Brad Azevedo's Reviews > Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity

My therapist suggested this book as part of my journey to evaluate what I want from my career. Crossing the Unknown Sea is written by a poet and though it's not a book of poetry, it definitely has a poetic flare that makes it exhausting at times for someone who is searching for practical advice in finding their true passion. This is not a book with practical advice on finding your passion; instead, it's a book that poetically follows David Whyte's path to discovering his calling, rich with metaphor. There are some beautiful phrases that left me wishing I could highlight them in my Kindle, but I was sadly working from a library copy and resorted to photographing paragraphs with my phone (why isn't a Kindle edition available)?

Each major section of the book more or less discusses some aspect of work, whether it's tapping into the passions of our youth for inspiration, remembering that speed does not equal good work, to warnings that work can build a wall around us that isolate us from our personal lives. It feels to me that this book is actually more relevant to overworked high-powered executives than job seekers; there's a heavy focus on warning how work can affect your personal life (and vice-versa) and commentary on the shifting culture of work (which is interesting to read in a book written 20+ years earlier).

Overall, an interesting metaphorical and poetic journey into the various ways work touches our lives, but this is not a book of practical advice for those searching for their passion—though reading about his own journey could serve as a source of inspiration leaving the reader saying, "I wish this could happen to me."