As the many positive reviews attest, this is a book with a strong spiritual appeal for many readers. I read it in college and found it very powerful, even life-changing. Reading it again in my later years, I am probably even more impressed. What really struck me this time around was Hesse's near-magical ability to do the thing that Siddhartha says cannot be done: 
 "Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it." 
 Hermann Hesse wrote these words (in German) for Siddhartha to say, and as a teacher I understand and believe them. But the genius of this book (and others by Hesse) lies in his ability, as a Westerner, to portray the wisdom of Eastern thought. He does this with surpassing skill and beauty, even in the English translation. As a result, the reader is given an open door to see the wisdom by reading the words, thinking through the message and (gradually) understanding how the pieces fit together. 
 This is not easy for most of us - consider two of the key passages: 
 "What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find." 
 "Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal." 
 Go ahead and admit it - those sound a little foolish, don't they? Now try these: 
 "I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value." 
 "It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect." 
 I wouldn't want to run for office in America today on a platform like that. But didn't Jesus make very similar statements? Here is one more: 
 "No, a true seeker, one who truly wished to find, could accept no doctrine. But the man who has found what he sought, such a man could approve of every doctrine, each and every one, every path, every goal; nothing separated him any longer from all those thousands of others who lived in the eternal, who breathed the Divine." 
 The Dalai Lama made a very similar statement in an interview that I saw. 
 And finally, the clear statement about true wisdom: 
 "Within Siddhartha there slowly grew and ripened the knowledge of what wisdom really was and the goal of his long seeking. It was nothing but a preparation of the soul, a capacity, a secret art of thinking, feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every moment of life." 
 So there it is - a secret art of thinking, a peace within. Another way of saying it is "a peace that passeth all understanding". And that may sound familiar. 
 If you already know this peace, and live it, then Siddhartha has nothing further to teach you. Unless, that is, your peace is someone else's war. But maybe you are like most of us who, at least some of the time, feel a war raging both within ourselves and with others. If you are ready for that war to stop, then this is one book that may help you to reach a cease fire. As my colleague likes to say, it is all about letting go.