Alan Watts

Alan Watts (1915–1973) was a British-born philosopher, writer and speaker who did more than anyone to introduce Eastern thought to the American counterculture. Works like Out of Your Mind and his many talks on Zen, Tao and "the tao of philosophy" popularised ideas of the self, nature and reality with dazzling clarity and wit.

Trained as an Anglican priest and a scholar of Zen, Watts never claimed to be a traditional Buddhist, instead offering a playful, existential reading of Eastern and Western philosophy. His recordings and books, far ahead of their time, continue to reach new generations of spiritual seekers.