Thaddeus Stanley Golas (1924 - 1997) was an American writer active in the self-help, New Age, and psychedelic genres. His most well-known work is ''The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment,'' which he self-published in 1972 and which was later picked up by
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
.
Early life
Golas was the youngest of five children. His parents were born in Poland and met in the United States. His first ten years he lived in
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
Education and career
Golas volunteered for military service in late 1942 and was made Corporal of the 604th Engineer Camouflage Battalion billeted at Camp Campbell in Kentucky. He shipped off to
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, Wales, was stationed in England until August 1944 and then in France and Belgium where he served until December 1944. He briefly saw hostilities in the days preceding the
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...
. He returned to the United States after being discharged honorably because of health concerns. He attended New York's
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
where he studied under
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and ...
and earned a B.A. Degree in 1948. He first worked as a proofreader for
Betty Ballantine
Betty Ballantine (born Elizabeth Jones; September 25, 1919 – February 12, 2019) was an American publisher, editor, and writer. She was born during the Raj to a British colonial family. After her marriage to Ian Ballantine in 1939, she moved ...
and then became an editor for ''
Redbook
''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...
'' Magazine. Later he worked at Harper & Row as a book representative. He held several publishing related jobs in the Midwest. He relocated to San Francisco where he also had publishing related jobs while writing ''The Lazy Man's Guide''.
Publications
Seed Center Books, Even Lazier Publishing, an independent publishing company in Encino, California, publishes Golas' work.
* ''Love and Pain'', a 176 page paperback
* ''The Lazy Man’s Life'', a 523 page paperback autobiography
* ''The Cosmic Airdrome'', a 140 page paperback which is a collection of articles and writings
* ''The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment'', a 91 page paperback
* ''The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment'', French language edition translated by Sylvain Despretz
* ''The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment'', audio CD of the author reading his book