An involving and enthusiastic call to listen to the better angels of our nature.
A wide-ranging spiritual interpretation of human nature.
Most people misunderstand what human nature is, maintains Soski in his nonfiction debut. Often people use the idea as an excuse for failings (“What do you want from me? I’m ONLY HUMAN!!!”). This, he says, is the source of much of the frustration and misdirection in life, since a clear understanding of what makes up human nature is a prerequisite for success and happiness. The book attempts to clarify it by differentiating it from its side effects: “how much have human beings ourselves really improved, changed, or evolved?” Soski asks. “Not the circumstances of our life, but our humanity?” In part to answer such questions, the author devises a “Human Operating System”—the common aspect that all humans share even when their personality traits, abilities, and experiences differ—and traces how it affects every aspect of human life. Soski, a self-described engineer who has a consultancy and coaching company called Straight-Up Soulutions, sees this system as having two complementary halves: the “Primitive Soul,” which governs the actions of the body, and the “Angelic Soul,” which, he says, “motivates us to search out a purpose and meaning for our life that is bigger than us as individuals.” In clear, easy-to-follow prose, accompanied by bullet points, charts, and illustrations, the author anatomizes the interconnected workings of the two souls in ways that will be invitingly familiar to readers of mainstream New Age spiritualist texts. The book puts a strong emphasis on the division between the real and the illusory, which leads to advice to temper the Primitive Soul and encourage the Angelic one. Still, some readers may wonder at the amount of anti-scientific thinking in this book, especially coming from an engineer, as when Soski writes, “It is believed that all living things contain a common life force that defines our existence, identity, and capabilities,” or when he asserts that “Mind does not physically exist. The mind is the manifestation of the soul.” Nevertheless, even the most hardheaded readers may agree with the sentiment behind the idea of an Angelic Soul.
An involving and enthusiastic call to listen to the better angels of our nature.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-5356-1443-6
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Straight-Up Soulutions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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