Stephen T. Asma, PhD, will be the first one to tell you he is not your typical idea of a Buddhist. He thinks gurus are screwballs. He eats meat. He drinks too much. He's not interested in giving up sex. If a guy like him can be a Buddhist, so can you.

In Why I Am a Buddhist, Asma argues the case for Buddhism. He is iconoclastic and unapologetic. Too often he asserts Buddhism is confused with the more faddish elements of California culture. Being a Buddhist does not require extreme vegetarianism, relentless meditation, or a variety of smells and bells.

In seven chapters, Asma presents a hard-headed and thoroughly entertaining case for the Buddhist way. Some of his topics include Buddhism and family life, Buddhism and art, Buddhism and global concerns, and Buddhism and Eros. His take on Buddhism is refreshing and it will make you want to find out more about dharma, karma, and everything in between.

Why I Am a Buddhist: No-Nonsense Buddhism with Red Meat and Whiskey, Stephen Asma, Hampton Roads, Hardcover, 179 pages, $21.95

Stephen T. Asma (born 1966) is Professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Scholar at Columbia College Chicago.[1] He is also a Senior Fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science, and Culture at Columbia College Chicago.[2] He works on the philosophy of the life sciences, and the theme of religion and science (especially Buddhism and Christianity). He is considered an authority on the history and philosophy of monsters and horror.[3] Additionally, he works on the philosophy of improvisation and imagination.[4] Together with actor Paul Giamatti Asma has argued that Imagination is an under-appreciated "6th Sense" and form of embodied cognition. [5] Asma was a Fulbright scholar in Beijing China in 2014.[6] He writes regularly for The New York Times, The Stone, and various magazines.[7][8][9] Asma is a recipient of the Henry Luce Foundation grant, Public Theologies of Technology and Presence. He is exploring friendship and prosocial affect in the digital age.[10] Together with Paul Giamatti, Asma is co-host and executive producer of the podcast Chinwag.[11]