Gary Zukav is an American author and spiritual teacher. Born in 1942, he grew up in Kansas and then attended Harvard University, where he studied international relations. In the early 1960s, Zukav was involved in the civil rights movement before enlisting in the US Army. After serving in the Vietnam War, Zukav moved to California, where he began his writing career. In 1979, he published his first book, Dancing Wu Li Masters, an investigation of modern physics combined with Buddhist concepts, which won a US National Book Award. Ten years later, Zukav published his second book, The Seat of the Soul. This best-selling work sold 6 million copies around the world in 32 languages. It also spawned several sequels: Soul Stories, The Heart of the Soul: Emotional Awareness, The Mind of the Soul: Responsible Choice, Spiritual Partnerships: The Journey to Authentic Power, and Universal Human: Creating Authentic Power and the New Consciousness. After the success of his book, Zukav established the Seat of the Soul Institute with his partner, Linda Francis. This online community offers purchasable e-courses about spiritual topics.

While Zukav’s work mainly revolves around personal development and spiritual growth, he is not a trained psychologist or a formal representative of any recognized religion. Zukav borrows from Christian and Buddhist traditions in his interpretation of the universe and the soul, but his books are considered part of the “New Age” genre of spirituality. Zukav does acknowledge that his belief system may not resonate with everyone, telling the reader, “I offer what is in this book as a window through which I have come to see life. I offer this window to you, but I do not say that it is necessary that you accept it. There are so many ways to wisdom and to the heart” (xviii). Nevertheless, he presents his beliefs as facts, using confident and persuasive language to present a worldview that isn’t empirically verifiable. Moreover, some of Zukav’s claims, particularly about the origins of mental illnesses like schizophrenia, are at odds with contemporary scientific understanding. While Zukav’s broad claims about the benefits of emotional awareness, compassion, and perseverance have widespread relevance, his work is therefore less suited to a reader seeking evidence-based strategies to cultivate these and other skills.