It looks like we've got another "masked_zebra" posting here. A book review of the Bible? Where is Robin when we need him? >
On Tue, Sep 16, 2014 at 1:58 PM, Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > > As we have been reviewing a particular book this past day, I went to > amazon.com and looked at the review pages of a number of books. > Amazon.com has a five-star rating system for books. Most books seem to have > a large number of five-star ratings and much smaller numbers of 4, 3, 2, > and 2-star ratings; usually very few 1-star ratings. I picked a particular > edition of the Bible, which typically has a special place in many peoples' > hearts and cultures. For one thing one does not normally write the title of > this book in italics, Bible, as most books but writes 'Bible' as if it > has some special status. the word bible means 'book', and this particular > title is unusually popular in spite of having such a generic title. I > picked some of the 1-star reviews of the Bible, and also The Science of > Being and Art of Living, to see what people would write when disappointed > in their purchase, and here is the result: > > > Reviews of the Bible > > Gripping, violent and sexy read! > > An invaluable resource when one is considering how to tame one's slaves, > or exactly how many cows one should demand in exchange for one's daughter. > Steamy sex scenes, intense bloodshed and a little bit of that old-time > ultraviolence! Frankly, Jesus' best work was the US Constitution, but this > is a close second. > > Not recommended for children or those easily offended. > > Spoiler alert! > > A book about a magician who created man, then removed a rib to create a > woman, then a talking snake told her to eat a piece of fruit that the > magician told her not to. She did and cursed all of humanity forever. The > magician knew all of this ahead of time but did it because he loves all of > her doomed grandchildren who are also her children with her son who killed > her other son. > > In fact, the magician loves everyone so much he created himself/son as a > human from a virgin (if DNA tests could be done back then it'd have > confirmed God's DNA), let himself be put to death as a sacrifice, then came > back to life somehow not voiding the sacrifice and then removed the curse > that he put on us for that rib eating a piece of fruit. While he removed > the curse, you're still cursed if you don't adhere to his rigid, > contradictory standards. So... basically he didn't remove the curse after > all. > > This needs to be labelled as fiction because for some weird reason people > seem to think this is a true story. > > Horrible Editing, Confusing and Contradicting Plotlines > > So after thoroughly perusing the pages of this novel (twice), I thought > I'd share a few thoughts on it. The story starts off reasonably > straight-forward, though the author of the first few books seems to be a > bit vague and doesn't offer much background or detail about the world in > which the story takes place before introducing the main protagonist, Adam. > The early main plot line spends a great deal of time describing > genealogical information of what I assume are the members of an important > family (families?) involved with the story and descended from this Adam > character. It seemed a bit overdone, though I guess Tolkien also spent a > great deal of time on the seemingly mundane in his books and they're pretty > popular. Speaking of which, there are a number of times that magic is > invoked to turn rods to snakes or move large bodies of water around. There > are also talking serpents and donkeys, so if you're into fantasy fiction > this book might interest you. > > It's not long before the timeline starts shifting around, though, and it's > easy to lose track. It also looks as though there were multiple authors > involved in the book's creation. If so, that would go a long way in > explaining why the story lines often repeat information the reader has > already learned or outright contradicts previous details presented by > earlier writers. Why the editor didn't clean up the disparate plot lines > and ensure the narrative was consistent is beyond me. Whatever the reason, > the editing is atrocious. I don't understand why the authors weren't > credited. Some of the books reference names, but I suspect these names are > not the real authors. Maybe the quality of the book was such that they > wanted to avoid credit? > > I did enjoy the numerous battle sequences, though I thought the author(s) > could have done a much better job of detailing the action as well as making > the motivations for the violence less one-dimensional. It seemed to me the > only reason for the seemingly senseless violence was because the primary > god in this book said so. I was also confused as to why the author decided > to destroy the world near the beginning of the book. It seemed out-of-place > and anti-climactic, not to mention a bit far-fetched even for a fiction > book. The deity, Yahweh, could have used a lot more character development > during the first half of the book as well. Through most of the first half > of the novel, the god is ordering the wholesale slaughter of thousands of > people for seemingly trivial reasons and doesn't really do much to explain > his motivations. I'm also confused as to why this god gets angry when other > characters do what they do. He's supposed to be omnipotent and should know > exactly what they're going to do. Why, then, would he get angry when they > do it? The authors do make a concerted though not altogether consistent > attempt to reinvent the god's personality in the second half of the book, > but this almost complete reversal of personality traits makes the character > seem forced and even more inconsistent that he was in the first half. > > I enjoyed the use of personal letters as a vehicle for the narrative. > That's a great way for the author(s) to share more information about a > character's thoughts and it flows better than narrating in the > third-person. Again, though, the editing is pretty horrible and many ideas > that come from various characters and are supposed to be in sync aren't. > Maybe there just wasn't enough money in the budget to edit properly? > > The second half of the book is decidedly more peaceful than the first. The > story line picks up at the birth of the new protagonist, Jesus. Then for > some inexplicable reason, the author(s) decide to skip upwards of 30 years > of his life and jump right into his academic career. Maybe his growth and > development doesn't do much for the story, but missing out on the details > of his mid-life seems to degrade from the character's development. To top > it off, this character is supposed to be Yahweh from the first half of the > book, but then later on he is visited by Yahweh in the form of a dove. > There's also some kind of ghost or phantom character that's also supposed > to be him. Needless to say, the author(s) go off into left field with who > this character is and sorting it out is a nightmare. > > Jesus then spends several years spreading a good amount of wisdom in the > form of stories and public examples. Despite his questionable origins, the > character turns out to be very compassionate and caring