Two long poems on philosophy and yoga, respectively, take meditation and introspection to strange places.
In the middle of his book’s first poem, “Philosophy,” Bhattacharyya (Rise of the Native, 2016, etc.) offers a footnote-style explanation of his use of numbers in his verse: “In a nut shell, Ignorance scores as 5, Disability as 28, Contentment 9, Success or Grand Success 8.” Like much of the content of this book, this information poses more questions than it answers; are these number assignments pulled from an ancient tradition or are they completely arbitrary? Similarly, the personifications of mankind and nature that drive the first section feel like both a classic origin story and a surrealist jumble: “In a rapid move, Primal-Nature / emerges before Cosmic Man….‘I have seen her,’ one stands indifferent / ‘I have been seen,’ desists the other.” The second poem, “Yoga,” is more grounded and digestible, reading like an ontological examination of the titular practice: “Thus the initiation of yoga / When yoga regulates the mind amused / comes the moment, the Seer sees his true self / the Self for a moment exposed.” Distorted illustrations, including one that shows the outline of three ballerinas jumping from a photo of a pond, accompany the verses. Although these images contribute to the text’s serene, surreal atmosphere, they fail to ground or guide readers. Instead, Bhattacharyya delves directly and deeply into an unusual landscape of introspection, obviously inspired by Eastern philosophy, but he presents it entirely without context or explanation for a wider audience, who may wonder whether these verses are the author’s own reinterpretations of classic yoga sutras or a translation of the foundations of Hinduism. Concrete answers never arrive, so some may find the poems to simply be a disorienting mishmash of New-Age aphorisms. However, Bhattacharyya’s unusual rhythms do take on an entrancing, ethereal, and even transcendent quality the more time one spends with them, which calls to mind an early verse that he simultaneously directs to strangers, neighbors, and himself: “Every time I reflect / The less strange you appear.”
A work so surreal that it initially seems absurd, but its sense of mythology, mysticism, and introspection will still give patient readers a sense of the uncanny.Pub Date: March 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5234-9247-3
Page Count: 88
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION
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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 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
Categories: GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | PSYCHOLOGY | HISTORICAL & MILITARY
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BOOK TO SCREEN
An exploration of the importance of clarity through calmness in an increasingly fast-paced world.
Austin-based speaker and strategist Holiday (Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue, 2018, etc.) believes in downshifting one’s life and activities in order to fully grasp the wonder of stillness. He bolsters this theory with a wide array of perspectives—some based on ancient wisdom (one of the author’s specialties), others more modern—all with the intent to direct readers toward the essential importance of stillness and its “attainable path to enlightenment and excellence, greatness and happiness, performance as well as presence.” Readers will be encouraged by Holiday’s insistence that his methods are within anyone’s grasp. He acknowledges that this rare and coveted calm is already inside each of us, but it’s been worn down by the hustle of busy lives and distractions. Recognizing that this goal requires immense personal discipline, the author draws on the representational histories of John F. Kennedy, Buddha, Tiger Woods, Fred Rogers, Leonardo da Vinci, and many other creative thinkers and scholarly, scientific texts. These examples demonstrate how others have evolved past the noise of modern life and into the solitude of productive thought and cleansing tranquility. Holiday splits his accessible, empowering, and sporadically meandering narrative into a three-part “timeless trinity of mind, body, soul—the head, the heart, the human body.” He juxtaposes Stoic philosopher Seneca’s internal reflection and wisdom against Donald Trump’s egocentric existence, with much of his time spent “in his bathrobe, ranting about the news.” Holiday stresses that while contemporary life is filled with a dizzying variety of “competing priorities and beliefs,” the frenzy can be quelled and serenity maintained through a deliberative calming of the mind and body. The author shows how “stillness is what aims the arrow,” fostering focus, internal harmony, and the kind of holistic self-examination necessary for optimal contentment and mind-body centeredness. Throughout the narrative, he promotes that concept mindfully and convincingly.
A timely, vividly realized reminder to slow down and harness the restorative wonders of serenity.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-53858-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL BUSINESS | PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | SELF-HELP | BUSINESS | MOTIVATIONAL & PERSONAL SUCCESS
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