 Among them as of 2003, "Buddhism Plain & Simple" was one of the top five bestselling Buddhism books in the United States.In 2012, Hagen updated and revised "How the World Can Be the Way It Is" and published it as "Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense—an Inquiry into Science, Philosophy, and Perception".Hagen grew up in Duluth, Minnesota where he was first drawn to Buddhism when he was seven or eight years old.