Sometimes brilliant : the impossible adventure of a spiritual seeker and visionary physician who helped conquer the worst disease in history

"The unforgettable, entertaining, and inspiring memoir of the activist, teacher, entrepreneur, and spiritual leader that illuminates some of the most revolutionary events of a generation, many of the legendary people who defined it, and a towering figure at the center of it. Larry Brilliant's life journey has led him on a purposeful path across continents and countercultural movements, marching arm-in-arm with the men and women who defined a generation. A man who has always been in the right place at the right time, Brilliant has engaged with some of the most prominent thought leaders, spiritual masters, heroes, and icons in the world, including Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), Martin Luther King, Jr., Steve Jobs, Mikhail Gorbachev, Wavy Gravy, the Grateful Dead, the Dalai Lama, and Barack Obama. But this self-proclaimed "typical Jewish kid from Detroit" was no accidental witness to history. Brilliant is a force of nature in his own right, responsible for some of the most significant medical, spiritual, and social achievements of the past century--from the eradication of smallpox and treatment of blindness to introducing the teachings of the Maharajji to the Woodstock Generation, to launching Google's philanthropic enterprises. Now for the first time, Brilliant reflects on his remarkable life and his extraordinary experiences as a doctor, innovator, philanthropist, and cultural revolutionary. As he recalls the past fifty years and all that he has seen and done, this masterful storyteller offers transformative messages of wisdom and compassion that will inspire everyone to work towards a better, more brilliant existence. His is a truly cinematic and fun journey--and a profound search for meaning that provides a new perspective on what it means to be engaged with life's most important questions"--;In medias res, the middle of things -- Nickelodeons -- Woodstock on wheels -- Magic bus trip -- Renunciation -- Initiation -- You are no doctor -- Prophecy -- Apprenticeship -- Karma Yoga -- Escape from Central Prison -- After-death experience -- Tales of the jungle -- City of the Tatas -- Smiling Buddha -- The goddess of smallpox fights back -- The final inch -- The case for optimism -- Epilogue. "The unforgettable, entertaining, and inspiring memoir of the activist, teacher, entrepreneur, and spiritual leader that illuminates some of the most revolutionary events of a generation, many of the legendary people who defined it, and a towering figure at the center of it. Larry Brilliant's life journey has led him on a purposeful path across continents and countercultural movements, marching arm-in-arm with the men and women who defined a generation. A man who has always been in the right place at the right time, Brilliant has engaged with some of the most prominent thought leaders, spiritual masters, heroes, and icons in the world, including Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), Martin Luther King, Jr., Steve Jobs, Mikhail Gorbachev, Wavy Gravy, the Grateful Dead, the Dalai Lama, and Barack Obama. But this self-proclaimed "typical Jewish kid from Detroit" was no accidental witness to history. Brilliant is a force of nature in his own right, responsible for some of the most significant medical, spiritual, and social achievements of the past century--from the eradication of smallpox and treatment of blindness to introducing the teachings of the Maharajji to the Woodstock Generation, to launching Google's philanthropic enterprises. Now for the first time, Brilliant reflects on his remarkable life and his extraordinary experiences as a doctor, innovator, philanthropist, and cultural revolutionary. As he recalls the past fifty years and all that he has seen and done, this masterful storyteller offers transformative messages of wisdom and compassion that will inspire everyone to work towards a better, more brilliant existence. His is a truly cinematic and fun journey--and a profound search for meaning that provides a new perspective on what it means to be engaged with life's most important questions"-- Brilliant's life journey has made him man who has always been in the right place at the right time, engaging with some of the most prominent thought leaders, spiritual masters, heroes, and icons in the world. But Brilliant was also responsible for some of the most significant medical, spiritual, and social achievements of the past century: from the eradication of smallpox and treatment of blindness to introducing the teachings of the Maharajji to the Woodstock Generation, and launching Google's philanthropic enterprises. Now he reflects on his experiences as a doctor, innovator, philanthropist, and cultural revolutionary. When a powerful mystic steps on the hand of a radical young hippie doctor from Detroit, it changes lives and the world. Sometimes Brilliant is the adventures of a philosopher, mystic, hippie, doctor, groundbreaking tech innovator, and key player in the eradication of one of the worst pandemics in human history. His story, of what happens when love, compassion and determination meet the right circumstances to effect positive change, is the kind that keeps hope and the sense of possibility alive. After sitting at the feet of Martin Luther King at the University of Michigan in 1963, Larry Brilliant was swept up into the civil rights movement, marching and protesting across America and Europe. As a radical young doctor he followed the hippie trail from London over the Khyber Pass with his wife Girija, Wavy Gravy and the Hog Farm commune to India. There, he found himself in a Himalayan ashram wondering whether he had stumbled into a cult. Instead, one of India’s greatest spiritual teachers, Neem Karoli Baba, opened Larry’s heart and told him his destiny was to work for the World Health Organization to help eradicate killer smallpox. He would never have believed he would become a key player in eliminating a 10,000-year-old disease that killed more than half a billion people in the 20th century alone. Brilliant’s unlikely trajectory, chronicled in Sometimes Brilliant, has brought him into close proximity with political leaders, spiritual masters, cultural heroes, and titans of technology around the world—from the Grateful Dead to Mikhail Gorbachev, from Ram Dass, the Dalai Lama, Lama Govinda, and Karmapa to Steve Jobs and the founders of Google, Salesforce, Facebook, Microsoft and eBay and Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama. Anchored by the engrossing account of the heroic efforts of the extraordinary people involved in smallpox eradication in India, this is a riveting and fascinating epidemiological adventure, an honest reckoning of an entire generation, and a deeply moving spiritual memoir. It is a testament to faith, love, service, and what it means to engage with life’s most important questions in pursuit of a better, more brilliant existence. "The unforgettable, entertaining, and inspiring memoir of the activist, teacher, entrepreneur, and spiritual leader that illuminates some of the most revolutionary events of a generation, many of the legendary people who defined it, and a towering figure at the center of it. Larry Brilliant's life journey has led him on a purposeful path across continents and countercultural movements, marching arm-in-arm with the men and women who defined a generation. A man who has always been in the right place at the right time, Brilliant has engaged with some of the most prominent thought leaders, spiritual masters, heroes, and icons in the world, including Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), Martin Luther King, Jr., Steve Jobs, Mikhail Gorbachev, Wavy Gravy, the Grateful Dead, the Dalai Lama, and Barack Obama. But this self-proclaimed "typical Jewish kid from Detroit" was no accidental witness to history. Brilliant is a force of nature in his own right, responsible for some of the most significant medical, spiritual, and social achievements of the past century--from the eradication of smallpox and treatment of blindness to introducing the teachings of the Maharajji to the Woodstock Generation, to launching Google's philanthropic enterprises. Now for the first time, Brilliant reflects on his remarkable life and his extraordinary experiences as a doctor, innovator, philanthropist, and cultural revolutionary. As he recalls the past fifty years and all that he has seen and done, this masterful storyteller offers transformative messages of wisdom and compassion that will inspire everyone to work towards a better, more brilliant existence. His is a truly cinematic and fun journey--and a profound search for meaning that provides a new perspective on what it means to be engaged with life's most important questions"-- Provided by publisher