As Dharma teachers go Ethan Nichtern is hot, or at least that’s the impression one gets from the number of his podcasts that people are downloading and the blurbs on the back of his new book One City: A Declaration of Interdependence.

The book attempts to express the fundamental truths of the Dharma using contemporary language and popular culture, and is aimed at a generation for whom iPods and podcasting are as natural as breathing. The great challenge for a book like this is to ensure that the essence of the Buddha’s wisdom isn’t thrown out with the bath water of traditional expression. One City has a …