Customer Reviews:
Perennial wisdom.......2005-07-23
I read this book many years ago when it was first published and just reread it. I am amazed at how much it mirrors teachings from people like Almaas, Tolle, and Wilbur. Years ago, I was taken by the feminist and indigenous perspective. Today, I am appreciative of the human truth I find in it. I like the story format, and whether it is literally or figuratively true, I found that the story added to the telling. I am now rereading all of Andrews' books. As I've grown, her words are touching a different place.
The truth and power behind the obvious.......2001-05-17
I tend to rate books on how they talk to me. And this one sure did. Just like Ms. Andrews' other books this book has the potential to change your life, if you are ready to understand the messages behind the story. It sure had quite an impact on mine. She speaks in poetic and imaginative language about fears we have difficulty facing and yet in this lyrical description I find the color and beauty to take responsibility to face those fears. How much better can a book get.
Truth or Dare.......2001-04-19
Do you dare to believe that this "story" is true? We , the readers are told to dare to believe, yet it is well known that the author is writing a fictive memoir, a story full of metaphor for a culture that no longer dares to believe the imaginal realms are true. The problem is if the author is actually experiencing it on the imaginal plane, but dares to say it is as real as you reading this then how can we be any more confused as a seeker, looking for something to believe in. Call it for what it is, we do not need to have teachers leading us down anymore darkened roads, we need teachers that dare to say the imaginal is as real as anything and therefore hold that up as a guiding light. Tell the Truth.
Whether Fact or Fiction, Star Woman a Fine Book.......2001-04-16
This powerful book is part of a new genre that has been forming since the emergence of Carlos Castaneda's writings in the late 1960s and early 70s--you could call the genre "spiritual memoir." Readers who are inclined to see the world literally and who believe that there is nothing more to reality than what appears on its surface might not find these books useful. But if you wish to suspend your disbelief and skepticism, these works can prove invaluable.
Authors such as Lynn Andrews are teachers, and sometimes the content of their books is challenging. Whether you accept it as fact or dismiss it as fiction, Star Woman is beautifully written, suspense-filled, dramatic, and full of lessons.
Teachings from the Stars.......2001-04-14
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as it is one of my favorites from the vast collection that Lynn Andrews has written. The teachings of the Sisterhood of the Shields that she emparts to all of us, through her personal experiences and writings, are a source of great wisdom and learning. As she shared her own exploration into her shadows and weaknesses it gave me the courage to explore those places within myself that still need healing as well. After reading this book my thoughts about the Stars and the vastness of the Universe was forever changed. And I am deeply grateful for that.
Book Description
Why have The Lord of The Rings, Star Wars, the Harry Potter stories, and other tales of heroic fantasy, been so phenomenally successful in the present apparently cynical and disillusioned age? Colebatch argues that the popularity of these works shows the real health of our culture to be more robust than we sometimes believe, and confirms the centrality of "traditional" values which "progressive" thinkers have often disparaged or overlooked.
In advancing this argument, the author also seeks to entertain the many readers who love these works, and to open to them some new vistas of understanding.
Download Description
Why have The Lord of The Rings, Star Wars, the Harry Potter stories, and other tales of heroic fantasy, been so phenomenally successful in the present apparently cynical and disillusioned age? Colebatch argues that the popularity of these works shows the real health of our culture to be more robust than we sometimes believe, and confirms the centrality of "traditional" values which "progressive" thinkers have often disparaged or overlooked. In advancing this argument, the author also seeks to entertain the many readers who love these works, and to open to them new vistas of understanding.
Customer Reviews:
Informative, illuminating, but repetitive........2005-11-20
It is a testament to my own naivete that I neither knew nor could even imagine anyone not loving LOTR, Star Wars, and the Harry Potter series. Colebatch has done all of us a great service by revealing the radical Left's antipathy to these heroic stories. His main thesis is that since the end of the Cold War, cultural conflict has become more important than political conflict. The ideological struggles of the past are now replaced by efforts to use the arts to radically reshape society via a concerted and sustained attack on traditional Western values in virtually every area of life, including art, literature, ethics, religion & personal relationships. All of which explains the radical Left's hostility to LOTR, et al. That these stories are enormously popular signify strong popular dissent from the moral relativism and nihilism of the cultural elites.
