The human condition is beset by two sensations of spiritual and emotional oneness; Tolkowsky believes he has demystified the link between them—and the meaning of life.
Throughout human history, we have tried to analyze and understand our place in the universe. There are two states of being: a desire to be part of the greater sense of self in a larger world and the more standard human-deity relationship model. In Tolkowsky's exhaustive philosophical study, he examines these distinct states of being and tries to divine how they operate within us all. There is a oneness that comes from “Voidish wholeness” and one that comes from “Intellectual wholeness.” Relying on this framework, Tolkowsky uses religion, philosophy, linguistics, ethical tenets and even physics to illustrate that these ideas actually operate in concert together and not apart. It’s this spiritual balancing act that bridges the gap between the two poles, and shifting between the two senses as needed is the natural state of mind. This is much deeper than a mere debate between the schools of Eastern and Western religions. Selflessness and harmony with nature are, in the author's view, as necessary as a relationship with a monotheistic god. Pursuing one without the other is futile and highlights humanity's eternal folly. As a philosopher, Tolkowsky is an exacting analyzer of theories. He untangles them from their sometimes convoluted roots and uncovers the bare concepts. He draws inspiration and wisdom from the minds of Descartes, Kant and Aristotle, to name a few. As a writer, Tolkowsky doesn’t dumb down the context in his work at all, so the layperson may have a hard time following some of the more obtuse connections without a developed taste for logic and reason. Ultimately, each sense of oneness is explained to be missing an element provided only by the other; understanding this relationship is crucial to the meaning of life. A stimulating read for the philosophically minded, especially for abstract thinkers and those stout with intellect.
Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2010
ISBN: 978-1592994571
Page Count: 237
Publisher: Inkwater Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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