A comforting retreat and respite from the daily grind.
Oppenheimer offers a course of meditative practices aimed at reconnecting readers to their essential natures.
Despite the plethora of spiritual guides meant to help readers escape the hamster wheel of modern life, it often remains difficult for many to achieve even a modicum of peace, let alone anything approaching an enlightened state of being. As the author observes, “Gaian principles reigned for millennia, but in humanity’s recent past they have been abandoned for free-market principles that go against life’s fundamental structure. This endangers all living systems and beings.” In this case, “Gaian” refers to a “unified conscious” or “intelligent Being.” If that sounds just a little too woo-woo, don’t worry—the author gets it. “Having been raised within the predominant western paradigm, it was only in my teens that I discovered this understanding of personhood bequeathed to all life,” she writes. Further references to “a holon within the holarchy of the cosmos” may initially leave many readers scratching their heads, but those digging deeper into this lush and lyrical text will discover a strong foundational basis for Oppenheimer’s brand of spiritualism. Some of the author’s more grounded observations—including a 2021 UN report finding that we have something like 60 harvests left before Earth’s soil is completely depleted, or that 40,000 metric tons of stardust fall on earth each year—are thoroughly intriguing. Each of the book’s five chapters concludes with a section on “Deepening Practices” meant to help readers apply the ancient wisdom they will acquire here in more direct ways. Much of the practices revolve around simple breathing exercises and varying forms of meditation. “How do we learn to let go?” Oppenheimer asks early on. “Slow down. Breathe. With each exhalation feel your heart soften. Melt and allow dissolution to become more permeable with each breath. Feel the breath swinging through your heart.” If the esoteric knowledge doesn’t get you there, the soft, melodious prose just might do it.
A comforting retreat and respite from the daily grind.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781966293033
Page Count: 122
Publisher: Red Elixir
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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