I have two minor criticisms of this book. The first is that it is repetitive: Colebatch repeats himself from chapter to chapter; his book could have used a good editor. The second is that the subtitle of the book is deceptive, in that there is very little on Harry Potter.
still waiting for the heroes to return.......2005-05-19
As a fan of Tolkein, Star Wars, and Harry Potter and one who has appreciated a number of analytic treatments of their themes in relation to culture and society, I was expecting something a little different. Perhaps a more accurate title might have been "Defending the Heroes: Debating Critics of Tolkein and Star Wars, with a Little Harry Potter Thrown in."
The larger portion of the book consists of the author cataloging an extensive list of negative criticisms and in turn criticizing the critics for their method and mood. Granted, his arguments make a lot of sense. But there is much less positive treatment of heroic themes and their potential validity and usefulness in modern society, and much repetitive groaning about how mistaken the critics are.
Not only that, the subtitle suggests that three different series will be treated in the book. In fact, Harry Potter is mentioned only briefly, a few times, almost as if his inclusion were meant to capitalize on his current popularity. For the amount of space devoted to Harry Potter themes, he could just as easily (and more accurately) have been excluded from the title. I found this to be misleading.
Stimulating and delightful.......2003-08-29
This is a splendidly stimulating, thought-provoking, slyly humorous and delightful book. The author analyses these great tales from a number of original perspectives and what he concludes is optimistic about the state of our culture and society. His language is easy to read and his great learning, while obvious, is never obtrusive or heavy. To aborb this book is to absorb a political, social and literary education in a fascinating way. All who love The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter should buy this book for its insights. It will deepn your appreciation of these great tales and of others in the same tradtion.
The triumphant return...........2003-08-27
When I first read Hal Colebatch's original discussion paper on this topic (from the early 1990's), I knew I had found a kindred spirit. I found it by putting "Star Wars" and "LOTR" into a library catalogue. I was amazed to find that someone had put the two together in a scholarly work, and I was pleased to discover that it was an intelligent, erudite and remarkably coherent piece of writing that crystallised many of my own feelings that had never had an outlet before. Colebatch has completely revised and updated his original paper so that it stands alone as an excellent academic book on western culture, focussed through the prism of heroic literature and film. This new edition includes material on Harry Potter, as well as a more thorough analysis of the works of Tolkien and Lucas. I thoroughly recommend it to any lovers of heroic fiction, english students and Tolkien/Lucas enthusiasts. Colebatch is a very well-read author with his own output of poetry and sci-fi, and his vast knowledge has been brought to bear on important topics, ensuring that this book is a milestone in literary criticism. You do not have to be a dry academic to enjoy this one; you just have to have a love of reading.
Book Description
Hal Bregg is an astronaut who returns from a space mission in which only 10 biological years have passed for him, while 127 years have elapsed on earth. He finds that the earth has changed beyond recognition, filled with human beings who have been medically neutralized. How does an astronaut join a civilization that shuns risk? Translated by Barbara Marszal and Frank Simpson. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Customer Reviews:
You can't go home again - or can you?.......2006-10-25
This is a relatively contemplative work by Lem - he saved his blatant humor for other works. Instead, it's a relatively sober story about how thoroughly isolated one can be, even in the midst of a crowd.
The "one" in this case is Bregg, an astronaut returned from an interstellar misson. Perhaps he never hoped to be a hero upon return, but it never occurred to him that no one would care. In the hundred-plus years since his departure, humankind had remodeled itself into a people that could not understand why anyone would venture into space, after an era in which such trips were declared pointless expenses. The returning voyagers are welcomed by their gentle hosts, but largely ignored.
