Debut author Bessler offers a collection of essays and songs about life and religion.
Born in 1941, this former seminarian, divorcee and avid blogger has a lot of opinions to share. Raised Catholic, though by no means adherent to Catholic dogma as an adult, he has a particular interest in the nature of God. He argues in this collection that God should not be thought of as an individual, but as a divine force found in all things. He goes on to say that no one needs to be saved or baptized to be part of God’s presence, “BECAUSE ALL OF US ARE BORN IN GOD and there is nothing about us that should be considered shameful.” He also argues against shame, power and other forms of control, and often focuses on the importance of appreciating the now and of counting others as equal (particularly with the equalizing power of nudity). Not all his thoughts are of unrestrained liberty, however: “Many—and maybe most—may disagree with me on this one, but I think coitus should be restricted to making babies.” How do readers reconcile this view of intercourse with an openness to being photographed naked? The author, who claims to have been arrested for public nudity, is more than happy to explain. But what will readers make of this collection’s frequent citing of the Gospel of Thomas, and its somewhat meandering personal letter to Pope Francis? If nothing else, it’s clear that the author has taken the time to forge his own beliefs. Concepts such as “[s]hame is the foundation of all evil” may not appear extremely insightful, but taken as a collection, they form a picture of an intriguing individual who doesn’t simply regurgitate the beliefs of others. Instead, his opinions come across as well-thought-out and earnest.
Readers interested in a unique belief system will enjoy many of this author’s musings.
Pub Date: July 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499727869
Page Count: 284
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.
The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.
Everyone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Rules often contradict each other. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project.
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-88146-5
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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