Roberts (In Search of the Birth of Jesus, 1995, etc.) cobbles together an absorbing pastiche of his India forays over a span of 20 years. Back in the mid-1970s, fresh from Oxford, Roberts lands in Bombay, looking for Truth but willing to sample anything thrown his way. He does spend many days and nights among holy men and saints and yogis and spiritual teachers (at one point he enjoys a tranquil, pastoral year at the ashram of Sathya Sai Baba in Puttaparthi), even experiences an epiphany of sorts (Roberts is the first to admit that putting such an event down on paper is grasping at straws). But he's most comfortable telling little episodes and incidents, anecdotes, conversations, and brief histories, willing to let the babel and bedlam of his India work its magic on him. It might be Bombay, which ``smelled like the enveloping breath of a monster gorged on overspiced sewage''; or the albescent peaks, flashing rivers, and green valleys of Swat, a Shangri-la he visits with a brash drug wholesaler; or his numerous run-ins with the plain and sad and awful, from prostitutes to junkies, the dirt poor to witless spirit questers. He fashions a nifty, concise history of Goa from the early 16th century and takes a bead on Mother Teresa (a tad vain, and more than a tad manipulative) and the goatish Bhagwan Sharee Rajneesh (late of Seattle and Rolls-Royce fame). Cultural dissonances play him like a stringed instrument, changing the way he sees things. When he returns in the 1990s, the general state of decay has advanced, but the subcontinent continues to keep Roberts off balance and knee-deep in strange adventures. In presenting his personal India, Roberts is an artful skeptic, a relativist with a sense of humor, and a crackerjack storyteller.
Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1996
ISBN: 1-57322-047-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1996
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
