A generous, involving study of how ancient stargazing gave rise to many of the tenets of human civilization.
Dietrich provides a wide-ranging study of ancient astronomies.
In this densely packed study, Dietrich (Origin of Culture, 2005) tells his readers, “Many great scholars and astronomers have agreed that mathematics, geometry, and astronomy are the common language of humankind,” and in these pages, he attempts to lay out a grammar of that common language. In 10 fast-paced, well-illustrated chapters, the guide ranges across ancient and prehistoric human culture, from the designs of temples in Angkor Wat and Tikal to the commonalities of origin myths in ancient Greek, Hebrew and Egyptian literatures. Dietrich contends that astronomical concepts and applications formed the foundation of the ancient cultures he studies. It’s a thought-provoking thesis, made all the more provocative by some of the author’s claims, such as that “multiple underground water spirals and aquifers” gave impetus to the building of such disparate sacred places as Stonehenge, Karnak, Giza, the Temple Mount at Jerusalem and Tenochtitlan. More troubling for some readers will be Dietrich’s casual pronouncements: “The universe works because everything was set in motion at once, allowing everything to adjust, conform, coordinate with everything else.” He tells us at one point, “The universe is traveling toward perfect numbers and perfect harmony.” This is a bit overreaching; ancient cosmologies may talk about perfect harmony, but it plays little part in modern physics. That study is nevertheless expertly done, thanks to the author’s convincingly comprehensive view, which smoothly encompasses a great deal of fascinating information and presents ancient cosmological knowledge in accessible terms.
A generous, involving study of how ancient stargazing gave rise to many of the tenets of human civilization.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1935098751
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Bascom Hill Publishing Group
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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