An enlightening overview and argument highlighting the value of ancient wisdoms.
A Peruvian ceremonial healer/leader details Indigenous Andean-Amazonian culture and the ways it can address modern problems.
Lushwala describes the engineers and economists who think they can “repair” today’s world as “well-meaning,” but he wonders if “they think their intelligence can be the door from which the solution will emerge, as if they could be mothers.” What’s really needed, the author asserts, is to tap into the teachings of the ancient Andean-Amazonian people, who lived in greater union with nature. The bulk of this book focuses on leading readers through various “doors” of these ancient ideas and practices, starting with the emphasis placed on cultivating Munay, or “will of the heart,” and being “conscious of belonging to the Earth and the Universe in such a way that each of us can have a direct relationship with the sources of energy that feed our will.” Lushwala discusses how sacred rituals honor all elements of the Earth, including the “black light” of night. Another door, or key point, is the concept of “complementarity,” or pairings; for example, he uses male-female spiritual figures to reflect the importance of counterbalance when making decisions or taking action. There’s a lot to unpack in Lushwala’s book; he provides a helpful glossary, along with summaries of his topics. The author notes that the titular ice caps are a key element of nature. One wishes, however, that he said more about the global effects of the melting glaciers, described here in marvelous detail (“the ice where no life can exist becomes warmer fluid water that runs down to inhabit lakes, streams, rivers, and oceans”). The book is better at outlining age-old teachings than providing clear-cut solutions, but the cumulative effect of reading Lushwala’s passionate prose is one of consciousness-raising. Of course, there is much to learn from Andean-Amazonian cultural practices, particularly its valuing of complementary perspectives in making decisions.
An enlightening overview and argument highlighting the value of ancient wisdoms.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781633310858
Page Count: 254
Publisher: Disruption Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An above-average celebrity memoir from an intriguing spirit.
The longtime Hollywood actor looks back.
“What does it mean to be a ham?” asks the author, rhetorically. “Was I a ham? I was naturally and inordinately theatrical. I liked to carry on. I liked attention. I liked extravagant speech. I liked to emote. I liked to talk.” All of these qualities are abundantly evident in Kilmer’s memoir, which is as much a spiritual journey as it is a chronicle of his life and career. The author recounts the depth of his Christian Science faith, his formative years in a family of privilege in Los Angeles, his teenage romance with fellow actor Mare Winningham (“my first real girlfriend”), his training and rebellion at Juilliard, and his decision to leave Broadway for Hollywood. There, he writes, “I was not yet a burgeoning talent but ‘Cher’s lover,’ ” when she was in her mid-30s and he in his early-20s. After scoring big with Tom Cruise in Top Gun, Kilmer turned down Blue Velvet and Dirty Dancing: “Neither part spoke to me.” He played Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, which he considers “one of the proudest moments of my career.” Marlon Brando and Sam Shepard went from being idols that Kilmer worshipped to becoming friends. He was slated to star as Batman in three films but jumped ship after Batman Forever, which he considers “so bad, it’s almost good.” He married and divorced British actor Joanne Whalley and wooed Daryl Hannah (“kind of the female me, only better”), and he wrote and starred in a one-man show as Mark Twain. When he was hospitalized for surgery due to his throat cancer, he prayed, he read Twain and Christian Science’s Mary Baker Eddy, and he “didn’t wrestle with my angels. I sang and danced with them.” Kilmer was never a shrinking violet, and he still refuses to wilt.
An above-average celebrity memoir from an intriguing spirit. (photos)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-4489-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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