Amazon Customer

Drawn from primary sources

Reviewed: 18-11-24

I liked that it drew from primary sources and showed what Buddha taught as opposed to how Buddhism is interpreted and practiced, particularly in the West.

People from other religious backgrounds need to brace themselves for their beliefs to be summarily dismissed. However it can work both ways and I was not convinced by the arguments presented.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Passionately and Honestly told and Truly Inspiring

Reviewed: 15-08-24

I like best that this was not only Greta in her own words but spoken by her. Painfully honest, even on the verbal attacks she has suffered and really placed a mirror up against the sheer apathy and ignorance that exists out there over Climate Change.
I get tired of people who seem to permanently live (albeit inside their heads) in the Conspirasphere and she tackles head on the ludicrous claims that she is a tool of 'The Elite' (sic).
The title is truly inspiring and is an antidote to the feelings of helplessness and that we may not be making a difference.
I'm old enough to remember the Environmental warnings in the 70s and some of the Doomsday scenarios not materialising, which has contributed to scepticism amongst some of those old enough to remember.
However we have seen things more recently like the acidification of the Oceans, which Greta mentions, that make the warnings much more prescient this time around.

it's ironical that the mantra of Climate Change Denial Conspiracy Theorists is not applied to themselves, "Who stands to benefit?" (from their denial).

So all in all a timely and compelling reminder from Greta.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Enjoyable listen

Reviewed: 14-11-21

Enjoyable listen. Just the right length, any longer and it would have been drawn out, any shorter and it would have been lacking in detail or development.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

very enjoyable but seems abridged

Reviewed: 27-09-21

Very enjoyable but seems abridged but at the price can't complain and the essence of the tale is not lost

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Better than I remember

Reviewed: 12-08-21

We did Beowulf in school but this is much better than I remember. Seamus Heaney's rendering and read by the author himself, brilliant.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Even more compelling, a second time around

Reviewed: 01-01-21

It can be apprehensive going back to a book that you've read before but I needn't have worried, as it was even more compelling a second time around, like an onion, finding deeper layers, and picking up on things that had slipped under the radar previously.
The marriage of technology and totalitarianism has created similar regimes that exist right now, making 1984 a chilling sobering read.
And the narrator expresses a certain pathos in his reading that suits this book well.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Timely and informative.

Reviewed: 19-12-20

Any autobiography will inevitably, consciously or unconsciously, have an element of self-editing or self-censorship. So this book is a valuable follow on to the Autobiography as told to Alex Haley. The emphasis of Garveyism in the Little household was an instructive stage setter.
I marked some of the overall review down to a 4 because I think that it was a glaring mistake to have an important near end of life interview in the appendix rather than the main book. The other, minor crticism, was that it wasn't made clear whether the Arabic 'gibberish' used in the NOI Temples was being used perjoratively, in that it was genuine Arabic, or being used by people who didn't understand what they were saying. The clandestine meeting between the NOI and the Klan that clearly made Malcolm uncomfortable and was at odds with his own feelings, was a shocking revelation. The book also does a good job in chronicling the creeping doubts and the utter hypocrisy of the NOI and its cynical misuse of its followers. Overall a good contribution to the literature on Malcom X.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Thought provoking but in places flawed

Reviewed: 15-11-20

Appreciated the argument that the Chronicles of the ancients across different civilisations provided a compelling argument for actual events that run counter to some current cosmological views. Also appreciated that it was disingenious to think that these peoples could have mistaken a year for 360 days as they would have seen the seasons and sun markers cycle back through their 360 day year. Anyone who uses a lunar calendar, even for religious observences, knows this.
However the conflation of the pre-Islamic Arab's beliefs in Lat and Uzza (and their planetary associations) with Islam was an embarrassing glaring error which could shake confidence of a reader in the rest of the book (which would be unfortunate).
Towards the end of the book the author expresses a view of the Isrealites developing from Polytheism to Monotheism and could have considered, or clarified whether this was part of a longer cycle, namely an ancient monotheism, that descended into polytheism, and then returned to Monotheism.

Whether you agree with the book wholly, in parts, or totally disagree with it, it is worth a listen to them have an informed view.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Truly inspiring. Soul Food in the literal sense.

Reviewed: 16-10-20

Truly inspiring. A good varied selection of journeys to Islam. Salam to all my Latino Muslim brothers and sisters.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Really makes you think

Reviewed: 22-08-20

Really makes you think about those leisure activities that you thought benign, innocuous and harmless. In many cases they are except when they become irresistibly addictive.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!