Here's part of the information about Kripal from the Elliot Bay Book Club:


JEFFREY J. KRIPAL
Friday, May 25 at 7:30 p.m.

A noted scholar of religions from various traditions, Jeffrey Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Professor (and chair) of Religious Studies at Rice University. Author of such studies as Kali's Child, The Serpent's Gift and Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom; he is here tonight with Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion (University of Chicago), a unique, captivating account. "Esalen is a legendary sacred place, but legendary among the privileged few like Aldus Huxley, Henry Miller, and Joseph Campbell, for whom Esalen was a spiritual playground. Kripal tells the story of this beautiful retreat in California's Big Sur region—its history at once sexy, salacious, intellectual and political—with reverence and playfulness, alternating between the hushed tones of awe and the glee of partaking in Esalen's infamous sinful delights...Kripal is an engaging storyteller, Esalen a worthy subject (a kind of Us Weekly for the discerning intellectual), and it's as easy to jump from the introduction to chapter 14 as it is to continue in order." - Publishers Weekly.

The Esalen website is at: http://www.esalen.com