about the poor and > the sick. I think he's one of the best characters in the novel and I like a > lot of the ideas the author(s) present through him. If you're a political > Conservative, though, I suspect you won't like this character. He advocates > the sharing of wealth with the poor and consorts easily with prostitutes > and disease-ridden people in order to help them. He also doesn't have much > use for money (the horror!). He's able to cast magic spells to heal and > resurrect people, which is not normal for people of this world. That lends > him an air of mystery but also makes him an enemy of the power pushers in > the area. > > Eventually he's betrayed by one of his confidantes and is summarily > executed. After that, other authors add in additional information or > details that might have been missed, though these details are not caught by > the editor and are sometimes contradictory. The end of the book is odd in > that the author adds in a large dose of prophecy and visions that are so > vague and general it's like reading the astrology section of the local > newspaper. The main protagonist is dead so why bother with so much extra > information at the end?? > > Final Thoughts: > I thought the book had a lot of interesting ideas and stories, but the > inconsistency of the characters and the atrocious editing pretty much > ruined it for me. The plot lines were so haphazard and the points made were > so contradictory at times that I just couldn't bring myself to give this > book a rating any higher than one star. I'll give it credit for > imagination, but even books of fiction need to have some basis in reality. > This book definitely fails in that regard. > > Reviews of The Science of Being and Art of Living > > Does not teach, disappointed... > > I have been interested in TM for a while and finally decided to do some > reading up on the subject to learn the techniques for myself. I bought this > book because of the high ratings and it looks like this is what started it > all. It is very difficult to read - had a hard time keeping my eye open. It > seems like there is a lot of philosophy here, and not much practicality. In > frustration, I skipped to the part that discusses the process of TM, only > to find out "you can not learn this from a book" which is stated several > times. It refers you to TM centers worldwide for certified training. I did > a little research and there's one near me, but I was shocked by the price > to learn this method! > > In short, it looks like Mr Yogi was successful in starting a worldwide > business venture. Be prepared, if you buy the book, you will get an > overview of the theory, but will need to pay (a significant amount!) to > visit a certified instructor to learn the practice. I was very > dissapointed, felt like a "bait and switch"... I'm glad Amazon accepted the > return. > > Science of being and art of living. Transendental Meditation > > I became a TMer 5 months ago. After attending a few events with speakers > and video tapes of the Maharishi, I wanted to know more about him and TM. > Well, this book accurately mirrors the movement. Repleat with vague > platitudes, confusing jargon and tautolological thinking this reader > hungered for a few facts. To bolster the value of meditation -which > basically is getting a mantra and meditating on it twice a day for 20 > minutes- quantum physics are employed. The meissner effect is a springboard > for the Maharishi effect which proports to insulate environments from > negative forces by creating a positive protective force by a number of > meditators practicing TM in unison. Natural Vedic law, yogic flying and a > lot of hippie talk make this book a good advertisement for TM being > cultish. I really wanted to swallow the koolaide but choked instead. > > Come and get it...... Waste of money > > What was I thinking. Google meditation for Dummies or beginners. Get a > little information and if you're interested, dig deeper. > > Do not waste your time > > As a student of the different philosophical concepts of man, I could not > avoid to come across the MT of the Maharishi. > > The Transcendental Meditation TM is the invention of M. It is said that 6 > Million people used this technique. M. tried to adapt the Indian meditative > and philosophic tradition of the Vedanta to the western lifestyle to make > it a big seller. TM is praised as a means for more creativity, health, > intelligence and efficiency. His followers like to hint at scientific > research, that TM reduces stress and has many other positive results. But > they are silent about the negative effects that all occult techniques have. > For prove of this read other books. You need to see both sides and > recognize the risks! This is always the same business with such sort of > spiritual advice! Emphasize that which is good for your purse and the > immediate success and forget about the rest of it. > > TM was becoming even a spiritual exercise for managers to deal with the > daily stress. But the costs could be different in the long run. Losing the > rational view upon matters of daily life, which is what I observe with > people who practised similar meditation tools. > > It is suggested in TM that everybody should have to find "himself" to > discover his inner godliness. As there is a common trend for more > spirituality in our time according to that what must be suitable for the > individual taste this idea of God in oneself, which is taught in TM seems > to fit perfectly for self-centered people. The similarity to the words of > the serpent in the garden of Eden is striking: "Your eyes will open and you > will be like God and recognize what is good and bad!" Therefore TM is > nothing new as an eye-opener of doubtful origin which has brought the > Maharishi many Rolls Royce. > > TM does not so much sell a meditation technique. In theory it is an > utopia. It is nothing more than wishful thinking to create on this world > peace through meditation or any other spiritual means. It is a vain hope. > Peace for world nor for oneself cannot be created by thinking alone! > > ------------------ > > Point of order, most of the reviews of the books above are generally > positive, as with most books. > > > The Sam Harris book, being talked of now on FFL also has a few one-star > reviews. On the whole, as far as I have read it, I was disappointed that > Harris did not go into science more, but there are other books that handle > that aspect of meditation. For a book about spirituality absent religion, > there is rather a lot of mention of Buddhist philosophy. Buddhist > meditation techniques tend to be more adaptable to non-proprietary > scientific investigation than TM, for which many details of the practice > are in a $$ lock box, unavailable for publication in a journal. I would be > interested in how Harris' cohorts, R. Dawkins, and D. Dennett, minus C. > Hitchens (who is totally dead and will not be reborn) view this work. > > > For any book, some like it and some not. But saying you like it or hate it > does not tell you much about whether there are any good ideas in the book > worth discussing. If I recall correctly Harris was planning a course to go > along with the book. I do not know if that has or will materialise. > > > > >
