Brilliant insights into the human condition and life as an ...
580081
Brilliant insights into the human condition and life as an emcumbance to sensitive souls who perceive the hypocrisy and futility of a life unfulfilled gives me a template upon which to understand his diary!
159593
The insights Pope Benedict XVI gives to the world are brilliant.  This book is one small example of his contribution to improving the life we all live.  After reading it I am convinced that Ratzinger has been truly appointed to his position by the Holy Spirit.

I must first qualify myself as an average man, living an average life with an average intellect.  I really feel I shouldn't be writing a review on such a brilliant book as this.  Who am I to comment on the Popes work?  That being said I will venture forward and try my best to do this book the justice it deserves and offer my observations.

This collection of writings is truly awe inspiring on many levels.  The ideas and insights he writes about are so deep and meaningful on one hand, yet presented so clearly and thoughtfully that anyone can understand what he is saying.  Most authors writing about complex topics make the writing so complicated only a few reads truly get it.  Not with the Pope, I was able follow his crystal clear vision as he lead my heart and mind down a beautiful path of ideas about many important things: obviously religion, but also politics, money, power, life, family, work, values and the importance of God in all of our lives.

Being he is the leader of the Catholic Church and therefore Christian you may think his writings would be biased and one sided in this direction.  But his thoughts and writings are not.  He offers wonderful insights into all of the major religions of world with details of the possitive contributions they have made thoughtout man's development .  He offers very positive ideas of how they can work together to improve the life of we are all living.

This book also does something most political writings fail to do.  He is able to illustrate a very large societal problem, show its history and how it came to be a problem, and the offer direction for a solution.  He never leaves you wondering his position on the subject.  And even better he is able to do it in a very warm and loving way. Although the subjects he writes about are very large and complex it doesn't feel that way as you read the book.  He has the rare ablity to make sense of big things.

This book, as well as many others by the Ratzinger, should be required reading for almost ever college student, particularly those going into politics, ethics and religion.  It should also be `must read' for each and every member of the Catholic Church.

God bless bless the Pope!
4825034
Funny, brilliant and introspective.  An interesting journey through Robbin's life as a writer and the Cadre of people and stories that seasoned a time of transition in a culture moving toward enlightenment. Not your average memoir.
4691729
"This book is for mature readers only."  These are the opening words of this remarkable book.  And it is true.  It is for those who know in their bones that our historical moment is one of both great danger and great opportunity, who realize that the future of life itself, the quality of human life in particular is being decided by us, right now.

Judy Cannato invites us to enter deeply and purposefully into our full identity and purpose.  We discover ourselves as loved and gifted humans with yet-untapped powers for co-evolving our Planet.  Integrating brilliant insights and stories from today's science and spiritual teachers, discoveries unknown by previous generations, Judy provides us with an effective process to make the journey from small mind to great heart and to compassionate wisdom.  We are energized to discover ourselves as imbedded in the Cosmos, in the natural world, as consciously creative participants in this magnificent adventure we call Life.
1429419
Absolutely brilliant analysis of the core human problem- that we think we can do whatever we want to all other beings and the earth itself. Hits hard on the big lies fed to us from birth and the culture of death that we call the food industry. A must-read book, and one to share with any people who aren't vegan yet.
3038005
This book is fabulous.  As much as the content informs on the human condition, the frolicking experience of reading it reinforces it.  Makes me glad to be human.  Highly recommended!
- kara
4058759
Jane Goodall's very personal account of her life, values, convictions and evolving insights results in a compelling case for human spirituality and its role in shaping a better world. Eloquently written, from the heart, and underscored with gems of her poetry, the autobiography compels the reader to introspection and self-reflection, to visualize your own life purpose and become a better person. Because that is what Earth needs, what people, animals and the environment need. In this particular book, it is rather Jane, more than the chimps, who becomes the window to a better understanding of our human nature and its potential to rise above evil. A must-read source of hope.
4231908
Compelling, thought provoking and revealing - these are the three attributes that come to mind during my read of this important chronicle of persons caught up in the struggle of poverty and illness.  The humanity that jumps from the page overcomes the popular stereotype of this community in San Francisco.
3276434
Small Kingdoms is an important novel that sheds light not just on life in the Middle East but also on what it means to be human, to be engaged in the world at large. It takes big issues and examines them on a human scale. That Anastasia Hobbet pulls this trick off while also giving us a gripping, multi-layered narrative only underscores her gifts as a writer. Both moving and intelligent, Small Kingdoms is nothing short of amazing.
4142968
Mark shares a wonderfully written and expertly crafted exploration of the Evolutionary Journey each of us plays a part within. From the beginnings of "Big History" to the current understanding of human evolution Mark provides insights, wisdom, and tools that serve each of us on our personal journey of growth and evolution.
If you would like a deeper understanding of what life is all about, this book ought to be on the top of your list.
As a human race we are transcending into new realms of consciousness and this book guides the reader to a more complete understanding of how we got here, and what we can do to play our role in the transcendence of human consciousness.
Yes, all that in this quick and easy to read book. Pick up a copy today and get ready for an insightful and inspiring experience.
4179067
Loved this book, one of the best I have ever read. During several episodes I had to fight back the tears. A living, breathing reminder of how terrible mankind can be and at the same time a beautiful and sorrowful insight to the human soul and how far people can go to save, help and love each other.
4827512
The author's anthropological training and perspective, in conjunction with his keen wit and understanding of the human condition, enable him to relate insights about people and places that are both entertaining as well as extremely educational.

