by Tim Cross ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 20, 2020
An architect’s convincing blueprint for inner peace.
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A comprehensive spiritual guidebook that offers a vision of tranquility and fulfillment.
The title of Cross’ new book will give readers the sense that he has some ambitious goals. There are no half-measures in this capacious volume, which aims to synthesize insights from psychology, medicine, cartography, religion, philosophy, and science. It’s a lot to unpack, but the throughline is freedom, which Cross, the author of The Architecture of Freedom (2014) and The Path to Personal Freedom (2016), describes as “letting go of those things in our lives that block us from experiencing our birthright, which is living fully within the flow of this infinite multiverse—a flow that is shaped and interconnected with a deeper type of Love.” Of course, ideas like these aren’t new; they have roots in time-tested Eastern religious practices that advocate detachment from the things of this world and a search for enlightenment and serenity. The strength of Cross’ book, however, is his attempt to put ancient ideas into a contemporary idiom. He’s able to do so because he’s trained in a very different field—architecture—and the fact that he’s a nonspecialist is not a weakness but a great strength. Like a traveler from another land who’s able to see things that longtime residents miss, Cross brings an outsider’s perspective to spiritual concerns and produces genuinely unique new insights. Among these is his central, titular concept, whole-ing, which is both a process and destination for the author; he defines the term as “the conscious illumination, acceptance, and integration of all that we are; all that we judge to be ‘good’ along with all of the ‘bad,’ so that we may become more of a ‘whole’ and complete being.” This fuller and more profound experience of life has many aspects, and Cross imagines whole-ing as having spiritual, physical, and psychological benefits. That he’s able to make these benefits seem so achievable is a testament to his powers as a writer and as a thinker.
An architect’s convincing blueprint for inner peace.Pub Date: May 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-9888344-9-1
Page Count: 420
Publisher: One River Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Marilynne Robinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2024
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.
A deeply thoughtful exploration of the first book of the Bible.
In this illuminating work of biblical analysis, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Robinson, whose Gilead series contains a variety of Christian themes, takes readers on a dedicated layperson’s journey through the Book of Genesis. The author meanders delightfully through the text, ruminating on one tale after another while searching for themes and mining for universal truths. Robinson approaches Genesis with a reverence and level of faith uncommon to modern mainstream writers, yet she’s also equipped with the appropriate tools for cogent criticism. Throughout this luminous exegesis, which will appeal to all practicing Christians, the author discusses overarching themes in Genesis. First is the benevolence of God. Robinson points out that “to say that God is the good creator of a good creation” sets the God of Genesis in opposition to the gods of other ancient creation stories, who range from indifferent to evil. This goodness carries through the entirety of Genesis, demonstrated through grace. “Grace tempers judgment,” writes the author, noting that despite well-deserved instances of wrath or punishment, God relents time after time. Another overarching theme is the interplay between God’s providence and humanity’s independence. Across the Book of Genesis, otherwise ordinary people make decisions that will affect the future in significant ways, yet events are consistently steered by God’s omnipotence. For instance, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, and that action has reverberated throughout the history of all Jewish people. Robinson indirectly asks readers to consider where the line is between the actions of God and the actions of creation. “He chose to let us be,” she concludes, “to let time yield what it will—within the vast latitude granted by providence.”
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780374299408
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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by Sloane Crosley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 27, 2024
A marvelously tender memoir on suicide and loss.
An essayist and novelist turns her attention to the heartache of a friend’s suicide.
Crosley’s memoir is not only a joy to read, but also a respectful and philosophical work about a colleague’s recent suicide. “All burglaries are alike, but every burglary is uninsured in its own way,” she begins, in reference to the thief who stole the jewelry from her New York apartment in 2019. Among the stolen items was her grandmother’s “green dome cocktail ring with tiers of tourmaline (think kryptonite, think dish soap).” She wrote those words two months after the burglary and “one month since the violent death of my dearest friend.” That friend was Russell Perreault, referred to only by his first name, her boss when she was a publicist at Vintage Books. Russell, who loved “cheap trinkets” from flea markets, had “the timeless charm of a movie star, the competitive edge of a Spartan,” and—one of many marvelous details—a “thatch of salt-and-pepper hair, seemingly scalped from the roof of an English country house.” Over the years, the two became more than boss and subordinate, teasing one another at work, sharing dinners, enjoying “idyllic scenes” at his Connecticut country home, “a modest farmhouse with peeling paint and fragile plumbing…the house that Windex forgot.” It was in the barn at that house that Russell took his own life. Despite the obvious difference in the severity of robbery and suicide, Crosley fashions a sharp narrative that finds commonality in the dislocation brought on by these events. The book is no hagiography—she notes harassment complaints against Russell for thoughtlessly tossed-off comments, plus critiques of the “deeply antiquated and often backward” publishing industry—but the result is a warm remembrance sure to resonate with anyone who has experienced loss.
A marvelously tender memoir on suicide and loss.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780374609849
Page Count: 208
Publisher: MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
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