"Heroic... fascinating." --"New York Times"

"Inspirational... exuberant." --"Los Angeles Times"

"Revelatory... "Where the Heart Beats" may not just be the best book written yet about John Cage; it's probably also one of the most substantive-yet-readable entryways into the nexus of 20th-century American art and the immortal qualities of Eastern thought... one of the most profound, not to mention unexpected, gifts imaginable."--"Slate

""Absorbing... no future commentator on Cage's work or influence will be able to ignore Larson's contribution...a milestone in contemporary cultural criticism."" --San Francisco Chronicle"

"Remarkable... without a doubt the richest, most stimulating, most absorbing book I've read in the past year, if not decade -- remarkably researched, exquisitely written, weaving together a great many threads of cultural history into a holistic understanding of both Cage as an artist and Zen as a lens on existence... Not unlike Cage's music, "Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists" is impossible to distill, to synthesize, to relay. Rather, its goodness is best experienced in full, with complete surrender." --"Brain Pickings"

An acclaimed art critic, columnist, and editor, KAY LARSON began her career in journalism in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at "The Real Paper," then served as an associate editor at "ARTnews" and an art critic for the "Village Voice." She was the art critic for "New York" magazine for fourteen years, and has been a frequent contributor to the "New York Times." In 1994, she entered Zen practice at a Buddhist monastery in upstate New York. Though Larson has written for many types of publications, "Where the Heart Beats" is her first book.