A light, entertaining journey through the varied genres of New Age spirituality. Cohen, on assignment for New Woman (this book grew out of her article for the magazine), attempted to discover the spirit of her recently deceased mother, whose loss left her searching for meaning in her own life. Highly skeptical of the New Age movement (which is why her mystical-minded editor gave her the assignment), she approaches her subject with healthy doses of wit and suspicion. This balance of open-mindedness and skepticism serve the author well as she attempts to navigate the myriad worlds of numerology, astrology, fortune-telling, channeling, and parapsychology. She gives some sketchy historical background about each of these practices (there are important differences, for example, between mediums and psychics), and then recounts her own experiences with practitioners of these various arts. Some, like fortune-tellers, are dismissed fairly easily, while others give her pause. She claims that several mediums recited intimate facts about her mother's life (the names of her parents, the name of her sister and that she lived in Florida, the kind of hat her brother wore); a police psychic described Cohen's new puppy perfectly just from holding the small keyring Cohen grabs to take him for a walk- -without even knowing that this was the keys' only purpose. But other experiences leave her dubious, like her efforts to recover past lives. Though persuaded that there might be something to it, she claims she was fabricating a past-life scenario out of her own imagination, assisted by the strong suggestions of her regression counselor. In the end, after encountering both charlatans and genuine practitioners, Cohen is still skeptical—but her wariness has melted to the degree that the phone numbers of numerous practitioners are listed in the appendix. Somewhat self-absorbed (in keeping with much of the New Age movement) but a fun introduction to a wacky world. (Author tour)
Pub Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-517-70828-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1997
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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