by Jeffrey Joe Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2014
A heavily detailed and ultimately uplifting analysis of the ways the 21st century can return to its spiritual roots.
Awards & Accolades
Our Verdict
GET IT
An inspirational guidebook for the distracted, disconnected 21st century.
In his thoughtful, substantial nonfiction debut, Miller promises to “look underneath rocks, peer into deep shadows, and return to long-forgotten and carefully avoided places.” He holds master’s degrees in clinical psychology and counseling psychology, and although his book has a good many insights into the often frazzled psyches of modern inhabitants of the industrialized West, the bulk of his discussion points inward rather than outward. His main contention is that mankind has become “dangerously disconnected from the very processes of nature that we depend on for our life and sustenance.” His book’s main aims—which he attempts to make clear through both wide-ranging philosophical discussions and pragmatic advice (even including a few simple, calming, low-impact exercises)—are to offer helpful observations about the spiritual drift of our current era and to provide ways we can heal ourselves by “cultivating a clear and direct relationship with Earth and sky.” The amount of research on display, touching on everything from the Mayan “long count” calendar to the 19th-century geology of Sir Charles Lyell, is formidable, although sometimes it strays into questionable areas: Miller contends, for instance, that the humans of 200,000 years ago wouldn’t look out of place “in the shopping malls of the modern world,” and he repeats the erroneous belief that the story of the biblical flood is “echoed around the world.” He views human history in cyclical, seasonal terms and places current humanity in Late Summer, when the “peaking wave of this world” is beginning to fall back on itself in the form of tornadoes, tsunamis, firestorms, and similar catastrophes that tend to remove the “solid ground” from under mankind’s feet. But even though Miller is unflinching in his portrayal of the natural and technological problems facing the modern world, his book is infused with a quiet optimism that will appeal to harried, overworked readers. “We don’t have to live like this,” he writes with typically simple directness. “There is another way.”
A heavily detailed and ultimately uplifting analysis of the ways the 21st century can return to its spiritual roots.Pub Date: April 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0991660605
Page Count: 412
Publisher: Precession Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
Share your opinion of this book
More by E.T.A. Hoffmann
BOOK REVIEW
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
BOOK REVIEW
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
Share your opinion of this book
More by Ludwig Bemelmans
BOOK REVIEW
developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
BOOK REVIEW
by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.