The book talks about Buddhist teachings like 'how you should detach yourself from the results and keep doing your work', 'how nothing in this world is permanent' , 'how meditation will help you realize the ultimate satisfaction/happiness' - questions that bother us many times while we are struggling to stay afloat and swim in gelid ocean waters which is our world. Here is an MIT grad who always takes the less traveled road knowingly or unknowingly, landing himself in trouble to the extent of losing everything that he is got. Strange and believe me not unreal (bad things always happen to a common set of people!!) that he is never safe and settled till the end with all difficulties hitting him through out the better and younger part of his life.
Off-late, I often think of living the life of a hippie, traveling round the world, no attachments, no commitments, no competition, no faking someone else's life, no fear, no pressure but only enjoying the beautiful things in this nature. What is it that one craves for in life? Success will demand more success from you, money will make you run behind it even faster and crazier, the people who love you will only make you cry when you depart with them, so how wise is it to yearn for all these which you know are not permanent?
The book explains how badly you want them when you don't have them; especially when you had thrown them away (everything that you had) when your life is ripe, in a quick spur of a moment wrong decision, which either appeared fancy or brave at that point of time.
