A heavily allusive guide to life makes up in accessibility what it lacks in length.
A short self-help manual about “Life, Love, People and The Universe.”
Sellaway wisely acknowledges in his pithy nonfiction debut that most people don’t take direct criticism well; often, he says, the best course of action is to make sure that people know their options and then let them make their own decisions. Drawing on self-improvement gurus, such as Deepak Chopra, as well as such thinkers as Albert Einstein and Richard Dawkins, Sellaway takes readers on a brisk tour of religion and spirituality while also addressing worry, self-doubt, and the possibility of determining one’s path in “the Life Experience.” In the author’s conception, this experience leads people through increasing levels of self-awareness, from “courage” to “acceptance” to “love” and, eventually, to an “enlightenment” that comes from within. Sellaway is insistent that readers are their own best allies in their quests for peace and fulfillment, and this and other sentiments are tinted with strains of popular Eastern mysticism (“We then begin to see that since we are all One, when we hurt or belittle another, we are actually hurting our Self”). Along the way, he peppers his text with numerous quotations. Some of these seem patently nonsensical without further explanation (Bruce H. Lipton’s “We can control our lives by controlling our perceptions,” for instance), and there’s no firm evidence that Einstein ever said, “If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.” But all the quotations adhere to the same optimistic, uplifting line of thought that animates the book as a whole. “You…are the creator of your existence,” Sellaway writes, and that focus on personal agency will undoubtedly appeal to many readers.
A heavily allusive guide to life makes up in accessibility what it lacks in length.Pub Date: May 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5043-7930-4
Page Count: 76
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
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
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