Dharma Punx

Levine, Noah. Dharma Punx. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2004.

Audience: Anyone recovering from an addiction, running through a rebellious faze, interested in meditation, or interested in the punk rock movement.

Genre: A memoir or autobiography

Topics of Focus: Rebellion, addiction and addiction recovery, the punk rock movement, meditation, religion, finding a balance in life.

Red Flags: Alcoholism, violence, drugs, profanity, nudity, un-detailed sexy-time, suicide, death.

Noah Levine wrote this book using very truthful, blunt, and sometimes harsh language. If you are easily offended by profanity, this may not be the book for you. Dharma Punx is about Noah Levine’s life, starting from how he enveloped himself in negative situations by drinking, using drugs, and fighting; to how he came clean and fixed his life through spiritual practices. This book completely engulfs you into its ardent pages as you decipher the intense thoughts, moments, and emotions that they bear. It shows you very detailed descriptions of the hectic and in-depth experiences that Noah stumbled through as he tried to find his own path amidst the anger, panic, and confusion that made up his world.

This would be a good book to read if a teacher was searching for examples of different varieties of controversial issues to bring to discussion within a class. I would recommend this book for any classes focusing on psychology, controversial issues, or recent history. However, be aware of the fact that it contains strong language and many very negative scenarios; I would not use this book in a class of under-aged students without reading it, and discussing with each of the students and the students’ parents before hand.

Anyone who is interested in seeing through the eyes of someone who was a part of the punk rock movement, or would like to read about how meditation or religion could affect some people positively, should read this book. His book could help someone, who is willing to read and listen to advice, solve a harsh problem in their life. It’s a realistic book about the history of a real person’s life, not a metaphorical book about how someone could change their life.

Annotation by Aria Peterson