This curious amalgam of New Age spirituality and war reporting is the second book from the second generation of Chopra ruminators. (Gotham is the son of bestselling author Deepak; his first book of nonfiction was Child of the Dawn.) Its framework is ambitious for such a slim volume. Examining nine steps drawn from the life story of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha—"fare," fear, refuge, surrender, discipline, temptation, freedom, compassion and death—Chopra travels to the world's hot spots (including Pakistan, China, Kashmir and the Yucatán) as a correspondent for Channel One. Although accounts of touring Chechnya with a band of unpredictable Russian guides and meeting with members of the Sri Lankan army—referred to by the State Department as a "pack of bloodthirsty murderers"—are gripping, Chopra's analysis of age-old conflicts seems strained and oversimplified. Unfortunately, he's not always mindful of the warning he receives from a recalcitrant Yucatán elder who accuses him of being an analyzer rather than a watcher: "There's a difference between witnessing the world as it is and trying to force your own reason around it." Chopra is at his best writing what he knows, especially when he interviews a Hindu uncle who was living in Lahore when Pakistan secured official partition from India in 1947. This account of the death of another relative at the hands of an angry Muslim mob is worthy of a book unto itself—in fact, it may just be the saving grace of this one. (May)
Forecast:Chopra's first effort eaked out sales based on not more than his last name. Can he do it again? Moving from Amber Allen (his first publisher) to Doubleday will help, as will the September 11 tie-in.
