An intriguing and wide-ranging argument for revising our preconceptions about the universe.
Della-Madre offers a feminist reappraisal of science and the universe in this philosophical work.
The author, a speaker, writer, and independent scholar, believes that our universe is, at every level, female. From ancient mythologies across the world to modern understandings of genetics (which prove that we’re all initially female in the womb), clues abound suggesting the inherent female nature of Mother Nature. Della-Madre also posits that all things in the universe are created and connected by electricity—known in various traditions as aether, plasma, prana, or chi, among other terms—and that this Electric Universe is alive in a way that the cold, gravity-governed universe of modern physics fails to understand. With this book, Della-Madre attempts to “connect the cosmologies of the Female Universe and the Electric Universe” while revealing the great crime of history that has obfuscated these cosmologies: specifically, that the eternal female “has been hated, tortured, raped, and murdered for millennia by a devastating virus-like infestation of male dominance and violence fueled by worldwide misogyny.” From the Epic of Gilgamesh and megalithic monuments to a revisionist history of whom she considers to be the West’s most overrated male scientists and philosophers, Della-Madre puts forth a radical new vision of the universe that is, according to her, as old as the cosmos itself. The author is a skilled storyteller, and her treatment of language is playful, if sometimes slightly jargon-heavy. For example, she theorizes a feminized alternative to evolution called “vulvalution,” which she defines as the “process of the coiling, turning, spiraling electric energy rolling and winding out the oneness of creation from the gyne/vulva/womb of the gynocentric uni/yoniverse” (the text also capitalizes the maternal main words like plasMA and MAtrix). The book’s premise requires Della-Madre to depart from historical and scientific consensus across multiple dimensions, and not all readers will be willing to follow her. While this book seems unlikely to foment the revolution she hopes for, those drawn to feminist spirituality will likely find much here to ponder.
An intriguing and wide-ranging argument for revising our preconceptions about the universe.Pub Date: June 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781669840244
Page Count: 530
Publisher: XlibrisUS
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2024
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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