commercial project somewhere in China. These two protagonists remain nameless through out the book, possibly because the author wants the reader to look at them as typical representatives of the two groups they are named after --- billionaire and monk. The story largely unfolds in a place called Shangri La; the name obviously a hark back to James Hilton book Lost Horizon whose protagonist, after a plane crash in the Kun Lun Mountains, finds himself in a monastery by that name. The holy and happy people inhabiting that Shangri La are almost ageless and immortal. This story subliminally uses ‘Shangri La’ to evoke happiness.At the end of the book, both the protagonists, benefitting from the other’s expressed wisdom, have drawn up their own lists of their learnings related to happiness and money. These lists are presented at the end of the book as an executive summary of all its theses. While the manner in which the narrative educes these learnings through the story is a bit contrived, the reader gets some extra ‘happiness’ by reading the ‘learnings’ at the end, content that the ‘money’ he invested into the book has given him value.A short book, the average reader could finish it in one sitting while the real impatient one, if he wants to fast forward through the book, could just read the two lists of ‘learnings’ at the end. A pleasant read.

“Success is not the key to happiness, happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” ~Albert SchweitzerARE YOU HAPPY?The question which majority of us never ask to ourself in order to achieving more success in life.The Billionaire and the Monk authored by Vibhor Kumar Singh is a good piece of writing. The book is all about finding and understanding the real essense of happiness.As the title reflects, this is a story of a billionaire and a monk who is linking himself back to the materialistic world. The story portrays it very well, how an individual themself responsible for all the happiness in their life.The book talked about all possible aspects by which one can achieve the true happiness in their life. The chapter which talked about minimalism is the one I liked the most. Detaching yourself from the materialistic world or reducing your need is how one can achieve the happiness in life.There's a lotta lessons that can be grabbed or learnt from this book. If you love reading or want to explore self-help genre, this one will be a worthy pick for you.Commenting upon the writing style,I like to mention the author kept the book in simple and lucid. The pace is average and the entire book is well synchronised. A beginner friendly.My rating-4.2/5🌟

This book is about two men from different walks of life who learn that neither robes of materialism nor total renunciation of worldly life is required to attain happiness. It is a story about understanding that happiness is not a philosophical enigma but an attainable state of the mind. This is an endeavor to uncomplicate happiness and find the extraordinary answer to the seemingly ordinary questions regarding happinessHappiness is a very difficult topic which has been tackled by this book. The feeling of happiness is simple and uplifting but somehow rare to experience. I initially assumed that the billionaire is struggling with his dilemmas regarding happiness and a monk will enter his life and be the the problem solver. Though the first half of my assumption turned out to be correct but then in this book even the monk is struggling with his dilemmas which comes with immense knowledge. So I really liked this unique aspect where both the characters are helping each other to untie their knots.Though I cannot deny that to a major extent it was pretty cliched and predictable. Maybe it is because I have read quite a lot of books on philosophy. In the beginning, I found the writing a little dry and stiff. But eventually I did like the exchanges between the two characters and the way they reached a realization. I think the interaction between the characters is what truly sets the book apart.Overall the book is short and simple. The language is easy to comprehend and the author has conveyed the principles and philosophies very smoothly. To some extent it was enlightening and a plethora of essential topics requisite for holistic wellbeing has been touched here. I think I would recommend this book to only those who do not read philosophy that much and would like to delve in this genre.