What Books Did Chelsea Give Saxon in ‘The White Lotus’

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Did Saxon check out of The White Lotus the most enlightened of them all?

In the third season of the hit HBO show, the eldest son of the Ratliffe family is an arrogant, sex-obsessed, vapid, slimy finance bro with nothing else to his name but his dad’s success. But as his suspicions grow over his dad’s business and compulsive thoughts badger him after an incestuous handjob with his younger brother Lochlan, he can’t help but internalize the idea that he may truly be “soulless” as Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) suggests.

Ironically, it’s Chelsea who helps open up Saxon’s third eye at the end of Episode 7. “I’m not all one thing, I could be somebody else if I wanted” he tells her. “I mean, I bet I could even connect with you on a spiritual level since that’s so important to you.”

She looks at him warily but he insists. “Try me. Teach me your ways.”

They begin a breathing exercise in Chelsea’s room but after he attempts to make a move on her — in what seems to be a true moment of vulnerability for him, rather than sexual compulsion — she cuts the meditation short, throwing a a haul of her favorite books at him so he can continue his studies on his own.

While it was impossible to catch a glimpse of every title she gives him, it can be assumed that the collection is made up of the same books she’s spotted reading and quoting throughout the season. Among these, the perennially bestselling classic “When Things Fall Apart” by Pema Chödrön, who draws from traditional Buddhist wisdom in finding ways to overcome life’s difficulties.

It’s this same book that Saxon is seen reading throughout the final episode of the season. At first, he still has embarrassment over his burgeoning spiritual journey, hiding it behind his back when his sister Piper asks what he’s reading. But by the season’s final scenes, as he and his family take a boat back to the mainland, he’s seen analyzing its pages as intently as the women’s bodies he eyed a the beginning of the season. And given the financial ruin that awaits the Racliffe family upon their return, his book of choice could not be more fitting.

Below, check out all the books Chelsea gives Saxon in Episode 7 of “The White Lotus” — from David Deida’s “Enlightened Sex Manual” to Osha’s “Book of Secrets.”