A poetic and inspiring invitation to find ways of dwelling in meaning and joy.
A collection of essays centered around the theme of the ritual.
A ritual encompasses many forms: It could be mundane, like eating breakfast, or symbol-laden, like receiving the body and blood of Jesus at Communion. The experiences that interest Potter are ritualistic acts elevated into life-altering and resonant experiences, leading to a state of liminality—a sense of crossing a threshold or existing in between two separate realities. One way these liminal states can be entered is through physicality, via the body itself. In her first essay, “Between Chaos and Light: Sex, Card Playing, God, Calvin, and Dancing,” the author, who was forbidden to dance during her Calvinist upbringing, discovers that rhythmic yet freeform movement can become a spiritual rite akin to the practice of the whirling dervish Sufi dancers (“their bodies prayers”). In “The Story of a Hollowed-out Bone,” Potter acquires a Buddhist relic for self-protection (a femur, fashioned into a trumpet) that leads her to a shattering discovery about herself. Places can be routes to the in-between state as well, catching us between two worlds. “By the River of 1000 Lingas” explores how a small river in Cambodia with carvings of sacred masculine and feminine symbols (lingams and yonis) adorning its banks mystically links the natural with the human-created. Another essay, “Ever Becoming—Never Being: Dwelling in the Sukkah,” concerns the concept of sukkot, open-sided temporary dwellings some observant Jews reside in for a short period every fall. Sukkot, too, present a duality, acting as both refuge and not-refuge. Potter’s book is tightly organized, with essays divided thematically into four parts. Photos of such subjects as Cambodian temple moonstones, a Whidbey Island labyrinth, and the author’s tallit (prayer shawl) add visual interest, but are almost unnecessary; the prose creates evocative word pictures on its own. (Preparing to write, Potter feels “rushing-spirit brooding over the face of deep, dark, moving waters of what is possible but is not yet born.”) The author describes her book as “an active intuition going for a walk”; Potter’s lyrical essays will make readers want to join the walk, too.
A poetic and inspiring invitation to find ways of dwelling in meaning and joy.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798989164028
Page Count: 248
Publisher: The Liminality Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasure for fans of old-school historical narratives.
Avuncular observations on matters historical from the late popularizer of the past.
McCullough made a fine career of storytelling his way through past events and the great men (and occasional woman) of long-ago American history. In that regard, to say nothing of his eschewing modern technology in favor of the typewriter (“I love the way the bell rings every time I swing the carriage lever”), he might be thought of as belonging to a past age himself. In this set of occasional pieces, including various speeches and genial essays on what to read and how to write, he strikes a strong tone as an old-fashioned moralist: “Indifference to history isn’t just ignorant, it’s rude,” he thunders. “It’s a form of ingratitude.” There are some charming reminiscences in here. One concerns cajoling his way into a meeting with Arthur Schlesinger in order to pitch a speech to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy: Where Richard Nixon “has no character and no convictions,” he opined, Kennedy “is appealing to our best instincts.” McCullough allows that it wasn’t the strongest of ideas, but Schlesinger told him to write up a speech anyway, and when it got to Kennedy, “he gave a speech in which there was one paragraph that had once sentence written by me.” Some of McCullough’s appreciations here are of writers who are not much read these days, such as Herman Wouk and Paul Horgan; a long piece concerns a president who’s been largely lost in the shuffle too, Harry Truman, whose decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan McCullough defends. At his best here, McCullough uses history as a way to orient thinking about the present, and with luck to good ends: “I am a short-range pessimist and a long-range optimist. I sincerely believe that we may be on the way to a very different and far better time.”
A pleasure for fans of old-school historical narratives.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781668098998
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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
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