Very much a personal account of being involved with Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's teachings for some twenty years。 The writer embraced the optimism of the 1920's ， feeling that wars would be a thing of the past after the horror of World War 1。 A close friend whom he calls 'N'， generally believed to be Maurice Nicholl ， warns him against such unfounded optimism， predicting that humanity was going to be faced with further war and revolution。 Walker is introduced to the esoteric system usually referred Very much a personal account of being involved with Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's teachings for some twenty years。 The writer embraced the optimism of the 1920's ， feeling that wars would be a thing of the past after the horror of World War 1。 A close friend whom he calls 'N'， generally believed to be Maurice Nicholl ， warns him against such unfounded optimism， predicting that humanity was going to be faced with further war and revolution。 Walker is introduced to the esoteric system usually referred to as the Fourth Way and begins attending lecturers given by Ouspensky， the most well known teacher of this system after its founder， Gurdjieff。 The account of Ouspensky's regular lecturers is fascinating。 Students were advised not to make notice， and Walker's recollections were not to be published until at least two decades later。 Madam Ouspensky also features， who adopts a far more practical 'hands on' approach to the teaching， establish a residential farm for the movement。 This ends with the start of World War 2， and both Ouspenskys moving to the USA。 Ouspensky returns to Britain after World War 2， but seeming to have aged a great deal and in poor health。 He dies soon afterwards 。 Walker and a number of his followers then make contact with Gurdjieff himself ， living in Paris， and travel to meet him 。 A strong connection is made which ends when Gurdjieff dies 。 Walker compares the different methods of teaching with recollections of meeting two the most remarkable men of the last century 。Highly recommended。 。。。more