An advice book that astutely recognizes that what benefits one partner ultimately benefits both.
A sometimes-humorous, biblically grounded guide for husbands seeking to enrich their marriages.
In 28 short, daily readings focused around four themes (“Bless Her Self,” “Bless Her Sense,” “Bless Her Status, “Bless Her Soul”), Bell applies the concept of “no strings attached” to the most committed of relationships. He suggests that husbands bless their wives with their thoughts, words and deeds, with no set expectations (“bless her daily with no strings attached, and just trust that she will do the same”). He believes rewards—including a deeper relationship with God—will then follow. The advice ranges from simple and straightforward (“Create time for your wife to take a nap”; “Open the door for your wife”) to the selfishly pragmatic (“listen to her…you’d rather her be having these conversations with you than with some other guy!”). The brief “Task to Consider” emphasizes suggesting things rather than commanding them. There’s no scolding here, just an upbeat acknowledgement of the overwhelming nature of modern life and an egalitarian perspective on marital roles: “The Bible doesn’t give us permission to bully our wives; it encourages us to bless them. We are men, not patriarchs!” A relaxed tone, a generous use of the phrase “my friend,” and references to hunting, fishing and triple-dog dares suggest familiarity with a rural audience and a sense of camaraderie with “macho men” who “mutter things under [their] breath, grunt, scratch and go to work.” Frequent Old and New Testament references and rationales further suggest that this book is aimed at a specific audience of Christian husbands, but the thoughtful contemplations and specific actions could benefit and strengthen any committed relationship. It also includes well-chosen, often entertaining thoughts and inspirations from George Washington, Mark Twain and Maya Angelou, among others.
An advice book that astutely recognizes that what benefits one partner ultimately benefits both.Pub Date: Dec. 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1492774143
Page Count: 86
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2014
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
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
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