A vividly written call to defeat the intruder inside the human heart that promotes negativity.
A guide urges readers to find their “prominence in the universe.”
“Be prepared,” declares White at the onset of his book, “to shatter all the myths, superstitions, misconceptions, and negative opinions that have hampered you from experiencing your unique, one-of-a-kind authenticity.” The author uses deliberately high-flown rhetoric, aimed at challenging readers’ complacency and getting them to turn their energies to confronting the “intruder” within, the real and steadfast enemy of their ability to conduct their lives as a maestro occupying center stage. This intruder is “an unwanted mental houseguest” hampering personal growth, and it’s for this reason that White stresses that the particular journey he’s describing in these pages is not about adding anything to readers—they already possess all the qualities they need—but rather subtracting obstacles. A key concept in this worldview, one of the most important tools in readers’ kits, is something White calls “The Power of Intervention,” which enables them to “turn your thoughts in the right direction when your self-talk is fraught with faulty ruminations.” It’s through this significant power that readers will be able to counter the “no” tendency of the intruder, which the author refers to as one of the most potent kegs of dynamite in the antagonist’s arsenal. “When left unchecked,” he writes, “the damaging effect of NO can negatively impact you for a lifetime.”
White employs a vibrantly optimistic tone throughout his work, always encouraging his readers to realize the best versions of themselves and to reject the intruder who’s continually seeking to enhance the negativity in their lives and deny them their dreams. Those lives, the author stresses, are unbounded in potential. “Refuse to compromise with the truth any longer,” he writes. “You are not here to endure life, you are here to enjoy life!” Periodically throughout the text, this reassurance takes a familiar self-help/motivation route into fanciful territory. Telling readers that they can be anything they want simply by believing it is, of course, unrealistic. White tells his readers that they must think of themselves as unlimited in possibilities. “When you set yourself on that track,” he writes, “you’ll find yourself advancing a lot farther a lot faster, and you’ll see no reason whatsoever to go back.” This kind of rhetoric is uplifting, yes, but it fails to take into account real-world limitations like education, money, and strong personal connections. But allowing that most readers will likely realize that, the author’s encouragements are bracingly phrased and cheerfully personal. Although his inspirational comments are invigorating, his advice is at its most intriguing when it’s at its most pragmatic, discussing the pernicious effects of the kinds of rationalizations people use every day to limit their own dreams. Readers can serve only one state of mind at a time, he emphasizes, and it should be the most positive one they can imagine.
A vividly written call to defeat the intruder inside the human heart that promotes negativity.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-578-94164-6
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Mind Adventure Inc
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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