The first part of Lem's story imagines Bregg's utter disorientation in the physical world, filled with unfamiliar words, sounds, and sights; where even a wall isn't necessarily a wall. He's intelligent and adaptable, so moves on to the second level of disorientation: simply having no idea how to have a conversation when so very few concepts or values are shared. This isolation appears most clearly in his attempts at inimacy. Betrization, the process that made this world the gentle idyll that it is, makes him seem like a ravenous beast to the generation around him, an object of fear no matter what he does or says. The danger inherent in his un-betrizated state appeals to some, of course, but it's an appeal that Bregg does not want to hold. After a time, he finds a woman of this brave new world that can accept him. Then, the deepest level of his isolation surrounds him: he simplay has no place in this society. There is no need for his skills, no interest in the heroism and tragedy of his star travel, and no job that he's competent to do. One or two personal ties are simply not enough to anchor him in this alien place.
The very end has a different tone, one that I'll let you discover for yourself - I'll just say that I found it worth the wait. The trip there passes through Lem's evocative writing, including a poetic moment describing the peace and permanence to be found in studying mathematics: "New roads arise, but the old ones lead on. They do not become overgrown." There's also an oddly prescient desciption of Emil Mitke, "... a crippled genius who did with the theory of relativity what Einstein had done with Newton." Back when this book was written, there was no way to forsee Stephen Hawking, today's asymmetric icon of scientific brilliance.
This might not be the best intro for someone new to Lem. I'd recommend his lighter writing to start with. Still, it's a good one.
//wiredweird
Lem himself.......2006-10-15
For all those readers who may have difficulties penetrating the complexity of Lem's book, I would like to recommend a chapter in Peter Swirski's The Art and Science of S Lem which talks about Return From the Stars in a way that made me see this story from a startlingly different perspective that bears on the most intimate aspects of today's world. By the way, the Art and Science of S Lem is an international collection of essays in which everyone is bound to find something to their liking, also it includes a previously unpublished chapter by S Lem himself!
Also can be viewed as another of Lem's "Contact" novels.......2006-01-15
The other reviews have rightly commented on this books concerns with gender relations. However, in the context of all of Lem's works it can also be viewed another way. "Solaris", "Fiasco", "Eden" and other books are about how alien a new world would appear to human eyes...a far deeper if more pessimistic vision than the typical science fiction where aliens are just funny looking people. Starting from this perspective "Return from the Stars" could be an account of how alien the future would appear. For example, in the beginning of the book the returnee wanders through a gigantic, many-levelled structure of moving ramps, trying simply to find his way out. After awhile the reader realizes Lem could be describing the experience of a medieval person dropped into a modern major airport.
Stranger in a familiar land.......2004-09-12
Hal Bregg returns to Earth after a journey that spanned 10 of his years and 100 years at home to find a world unrecognizable from the one he left. He and his crew embodied the loftiest aspirations of a society willing to take risks, even fatal ones, in the pursuit of exploration, discovery, and advancement. Sound familiar? But society in the intervening century now has expunged all possibility of risk. To achieve this, humanity accepts a narcotized solution in the form of betrization--a socially engineered necessity. Hal, full of passion and vigor, is thus a living anachronism and unsure how he will fit in.
With this scenario that seemingly could go anywhere Lem would like, it oddly becomes something of a romance. Please though dont surmise that this a standard love story. The book contains the classic Lemmian effulgence of realities that presciently evoke some of our own: reals (simulated encounters with danger); betrization (aforementioned); an enslaved workforce of robots; electronic books; etc. Without revealing more, the ending confirms Lems place among the pantheon of superb literary artists.
What would happen if the radical feminists took over.......2004-02-16
This book was disturbing and utterly silly. It should be titled "What would happen if the radical left Feminists took over the world". A completely emasculated society.
I had trouble feeling sympathy for any character. The women who think that violence is evil and men are rapists destroy society in this story. Although set in the future, due to the new order there is no real progress. The driving desire to compete and fight for what you need is gone. Along with all the testosterone apparently.
As a women I hated this society. Although I didn't care for the protagonist's backward thinking either. It was an interesting read if only to see what would happen if a certain small segment of society got its way. Scary stuff.
