A practical, novel approach to the concept of self-help.
Debut author Obeidat provides a brief, Islam-influenced guide to increasing personal awareness and making changes to one’s life.
“Being a small object means that you are drawn to the gravitational forces of life,” this book says at its outset. It then goes on to explore ways that readers can combat the notion of a “false personality” and instead establish a state of being that’s “not affected by external and internal considerations.” Obeidat’s advice in this self-help work is centered on changing habits, expressing gratitude, and otherwise becoming mindful. To that end, it incorporates meditation techniques by author Jon Kabat-Zinn, a “stop” exercise by spiritual leader George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, and a later chapter on the practical tenets of Islam. As complicated as it all may sound, the author’s advice tends to be very simple, such as an admonishment to “Be thankful. Show appreciation.” He establishes at the outset that, for many problems in life, there are “huge numbers of books and so-called solutions!” Why add one more book to that number? Overall, this work manages to differentiate itself on two fronts. First, at less than 80 pages, it’s concise. Second, its portion devoted to Islam grounds it in a tradition that extends beyond the latest mindfulness fads. For example, the author explains that “Patience in Islam has an important dimension that is correlated with praying.” Other, more New-Age-leaning texts are unlikely to mention items such as the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, and the resulting mixture of ideas proves intriguing. That said, it can be dry at times, as when explaining Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation (“any two bodies in the universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them”), and this creates opportunities for readers’ interest to waver. However, the book will appeal to those eager to read about modern living techniques and their embodiment in established religion.
A practical, novel approach to the concept of self-help.Pub Date: Dec. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5187-2312-4
Page Count: 102
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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