Meaningful reads is a recommended book series commemorating the promotion and tenure of faculty at the University of Washington Tacoma. Beginning with the 2017-2018 academic year, newly promoted or tenured faculty are invited to share a book with thoughts on why the book was meaningful to their career or life.

“I have chosen “Siddhartha” by German author Herman Hesse. It is a philosophical work of fiction set in ancient India. I read it for the first time in my twenties during a phase of uncertainty, and the book greatly influenced me. It is written in very simple language and style but offers profound insights for life. Through the roller-coaster spiritual journey of an ascetic, the author suggests that everyone has shades of good and bad in them; accept them as they are. You cannot alter them or their journey through life unless they themselves want to change. You can impart them knowledge but not wisdom. Towards the end of the book, Siddhartha, the protagonist, concludes that truth and peace should be sought within, not without. And he concludes that one’s greatness needs to be gauged by one’s action and not by one’s words or even thoughts. I chose to recommend this book because students can especially relate well to the emotional turmoil of the protagonist. Even though the story is set in a time period almost three thousand years back, it offers life lessons that are relevant even today.”

Rupinder Jindal, Ph.D.
Milgard School of Business
Promoted to Associate Professor, Spring 2018