Customer Reviews:
Connecting aliens and archaeology.......2004-12-10
In this follow up to Chariots of the Gods Daniken looks for evidence of aliens' past visits to earth by examining archaeology. Many cultures from the past show rays projecting from the heads of the people they portray. Large carved rocks are hard to explain. Using technology of the time they would have been very tedious to erect.
Throughout the book Daniken asks, "How could they do this without help from aliens?" or "Is this a carving of an alien?" Sometimes his analysis of what he finds is way off, as when he describes a carving of a person inside a carved circular decoration and captions it as a person in a "spherical spaceship" Art historians can have a laugh at Daniken's expense.
There is good archaeology here. The book is a fast read with many illustrations to back up points.
Chapters:
Interstellar Space Flight is Possible
On the Track of Life
A "Sunday" Archaeologist Asks Questions
Mankind's Storehouse of Memory
The Sphere the Ideal Shape for Spacecraft
The Science Fiction of Yesterday is Tomorrow's Reality
Conversations in Moscow
Ancient Sites That Deserve Investigation
Easter Island: An Inexhaustible Topic
To India to Consult the Sacred Texts
The Perversions of Our Ancestors
Questions and still more Questions
Pseudoscience.......2001-12-21
Gods from Outer Space discusses, among other things, the spheres of Costa Rica, the statues on Easter Island, Vimana (flying machines) in ancient Vedic literature, and the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque.
Overall it's a good review of ancient mysteries-- which you might learn a thing or two from. But von Daniken has little evidence to support his extraterrestrial hypothesis.
Product Description
multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.
Book Description
Long before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Islamic fundamentalism was exerting a significant influence in nearly every corner of the world. Bassam Tibi, a widely recognized expert on Islam and Arab culture, offers an important and disquieting analysis of this particular synthesis of religion and politics. A Muslim and descendant of a famous Damascene Islamic scholar family, Tibi sees Islamic fundamentalism as the result of Islam's confrontation with modernity and not only--as it is widely believed--economic adversity. The movement is unprecedented in Islamic history and parallels the inability of Islamic nation-states to integrate into the new world secular order.
For this updated edition, Tibi has written a new preface and lengthy introduction addressing Islamic fundamentalism in light of and since September 11.
Customer Reviews:
One of the most important works on Islamic Fundamentalism from Westerners.......2007-10-08
The fact that this book was written several years before 9/11 tells wonders to how deep the problem with Islamism (i.e Islamic extreminism/fundamentalism) was throughout the globe well before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As a U.S. student of international relations, this was one of the first books that exposed me to the problem of Islamic fundamentalism and I am glad it was the primer. I have gone on to read other books and I am just astonished by the disinformation and as well the misinformation presented by authors claiming to interpret the inner psyche of fundamentalists. What disturbs me the most about other authors is that most do no even read or write and Arabic. In turn, they rely on translations by others which could be easily misconstrued from a difficult dialect such as Arabic and the style and prose of Quranic verses.
Professor Tibi, on the other hand, does not suffer from this pathology. Aside from being able to speak and write fluently in Arabic, Professor Tibi is an Arab as well as a devout Muslim - a moderate one at that. Furthermore, Professor Tibi has actually traveled all over the world, into some of the most violent and volatile regional hotbeds to experience first hand the problem with Islamic fundamentalism. To understand the roots the problem, I believe one cannot sit in the comfort of Washington, D.C. think tanks or American universities: the dimensional problems associated with Islamic fundamentalism require proactive engagement. But thankfully, most readers and students will not have to experience such hardship because of Professor. Tibi's work.
