Book review: Rilke's Letter's to a young poet

I listened to this book on recommendation of Adam Savage, as an audiobook. Despite it being a short book, I split the listening into a couple of different sessions. Also, on the day I finished this book, I also started and ended Viktor Frankl's book, two books by Austrians on the same day! Frankl refers to this book (and its author!) in his Man's Search for Meaning, so it was quite a coincidence to have such a referential situation happening so quick.

Here's the honest part: I zoomed past through this book, I couldn't get through the format it's in, a series of letters written by the author to a younger man who aspires to be a poet, originally unintended for publication. Maybe the two hours of the book were supposed to be enjoyed in peace and taken time to be drunk, like a pleasant cup of tea, and not gulped through like I tend to do when the tea's almost gone cold and I don't want to waste it. My experience then would have been different, maybe.

Regardless, this is a series of ruminations by the author on the nature of life, the artist, and what inspires us, spirituality and religion, and solitude. It's less of a philosophical treatise by a mature thinker after decades of considerations on facts of life, and more of a youngish unsure poet, going through the uncertainties of life, building a solid footing for himself by advising others who respect him, those who hold him in high regard. That has me respect the book more, I understand the author's thinking, he's going through figuring all the things in this big mess like we all are, like I am in this blog. The best way to understand something is to try explaining it to somebody else, and this book is a brilliant example of that.

Really good book, highly recommend. 8.5 stars out of ten.