Offers answers to all of life’s big questions, but may leave readers skeptical.
A book that probes great philosophical issues and offers intriguing, if dubious, answers.
Humans have long been curious about life’s mysteries–why so many suffer, our purpose on earth and how a feeling or thought that has importance one day can shift as fast as the tides. One has to admire the audacity in promising answers that philosophers, scientists and theologians (as well as the average man or woman) have been unable to produce, particularly when the author doesn’t state his educational credentials or affiliation. Indeed, this book might offer hope to those who fear that asking deep questions about life’s meaning requires a lofty pedigree. In fact, Socrates had no sanction from the Athenian state or its academies. However, Morrey lacks Socrates’ greatest characteristic–humility. The book has not one but four alternate titles (Where Only Angels Tread, The Perceptual Conspiracy, Beyond Science and Religion and Politics), suggesting an odd bout of indecision from a man who otherwise appears to know everything. Not only does he discourse on the true nature of God, ESP, the collective unconscious, dreams and what he calls “no-mindedness,” he offers advice for those who wish to “upgrade” their reality. If only readers could download this vast knowledge into their veiled minds, then they could move beyond the shackles of education and the boundaries of the senses. While the word is still out on a computer’s capacity to mimic, or surpass, the human mind’s learning process, it’s hard to swallow a philosophy that reduces life’s greatest struggles to technical jargon like brain “upgrades.” Certainly there is much to applaud in seeking difficult answers and questioning norms, but claiming to have found solutions with such certainty implies either harmless ignorance or harmful desire. Is the author a mere seeker like the rest of us, or is he soliciting yet another offbeat cult to bandage the pain of living?
Offers answers to all of life’s big questions, but may leave readers skeptical.Pub Date: May 11, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4196-2614-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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