It would be difficult to do justice to Professor Tibi works in such a short review. Having said that, here are three important points I felt are worthy of notice. First, Prof. Tibi contends that Islamic fundamentalism is not at war with the West, but at war with secular nation-states. He contends convincingly that the concept of the nation-state is foreign to Islam. He cites several passages from the Quran that support this contention and goes on to explain how such an political arrangement - often advocated by the West - is incompatible with current understanding of Islam by followers. Second, he strongly advocates that Islamic fundamentalism (he refers to it as Islamism as well) as a pure political apparatus to undermine the apologists of the nation-state. He does this by showing the contradictions between the interpretations of fundamentalist teachings and works to that of the Quran. By following this methodology, Professor Tibi lays out the framework for Islam as the peaceful religion and its rogue opposite (Islamism) which twists the teachings in the Quran to sanction terrorism as means to its political ends. Third, he discusses the West's inability to escapes its "Orientalism" when it comes to interpreting and understanding Islamic fundamentalism. Orientalism implies the Western perspective of old-fashioned and prejudiced outsider interpretations of other cultures and peoples. In other words, an ethnocentric bias to which the West consistently interprets the events of fundamentalism. He believes that as long as the West continues viewing the problem of fundamentalism through this prism, the problem will continue perhaps perpetually.
Needless to say this book really expanded my "horizons" on this contentious subject. Considering that I am not Arab, Islamic, or born in the Middle East, I think what I appreciated most about this book is how the entire discourse is underpinned in peace studies from an individual that fills all three of these voids. Such an approach ultimately advocates a pragmatic solution to the problem with Islamism and helps preserve Islam as a spiritual faith.
Answers to Post 9/11 Questions .......2005-10-31
This brilliant and prescient volume (written in 1997) belongs in the library of anyone interested in military history or world affairs as well as general academic circulation. It should be mandatory reading for anyone in Western government. It's one of the most important books written about the turmoil in our world today. A non-academic, I found it a revelation. Questions about the silence of the non-violent, "moderate" Muslims receive tentative answers in these pages. It also deals with the widespread fundamental movement within Islam of which the terrorists compose only a tiny percentage. It sets the historical framework for the acceptance of Islamic fundamentalism, in its many imperfect forms, as a reaction to the foolish post WWI decision of the French and British foreign offices in dividing the Arabic Middle East into arbitrary nation-states. They were never accepted by many Muslims who regarded them as an irrevelent impostion by the West. As a Muslim, Tibi demonstrates great courage in detailing the inherent inconsistences in Islamic fundamentalism thought as well as its lack of historical grounding in traditional Islam. He places Islamic fundamentalism in the political arena. Nothing is more potent than religion coupled to political drive for change. He's careful to point out there are many fundamental movements worldwide that have nothing to do with Islam. I've just touched the surface of the many important points Tibi raises.
In-depth analysis that looks at reality, not the sensational.......2000-12-04
I actually read this book (or main essays therefrom) in German. (The author teaches at the University of Tuebingen in Germany, and I believe publishes in that language) Having grown up in the Middle-East, I found Prof. Tibi's description of both events and realities on the ground to be very faithful to the truth. The very satisfying thing about his writing is his scientific-neutral (with a twist of anthropology, economics as well as just plain common sense) approach. There are countless books out there written by Arab "scholars" and "I've been there and understand it all" western journalists who more often than not just highlight one fact without showing interdependence of economic conditions, sociological stratification and cultural alienation that help explain the mess brought about by the rapid introduction of modernity into a world that heretofore had a limited sense of nationhood, let alone a secular societal organization.
Bassam Tibi has this very rare objectivity due to not having the inferiority complex vis-a-vis the "West" which unfortunately plagues most if not all Arab and Middle-Eastern academia.
Average customer rating:
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The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder.(Review)(Brief Article): An article from: Journal of Church and State
J.M. Long
Manufacturer: J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State
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ASIN: B00099M79O
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Church and State, published by J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State on September 22, 1999. The length of the article is 633 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder.(Review)(Brief Article)
Author: J.M. Long
Publication:
Journal of Church and State (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1999
Publisher: J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State
Volume: 41
Issue: 4
Page: 831
Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), published by Association of Arab-American University Graduates and Institute of Arab Studies on September 22, 1999. The length of the article is 1249 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Political Islam and the New World Disorder.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: Jeffrey A. VanDenBerg
Publication:
Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1999
Publisher: Association of Arab-American University Graduates and Institute of Arab Studies
Volume: 21
Issue: 4
Page: 99
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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