A pragmatic guidebook for spiritual renewal.
An abuse survivor provides advice for those seeking a spiritual awakening in this Christian self-help manual.
“Sometimes,” Ambalita notes, “we look for miracles outside of ourselves without realizing that we are the miracle we have been praying and searching for.” To her, no biblical figure personifies this notion more than David, who arose from humble origins as a shepherd boy to defeat the giant Goliath. Although few people may confront physical giants on a battlefield, the book notes we all have our own metaphorical giants to fight, from external crises to inner turmoil and self-doubt. She writes of a woman named Zarita, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence, and displays an awareness of the profound impact that traumatic experiences can have in one’s life. However, although one may alleviate physical and mental pain with medication, she says, too often “the spirit’s suffering is easily overlooked.” The author says that she hopes that her story will inspire others to similarly seek help from God and embrace “a David-like giant spirit within.” To that end, the Christian theme of rebirth plays a central role in the book, which blends anecdotes of personal triumph with pragmatic advice on how to apply empowering strategies to one’s own life. The book’s Christianity is ecumenical by nature, never leaning into theological differences between denominations, and it combines Bible verses with rather familiar self-help advice (“Ordinary people can do extraordinary things”). However, as it delves into difficult topics, such as abuse, the book offers a consistently encouraging message of hope and “positive motivational nourishment.” At the same time, it acknowledges that spiritual renewal isn’t always easy, even when it seems “life is on a fast track of goodness and positive change”; the author helpfully reminds readers of David’s weaknesses and self-inflicted pain. Those looking for a scholarly biblical analysis won’t find it here, as the book lacks citations and rarely delves into the nuances of Christian doctrine. However, Ambalita’s own story provides ample room for hope.
A pragmatic guidebook for spiritual renewal.Pub Date: March 25, 2022
ISBN: 9781664226838
Page Count: 222
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: April 29, 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
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.
A follow-on to the author’s garbled but popular 48 Laws of Power, promising that readers will learn how to win friends and influence people, to say nothing of outfoxing all those “toxic types” out in the world.
Greene (Mastery, 2012, etc.) begins with a big sell, averring that his book “is designed to immerse you in all aspects of human behavior and illuminate its root causes.” To gauge by this fat compendium, human behavior is mostly rotten, a presumption that fits with the author’s neo-Machiavellian program of self-validation and eventual strategic supremacy. The author works to formula: First, state a “law,” such as “confront your dark side” or “know your limits,” the latter of which seems pale compared to the Delphic oracle’s “nothing in excess.” Next, elaborate on that law with what might seem to be as plain as day: “Losing contact with reality, we make irrational decisions. That is why our success often does not last.” One imagines there might be other reasons for the evanescence of glory, but there you go. Finally, spin out a long tutelary yarn, seemingly the longer the better, to shore up the truism—in this case, the cometary rise and fall of one-time Disney CEO Michael Eisner, with the warning, “his fate could easily be yours, albeit most likely on a smaller scale,” which ranks right up there with the fortuneteller’s “I sense that someone you know has died" in orders of probability. It’s enough to inspire a new law: Beware of those who spend too much time telling you what you already know, even when it’s dressed up in fresh-sounding terms. “Continually mix the visceral with the analytic” is the language of a consultant’s report, more important-sounding than “go with your gut but use your head, too.”
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-42814-5
Page Count: 580
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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