In particular, the chapters on South and Central America, and North Africa and Mallorca, provide fascinating insights into the time and place, and the people who populated them.

I hightly recommend this book.

Brion Morrisette
4519487
An extremely engaging and insightful collection of stories from the author's life.  The stories bring to life the emotional, intellectual and societal aspects of the struggle for racial and social justice. Such well-written, tangible and evocative stories help us to better appreciate the everyday human  dimensions and experiences that are intertwined with vitally important "bigger picture" issues.
4480561
Profound human love and the most repugnant savagery, horror and redemption, a heroine and a grotesque revenger, two families with dark secrets, two cities, all in the backdrop of the bloodbath that was the French Revelation. In reading it, be prepared for the "Best of Times and the Worst of Times."

Like all great stories, the brilliance of this tale is its ability to not only intimately draw us into the tangled lives of these characters, battered by the historical tyrannies of their time, but to use their story as a parable to understand the human narrative as a whole. Perhaps this is why Dickens believed this book to be his best book; perhaps he felt like it was his clearest statement of what he believed.

The struggles of a small family open the reader's eyes to understanding the larger struggles of humanity in general. We learn not only about the turmoil and violence plaguing France at the time of the French Revolution, but the sin and darkness plaguing our human race. Through this story, we understand principles which will prove true for all times and all places. Dickens writes that the evil cruelty of the French aristocracy gave birth to something according to its kind, the French Revolution, as all things since beginning of creation have produced according to their kind. Evil begets more evil. This is the story of humanity.

But redemption and resurrection echo throughout the novel as well. Darnay had a mother, who, though an aristocrat, once sought to make restitution for the something incredibly cruel her heartless husband had done. This woman is mentioned only once briefly in the whole book, but her influence on her son Charles Darnay profoundly changed the course of Darnay's life and the whole book.

Even Dickens' style of writing is a reflection on the truth of real life. For instance, every single scene in the book is important to the story, although for the first half of the book, the reader can't figure out how it will come together. But at the end, as everything is revealed, the reader can think back and see the purpose for each scene. Similarly, as we walk through life, we rarely understand the purpose for the various scenes we find ourselves in. Although we will never understand completely until heaven, there are times when it is all brought together and we see the purposes behind puzzling circumstances.

In typical Dickens style, this book is written to tug at your heart strings. But this is not done in a manipulative or sentimental way, but in the most straightforward way possible: by giving an often newspaper-sounding account of the events that take place in each scene. Yet any reader with a pulse will be profoundly moved in numerous scenes. How does he do this? By focusing his accounts on the human element, the true purpose behind any story. Woven through every page in this book is the message that every human being counts. Collectivism, sacrificing the individual for the group, is shown to be barbaric.

Another stroke of genius is Dickens uncanny way of portraying evil. Madame DeFarge becomes in the book everything that she hates. The reason she got to be the way she is, was because of something terrible that was done to her sister and brother by the aristocracy when she was still young. And yet, at the end of the novel, it is said of her that as she puts men and women to death, she cares nothing that they may be innocent, or that they may leave behind a bereft sister or brother or wife. She only cares that more and more people die, and she is never satisfied.

