Moments in Time

Name: Moments in Time
Author: Neil Anthes
ISBN: 978-1460239209

REFLECTIONS ON PERSONAL MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES

by Neil Anthes ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2014

An exploration of the author’s spiritually transformative experiences and the worldview he’s developed from them.
Part memoir, part roundup of metaphysical and New Age philosophies, Anthes’ debut begins with an important spiritual moment he had as a teenager in Canada at the Bay of Fundy that began a lifelong interest in connecting with what he calls the Divine Universal Energy. He recounts the various experiences he’s had with Kundalini, premonitions, sensitivities to energies and following his instincts. He surrounds these experiences with the thoughts and views of numerous thinkers regarding the relationships among the spiritual and corporeal, the nature of the soul, and how New Age philosophies relate to Western religions, especially Christianity, in which he was raised. He also provides guidance and insight into how to interact with spiritual energy and live a more spiritual life—e.g., looking for God in daily things, being generous, forgiving and focusing on the spiritual in order to heal physical ailments. His look into the effects and challenges of spiritually transformative experiences could prove helpful for readers struggling to make sense of and adjust to their own experiences; the wisdom he draws from his life could certainly help readers in similar situations feel less alone. He often finds deep spiritual meaning in seemingly mundane facets of daily life, which, while interesting, can feel a bit overblown. Anthes’ personal story jumps around in time, with the author presenting various aspects of his life without much context, which may make his journey difficult to appreciate, since readers will struggle to get a sense of his spiritual progression. Numerous references to other authors and an in-depth bibliography make this book a useful jumping-off point for readers looking to get a broad sense of the New Age landscape.
Far-reaching and generous if somewhat scattered, but Anthes is a kindred spirit for readers on a similar journey.

Pub Date: May 23, 2014

ISBN: 978-1460239209

Page Count: 176

Publisher: FriesenPress

Review Posted Online: July 30, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION

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WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

A LIFETIME OF RECORDINGS

by Bob Thiele with Bob Golden ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1995

Noted jazz and pop record producer Thiele offers a chatty autobiography. Aided by record-business colleague Golden, Thiele traces his career from his start as a ``pubescent, novice jazz record producer'' in the 1940s through the '50s, when he headed Coral, Dot, and Roulette Records, and the '60s, when he worked for ABC and ran the famous Impulse! jazz label. At Coral, Thiele championed the work of ``hillbilly'' singer Buddy Holly, although the only sessions he produced with Holly were marred by saccharine strings. The producer specialized in more mainstream popsters like the irrepressibly perky Teresa Brewer (who later became his fourth wife) and the bubble-machine muzak-meister Lawrence Welk. At Dot, Thiele was instrumental in recording Jack Kerouac's famous beat- generation ramblings to jazz accompaniment (recordings that Dot's president found ``pornographic''), while also overseeing a steady stream of pop hits. He then moved to the Mafia-controlled Roulette label, where he observed the ``silk-suited, pinky-ringed'' entourage who frequented the label's offices. Incredibly, however, Thiele remembers the famously hard-nosed Morris Levy, who ran the label and was eventually convicted of extortion, as ``one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, and classiest music men I have ever known.'' At ABC/Impulse!, Thiele oversaw the classic recordings of John Coltrane, although he is the first to admit that Coltrane essentially produced his own sessions. Like many producers of the day, Thiele participated in the ownership of publishing rights to some of the songs he recorded; he makes no apology for this practice, which he calls ``entirely appropriate and without any ethical conflicts.'' A pleasant, if not exactly riveting, memoir that will be of most interest to those with a thirst for cocktail-hour stories of the record biz. (25 halftones, not seen)

Pub Date: May 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-19-508629-4

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995

Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION

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IN MY PLACE

by Charlayne Hunter-Gault ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1992

From the national correspondent for PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour: a moving memoir of her youth in the Deep South and her role in desegregating the Univ. of Georgia. The eldest daughter of an army chaplain, Hunter-Gault was born in what she calls the ``first of many places that I would call `my place' ''—the small village of Due West, tucked away in a remote little corner of South Carolina. While her father served in Korea, Hunter-Gault and her mother moved first to Covington, Georgia, and then to Atlanta. In ``L.A.'' (lovely Atlanta), surrounded by her loving family and a close-knit black community, the author enjoyed a happy childhood participating in activities at church and at school, where her intellectual and leadership abilities soon were noticed by both faculty and peers. In high school, Hunter-Gault found herself studying the ``comic-strip character Brenda Starr as I might have studied a journalism textbook, had there been one.'' Determined to be a journalist, she applied to several colleges—all outside of Georgia, for ``to discourage the possibility that a black student would even think of applying to one of those white schools, the state provided money for black students'' to study out of state. Accepted at Michigan's Wayne State, the author was encouraged by local civil-rights leaders to apply, along with another classmate, to the Univ. of Georgia as well. Her application became a test of changing racial attitudes, as well as of the growing strength of the civil-rights movement in the South, and Gault became a national figure as she braved an onslaught of hostilities and harassment to become the first black woman to attend the university. A remarkably generous, fair-minded account of overcoming some of the biggest, and most intractable, obstacles ever deployed by southern racists. (Photographs—not seen.)