Tom

Very Disappointing

Reviewed: 02-25-25

He wants to believe so you should too.

Science hasn’t figured Consciousness or The Universe’s Secrets out yet, so obviously they don’t exist. Believe!

People everywhere have had visions and miracles forever so there must be a god. Believe!

Suppose Theists are right and you’re gonna go to Hell. Believe!

Nonsense. No thanks! Two Stars.**

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I don’t understand the appeal.

Reviewed: 02-14-25

I stuck with this book for no apparent reason except for all the Rave Reviews littering the various newspapers and magazines. The Publisher obviously has a lot of influence with the Literary Powers that be, but I have to admit I didn’t get it: not the writing, not the plot, not the characters, not the setting, none of it.

I found it to be a total waste of my time and will not recommend it to anyone. Three Stars but it really doesn’t deserve them. ***

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Interesting Nexus of Great Minds

Reviewed: 01-21-25

Egginton takes the Reader on an amazing journey into the efforts of these three disparate thinkers.

Borges’ writing often dealt with the possibility of understanding the Universe because of its awesome Magnitude. Kant’s Philosophy was obsessed with Man’s ability to know Reality at all and Heisenberg’s research led to the depths of Quantum Theory.

The moral of the story of these three thinkers’ pondering the The Universe was that we can never really accept its True Nature demonstrated by Science while we desperately hold on to a Metaphysical Vision our day to day Lives depend on.

This is a difficult Read since the Author often descends into the weeds of the work of all three rigorous Minds but it’s amazing how their work converges on the search for answers to the Big Questions of The Universe.

Four Stars. ****

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Metaphysical Borges

Reviewed: 01-21-25

His writing has always had an undercurrent of self-exploration but this Collection turns to exploration of The Universe. His imagination runs wild as he takes the Reader on a never-ending tour of a seemingly infinite Library containing all the Knowledge and Experience of Humankind. Is his Universe Finite or Infinite, Knowable or not. These questions have challenged Scientists and Philosophers forever.

Challenging but enjoyable read. Worth repeating.

Four Stars.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Complexity of Human Relationship brought to Life by The Ocean.

Reviewed: 01-10-25

Friendship: the ultimate Human Experience mirrored in its magnificence, diversity, romance, and danger of a beloved Ocean. Beautiful imagery and sensitive characterization, an entrancing reading and listening experience.

Four Stars. ****

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Surprisingly Unsatisfying

Reviewed: 12-31-24

I have read a number of Junger’s books and always found his storytelling quite good and his ability to capture a moment thrilling. There is a lot of that in Dying. His narration of the moment he realizes the terror of his situation is captivating.

For better or worse I found myself in a similar time of peril as my SUV hurtled off the highway and I realized that impact was inevitable with predictable consequence. My reaction at that moment was very different from his but that’s for another time. His tale of Hospitalization and recovery was frighteningly realistic and he intrigued the Reader throughout his journey. I found that part of the book tremendously interesting.

Where I had a problem was with his obsession with his Near Death Experience and his determination to let his experience take over the rest of his Life. This man who had subjected himself to so many life threatening situations recounted in his books was spending hours, days, and weeks grilling doctors over treatments that might prolong his life and living in fear of potentially dangerous experiences. As a survivor, albeit with injuries, I never wanted to think about my crash or the years of treatment and recovery. I put it totally out of my mind.

Granted, everyone deals with their Life events differently and Junger probably wouldn’t have written the book absent his obsession. I also missed the point of his descent into Quantum Theory, which is not his Field, to try to explain NDE’s. More Woo-Woo than we needed.

For those reasons I have to give Dying Three Stars. ***

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Necessary Post-Electoral Doomscrolling

Reviewed: 12-30-24

The Title of this book seduced me into putting it on My Wish List months ago. then I thought that maybe I didn’t have to read it because I already had realized that Drumpf and MAGA had revealed their true colors. But now, after Nov. 5, I had to read it to confirm that there was at least one Soul that would pull back the Curtain on the seedy under-belly that has long been festering in The Heartland.

This collection of essays documents the Bigotry and Racism at the Root of the 2024 Results. This Original Sin has poisoned every Hope for The America the Founders imagined. Beneath the excuses the Pundits have claimed: Inflation, Misogyny, Immigration, Crime, etc., lurked Fear and Hatred of The Other. Drumpf knew it, even though he hadn’t learned or read it. He felt it in his Sociopath Psyche. And he mixed it with his tsunami of Lies and dumped jt on an Electorate who just wanted to enjoy The Show: The Theatre of Cruelty where the Marvel Superhero beats up on the Dog & Cat Eating Creatures of the Swamp who make the price of Eggs too high.

The Show works because the Voters have been watching it for their whole lives and know nothing but Lies about History and Politics. Serwer tries to give us a brief lesson about how The System has always been rigged to keep power in the hands of the “Haves”and keep the “Others” in their place. It’s not a pretty tale but sometimes we have to look in the mirror. This Book helps us do exactly that.

Four Stars. **** I needed that!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Not much to it.

Reviewed: 12-28-24

This book is another one of those one-hit wonders that Social Media has birthed. It’s a collection of rather juvenile navel-gazing works that could have been written by any undergraduate whining about his unsuccessful search for Love.

There’s no reason that it should have ever seen the Light of Day except that Baron Ryan probably has Eleven Million Followers. I chose his book to keep in some touch with the Digital Culture. It was a disappointment. Three Stars. ***

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Honestly, I wasn’t impressed.

Reviewed: 12-26-24

Not that I don’t think Mind Mapping, The Book, might be useful to some, just that I don’t think a Manual like this is needed to describe the process. As another reviewer pointed out, the method was laid out in the first chapter fairly clearly. The rest of the book is examples that would have been imagined by anyone who read the first chapter.

Most everyone’s Mind reacts differently when posed with a task or problem. If scribbling a picture on a whiteboard, making a list of Pro’s & Con’s, or creating a ProjectedTimeline, works for you, Great. If a Mind Map helps you visualize a Project, Great. Build one that works for you. No Step-by-Step Manual necessary. Save your $$$.

Two Stars.**

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

A necessary Respite

Reviewed: 12-26-24

Sometimes it’s very important, no, critically important, to step back from the daily tsunami created by Our World dominated by a Market Economy devolved into Cutthroat Crony Capitalism. Serviceberry provides this opportunity.

I’ve known a few people, going back to the late Sixties that believed and tried to live by the belief, that there were alternatives to Ruthless Competition and Selfishness. This is what Kimmerer preaches here. She calls it a Gift Economy based on Community and Reciprocity and the indigenous Culture of sharing.

It’s a hard road, particularly in the current Era of Fear, Greed, and Hostility to anyone outside The Tribe. But if we can survive this new bottom we have reached, she has pointed to a dim light at the end of this ugly Tunnel.

It may be a little naive but, tempered by the possibility of co-existence with The Market Economy. Her approach leaves room for this and should be embraced. Her soothing prescription is very attractive. Four Stars. ****

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!