For readers looking for quick, engaging inspiration, Gibson’s sharp and credible book is a solid resource.
Gibson’s (The Human Body of Light, 2010, etc.) latest speaks to readers looking to trade in pain and suffering for lasting happiness.
The book’s content stems from Gibson’s extensive work as a psychiatrist, and experiences with his patients inspire the insights he shares. The title’s nine sections stress that an open, inquisitive mind can influence a person’s quality of life; becoming mindful of one’s thoughts, and viewing them as resources and cues when making decisions and processing events, arms a person with a new outlook. Attracting a more fulfilling life involves tapping inner resources and removing outer chaos, and readers dominated by discontent and unrealized desires can benefit from these insights that have already helped Gibson’s patients. The author phrases each insight in one trite, platitudinous sentence, but switches to a smart, engaging style when elaborating his theories. He narrates poignant moments and dialogues from his psychiatric practice, offering detailed accounts of people overcoming emotional malaise. Gibson also includes examples where success occurred despite adversity in the lives of famous people and during historical events. Learning about the many failures Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling endured before her career took off, or reading how Albert Einstein’s questioning of widely accepted beliefs led to his society-altering contributions, entertains readers while elucidating the book’s guiding principles. Gibson succeeds in translating erudite knowledge and professional experiences into a conversational style that still retains formality. By supporting his theories with examples of human interactions and specific life events rather than relying on heavier technical or medical ideas, Gibson engages his audience while simultaneously imparting the help readers arrived to find. The book’s concepts aren’t dramatically different from other titles in the genre, but those looking to add to their arsenal of self-help tools have nothing to lose by including Gibson’s title.
For readers looking for quick, engaging inspiration, Gibson’s sharp and credible book is a solid resource.Pub Date: May 27, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463538088
Page Count: 186
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A moving, heartfelt account of a hospice veteran.
Lessons about life from those preparing to die.
A longtime hospice chaplain, Egan (Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago, 2004) shares what she has learned through the stories of those nearing death. She notices that for every life, there are shared stories of heartbreak, pain, guilt, fear, and regret. “Every one of us will go through things that destroy our inner compass and pull meaning out from under us,” she writes. “Everyone who does not die young will go through some sort of spiritual crisis.” The author is also straightforward in noting that through her experiences with the brokenness of others, and in trying to assist in that brokenness, she has found healing for herself. Several years ago, during a C-section, Egan suffered a bad reaction to the anesthesia, leading to months of psychotic disorders and years of recovery. The experience left her with tremendous emotional pain and latent feelings of shame, regret, and anger. However, with each patient she helped, the author found herself better understanding her own past. Despite her role as a chaplain, Egan notes that she rarely discussed God or religious subjects with her patients. Mainly, when people could talk at all, they discussed their families, “because that is how we talk about God. That is how we talk about the meaning of our lives.” It is through families, Egan began to realize, that “we find meaning, and this is where our purpose becomes clear.” The author’s anecdotes are often thought-provoking combinations of sublime humor and tragic pathos. She is not afraid to point out times where she made mistakes, even downright failures, in the course of her work. However, the nature of her work means “living in the gray,” where right and wrong answers are often hard to identify.
A moving, heartfelt account of a hospice veteran.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59463-481-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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