by Ernie Tadla ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 19, 2018
A collection of heartfelt but vague spiritual assertions clothed in scientific language.
A spiritual memoir attempts to demonstrate the nexus of God’s plan and modern physics.
Tadla (How to Live & Do Business in China, 2007) underwent a religious transformation as the result of a crisis: He was financially ruined and forced to declare bankruptcy, the stress of which led to his wife Lovy’s nervous breakdown. But just as all seemed hopeless, he received a communication from God assuring him of the universe’s intelligent design, a message that catalyzed a “spiritual odyssey” that would span the next 50 years. The author explains that the purpose of his memoir—which is less a chronologically linear record than a meandering essay—is to express the role God has played in his life. Tadla believes that quantum physics, which explains the invisible elements of the cosmos, provides the conceptual architecture necessary to understand the divine structure of the universe, a design so meticulously orchestrated it’s entirely free of random coincidence. For example, when Lovy became terminally ill, and her son, Dana, donated his kidney to her, the author considered the seven years this added to her life a miracle, which he explains in terms of “vibrational energy”: “Miracles are made when we free ourselves from the idea that we are our bodies. Be connected with the loving energy around you.” Confusedly, when Lovy finally succumbs to her disease, that sad event is also the conclusion of a divine plan, or the result of “neguentropy,” the thermodynamic principle that states the “reorganization of the spirit” demands “turmoil.” Tadla’s book is relentlessly inspirational—time and time again he found himself addled by adversity, and he repeatedly overcame it. In addition, his philosophical ambitions are breathtaking: a decisive account of spirituality presented not as the consequence of faith, but as generally accepted science. In this way, he combines self-help instruction with New Age spirituality and an accessible introduction to the basics of physics. But the author’s appeals to modern physics are more appropriations of nomenclature than scientifically rigorous applications of accepted laws. For example, modern physicists don’t generally draw any conclusions from neguentropy regarding the “spirit” or any morally or spiritually relevant inferences at all. In addition, since Tadla believes there are no coincidences, his world is teeming with miracles, and he promiscuously resorts to the divine to explain the quotidian. It seems hyperbolic to consider his son’s gainful employment after studying philosophy in college miraculous. Similarly, meeting a woman on Skype two and a half years after his wife’s death doesn’t require recourse to divine intervention for an explanation. The author seems immovably convinced of a thesis—every moment of life is the result of a providential script—and then studiously finds confirmation of that proposition everywhere he looks, even in events that don’t seem to beg for an extraordinary account. Tadla’s cheerful optimism is heartwarming—he negotiates hardship with astonishing aplomb. But he considers himself a prophet, and that designation seems to free him from the self-doubt that typically inspires analytical scrupulousness.
A collection of heartfelt but vague spiritual assertions clothed in scientific language.Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72473-327-6
Page Count: 148
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Ernie Tadla
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
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
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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
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developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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