In a pre-Flannery O'Connor style, Dickens leaves the reader no room for false hopes in the goodness of humanity. He wants to take your false hopes and hit them out of the ballpark never to be seen again. If there's one thing that this story was supposed to shatter, it is the myth that man is getting better and better, and the solutions to his sin is minor. Redemption is possible, but the price is higher than any of us imagined.
4785977
So brilliantly insightful and mind-changing that despite some problems, I have to give Plant Intelligence the top rating. It's in my short list of books that have jolted my thinking off its comfortable rails into whole new paradigms.

First of all, Plant Intelligence is only sort of about plants. It's also sort of about psychedelic drugs. It's not quite a polemic against human technological progress (though it heads in that direction), and also not quite a theory of living systems. It's poetic, recursive, loosely-structured and passionate, and as a reader I found it challenging and highly rewarding.

Buhner lays out in great and scientific detail some little-known characteristics of plant ecosystems and the microbiome of the earth. This forms the basis for the rest of the book, which is a long reverie on the connectedness of all self-organizing systems, among which humanity is absolutely not "supreme" or even in any way special. Plant systems have "brains," and interact with their changing environment by exactly the same means as "intelligent" animal species; the earth itself is a living being responding intelligently to its environment (Buhner cites James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis throughout the book); and the hubris that has driven humanity to its destructive practices will be no match for Gaia when Gaia shrugs its shoulders and brushes us off.

Plant Intelligence was a slow read for me, because the scientific language demanded careful attention, and because I had to keep stopping to quote long, mind-blowing sections to friends and family. First there were vivid images of plant root systems all communicating via the same neurotransmitters our brains use. Then came the unsettling concept that humans aren't the free agents we think we are; we're really just working for the planet. (Bees, Buhner says by way of analogy, think they're collecting honey, and have no idea that they're pollinators).

Next came awe as Buhner discussed how human creativity is only a response to the larger system eliciting something it needs from us. While this view says that free will is largely a fantasy, it also says that our creative works--our very lives--do have meaning and power whether or not other humans consciously know it. It abolishes in a single chapter the idea that only fame and fortune can validate our lives.

Finally--and in what I felt was the weakest part of the book--Buhner lets loose his "barbarian" diatribe in favor of hallucinogenic drugs and against civilization. After spending some 400 pages building a beautifully spiraling idea structure, he seemed to lose sight of his own core idea, that humanity is just one (disposable) part of nature like all other parts. Instead, he regresses to the conventional notion that humanity and its technologies (particularly cities) are separate and uniquely bad, and that a libertarian, individualistic, back-to-the-land way of human life is somehow inherently "better" than urban life.

Throughout the book, I was hoping he'd arrive at the logical conclusion, that cities are organic, natural structures arising in response to Gaia's promptings just as beehives and anthills and biofilms arose; and that the shamanic approach that he favors would apply equally to urban and "natural" environments. I had to sleep on his conclusions before realizing that my view (let's call it urban shamanism) is as likely to be valid as his, even though I haven't written a beautiful, challenging, poetic tome on the subject. Yet.

On a final and more mundane note, Buhner's style poses some difficult editorial problems, and it's easy to imagine an editor just leaving most of it alone, but there are dozens of missing words, repeated phrases, and misspellings throughout the (Kindle edition) text that really should have been caught by a competent line-editor. This important book deserves better editing than it got.
1457150
Covering one man's life, from sickly childhood through his 80s, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a unique novel which follows the career highs and lows of him and his love as they progress through life in an un-named Asian country. Their path mirrors the explosive growth and requisite growing pains for their homeland, and in so doing, shines a light deep into the ugly recesses of Asia's explosive growth. It is funny, observant, and at times, heartbreaking too.

Set up as a self-help book with the convenient explanation that all books are self-help books (true), each of the 20-or-so page sections describes how to "get rich" and the steps one has to take to do so. It reads quickly, yet provides a gratifying substance via brilliant writing and philosophical observations by the author. This novel is a fascinating read as well as a joyous and illuminating one. Recommended.
3660890
Powerful, moving, insightful and a beautiful look into the lives of some extraordinary people