A detailed handbook for those looking to learn about and connect with spirituality.
This exhaustive guide aims to teach readers the essential pillars of spirituality.
Debut author Broach, a trained library science professional and realtor, began doing research on metaphysics during his studies at the University of Kentucky. Many religions throughout the world, he notes, hold the belief that there exists a “higher power,” whether it be God, Shiva, or another deity; Broach asserts that these higher powers are examples of spiritual energy and help people to recognize this same energy within themselves. The author writes that, because there’s so much suffering and turmoil in the world, it can be difficult for people to exist in a positive state of being; instead, many pursue the idea of heaven for the promise of future happiness. But Broach argues that, by drawing on spiritual energy, people can create a similarly harmonic state on Earth. His book seeks to answer questions on how to live a spiritual life, including what it means to be a spiritual being: “We, as spiritual people, are part of God,” the author says. It also addresses how spirituality and organized religion are related and how affirmations are connected to one’s spiritual nature; indeed, readers who come from mainstream religious backgrounds should expect to have their worldviews frequently challenged. Other topics include how to embrace a spiritual lifestyle and use familiar spiritual tools, such as meditation and manifesting. Overall, Broach succeeds in creating a comprehensive guide for those who may be new to these spiritual ideas and eager to explore them. Occasionally, the book’s layout feels a bit disjointed, but the author’s clear storytelling talent makes up for this. Some of the concepts that Broach addresses in this book, such as auras or soul mates, are complex and may require patience from readers who are unfamiliar with them, but he supplements his research with engaging personal anecdotes.
A detailed handbook for those looking to learn about and connect with spirituality.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2022
ISBN: 9798885270779
Page Count: 268
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should...
Greene (The 33 Strategies of War, 2007, etc.) believes that genius can be learned if we pay attention and reject social conformity.
The author suggests that our emergence as a species with stereoscopic, frontal vision and sophisticated hand-eye coordination gave us an advantage over earlier humans and primates because it allowed us to contemplate a situation and ponder alternatives for action. This, along with the advantages conferred by mirror neurons, which allow us to intuit what others may be thinking, contributed to our ability to learn, pass on inventions to future generations and improve our problem-solving ability. Throughout most of human history, we were hunter-gatherers, and our brains are engineered accordingly. The author has a jaundiced view of our modern technological society, which, he writes, encourages quick, rash judgments. We fail to spend the time needed to develop thorough mastery of a subject. Greene writes that every human is “born unique,” with specific potential that we can develop if we listen to our inner voice. He offers many interesting but tendentious examples to illustrate his theory, including Einstein, Darwin, Mozart and Temple Grandin. In the case of Darwin, Greene ignores the formative intellectual influences that shaped his thought, including the discovery of geological evolution with which he was familiar before his famous voyage. The author uses Grandin's struggle to overcome autistic social handicaps as a model for the necessity for everyone to create a deceptive social mask.
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should beware of the author's quirky, sometimes misleading brush-stroke characterizations.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-670-02496-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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