Catching the Big Fish

A charming audio by the film director, artist, and Transcendental Meditation devotee is part memoir, part meditation tutorial, and part layman's guide to finding the big ideas we need to fuel great personal expression. Though Lynch sounds mature and worldly, he brings immense freshness to this lesson. He shares a personally validated creative process that cuts through the noise about artistic expression and gets to the basic realities of unfettered personal discovery. The big fish swim far below, so we have to dive deep to find the ideas that express the strongest parts of who we are and what the world is all about. Lynch's rough voice pushes his material with relentless belief and determination. I can't imagine anyone else reading this as effectively. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

February 26, 2007
Lynch blends biography, filmography, spiritual quotes and his philosophical perspective on the life-changing capabilities of transcendental meditation, all within two and a half hours. Having practiced meditation for three decades, director Lynch discusses how it has influenced his life and helped him to concentrate his energy. Listeners may catch glimpses of creativity and consciousness, but Lynch's rants lack cohesion and substance. Within the audiobook's short chapters, Lynch barely broaches a topic before moving onto the next, leaving listeners to question his emphasis to go "deep." The most interesting aspects arise out of his anecdotes and comments about his films, like Eraserhead
and Blue Velvet
. His dry rattling voice hints at the passion behind his statements, but more often comes across as insistent and almost whiny. He reminds listeners that authors do not always make the best voices for their books. However, on the sound production end, the lightly blowing wind for the quotes from the Upanishads and Sutras adds mystical air to their reading. It's unfortunate that neither his words nor his voice live up to that standard. Simultaneous release with the Penguin/Tarcher hardcover