An engrossing, nuanced reflection on what it means to be human.
A psychologist explores the intersection of faith and material life in this nonfiction philosophical rumination.
“To overcome the challenges of past, present, and future,” writes Tapu in this book’s opening lines, “we need new stories, new guides, new ways.” While careful not to judge the spiritual beliefs of readers (“Your beliefs are important”), the volume urges them to consider the author’s version of a “new faith” that embraces diversity of thought beyond mere tolerance, arguing that “the love of the different will make the world reborn.” Central to the book’s framework is striking a middle ground between spiritual- and material-based belief systems, as it takes a moderate position that condemns fanaticism. For religious readers, for instance, the volume cautions that “a lot of faith can mean a lot of evil” while suggesting to skeptics that “little faith can mean little good. Although metaphysical reflections on the nature and meaning of life are the work’s bread and butter, it occasionally includes personal vignettes on topics such as grief, which is explored through the death of the author’s mother. A final chapter on practicing a “lifestyle for eternity” offers practical advice on ways to obtain “mind wholeness” in the chaos of modernity. A physician and professor of psychology at Romania’s University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest, Tapu is the author of multiple peer-reviewed textbooks. Occasional references to contemporary science notwithstanding, this volume eschews a research-based scholarly approach for a more esoteric pondering of the fundamental questions of human life (“How can we improve ourselves as humans?”; “Is it worth it to be human?”; “How does life last when it is so hard to entertain and death so easy to occur?”). At just 80 pages, the book will engage readers with an accessible, jargon-free writing style. It also strikes a fine balance between both respecting and challenging the core beliefs of readers, from atheists to the religiously devout, encouraging the entire spectrum to “believe in doubt” because “the strongest convictions are the most vulnerable.”
An engrossing, nuanced reflection on what it means to be human.Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 61
Publisher: Lulu Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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