Book Description
"The days of the pure whites, the victors of today, are as numbered as were the days of their predecessors. Having fulfilled their destiny of mechanizing the world, they themselves have set, without knowing it, the basis for the new period: The period of the fusion and the mixing of all peoples." -- from The Cosmic Race
In this influential 1925 essay, presented here in Spanish and English, José Vasconcelos predicted the coming of a new age, the Aesthetic Era, in which joy, love, fantasy, and creativity would prevail over the rationalism he saw as dominating the present age. In this new age, marriages would no longer be dictated by necessity or convenience, but by love and beauty; ethnic obstacles, already in the process of being broken down, especially in Latin America, would disappear altogether, giving birth to a fully mixed race, a "cosmic race," in which all the better qualities of each race would persist by the natural selection of love.
"This bilingual edition of The Cosmic Race by José Vasconcelos gives the reader a clear and concise introduction to contents that have caused much critical controversy. Didier T. Jaén places this essay in perspective, discussing theories relevant to Vasconcelos's thought... [and] also provides an historical context for Vasconcelos's evolving ideas." -- Hispania
Customer Reviews:
Spiritual and not scientific.......2004-07-07
If read in the light of race, Vasconcelos at first appears disturbing. However, Raza Cosmica needs to be read in the light of the spiritual vs. materialist debate raging in Latin America through the 19th century into the mid 20th. The Author is reflecting on "Anglo" materialism vs. "Hispano" spiritualism, and the idea of race is really secondary when compared to his vision of the future. An absolute must read for the debates of the Revolution in Mexico and all of Latin America trying to find a place in the world of a North Atlantic economy.
racist psycho.......2003-08-25
vasconcelos was a man who used racism to promote his views. an extremely interesting, yet equally disturbing essay. if curious about race in mexico, this is an important read.
racist psycho.......2003-08-25
vasconcelos was a man who used racism to promote his views. an extremely interesting, yet equally disturbing essay. if curious about race in mexico, this is an important read.
an out of the ordinary book.......2001-01-09
This book basicly revolves around a central thesis that all of the races on earth tend to intermix at a gradually increasing pace, and eventually will give rise to a new human type, composed of selections from each of the races already in existence. This race will be called the Cosmic Race. It is an interesting theory that in some ways is similar to the darwinist doctrine. This book is exceptionally well written and very compelling. I enjoyed this book and would recommend trying it out.
Amazon.com
In this companion volume to the two-part NOVA television special by the same title, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and astronomy writer Donald Goldsmith attempt to cram 14 billion years of history into 300 pages. The result of this audacious exercise is a surprising and engrossing book, one that far surpasses the droning tone of so many astronomy texts. Starting (of course) with the Big Bang and ending with the search for extraterrestrial life, the authors synthesize the results of several scientific fields to present a sort of cosmological consilience. They also emphasize the scientific method and its inherent skepticism as the only way to understand such mysteries as dark matter, stellar formation, and the origin of life on Earth. Although several books are published each year that provide overviews of various branches of science, what's different about this one is the accessible tone of the writing. The authors use mild humor throughout to keep readers going in difficult sections; for instance, when assessing the question of why we live during the rare time when the amounts of dark and not-dark energy are roughly equal in the universe, they relate that cosmologist Michael Turner calls the situation the "'Nancy Kerrigan problem,' in honor of the Olympic figure skater, who asked... 'Why me? Why now?'" Combining 21st-century astronomy, astrobiology, astrochemistry, and other disciplines, Origins is a fine guidebook with which to journey "back to the beginning of everything." --Therese Littleton
Book Description
"Distills complex science in clear and lively prose."—Scientific American Book Club
Origins explores cosmic science's stunning new insights into the formation and evolution of our universe—of the cosmos, of galaxies and galaxy clusters, of stars within galaxies, of planets that orbit those stars, and of different forms of life that take us back to the first three seconds and forward through three billion years of life on Earth to today's search for life on other planets.
Drawing on the current cross-pollination of geology, biology, and astrophysics, Origins explains the thrilling daily breakthroughs in our knowledge of the universe from dark energy to life on Mars to the mysteries of space and time and makes "the astonishing astronomical discoveries of recent years come alive" (Michael D. Lemonick).
Distilling complex science in clear and lively prose, co-authors Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith conduct a galvanizing tour of the cosmos revealing what the universe has been up to while turning part of itself into us. "The most informative, congenial and accessible general look at cosmology to come along since Carl Sagan's Cosmos 27 years ago," says Publishers Weekly. "The tone is informational, aimed at high clarity, and laced with giddy humor…general readers of every stripe will benefit from the authors' sophisticated, deeply knowledgeable presentation. If the casual book buyer purchases one science book this year, this should be the one." 32 pages of color illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Good Overview.......2007-08-23
This is the best summary of our cosmic history, written for the intelligent laymen. Dr. Tyson is a master at bringing things down to a intellectually respectable level without resorting to baby talk.
Origins Review.......2007-07-03
Highly recommend. Prof. Tyson is good teacher, and despite his position and impressive curriculum vitae, personally responded to some questions that arose from reading the book. Inspirational topic and author.
A science masterpiece! Breaks new ground in presentation of material........2007-05-06
Here it is about 10 years since Carl Sagan passed away, and we are now being treated to works by Neil deGrasse Tyson. I believe that Tyson can be mentioned in the same breathe as Sagan without suffering by the comparison.
If you are a science fan, you owe it to yourself to read this one. There is an economy, style and comprehensiveness here that appear flawless. The Hundred Greatest Stars Reading the Mind of God Cosmos Horizons: Exploring the Universe (with TheSky CD-ROM, AceAstronomy?, and Virtual Astronomy Labs)
How it all began.......2007-04-22
Imagine a time in the future when space travel is perfected: you can zip between the stars in a day, rather than the millennia it would currently take. You decide to go on a "road" trip and tour the Milky Way. Even with super fast travel, if you visited only one star per day, it would still take you millions of years to complete your tour. And that's just the Milky Way; if you wanted to see the whole universe, a trillion years wouldn't be enough. The universe is that big and has that much stuff in it; more stunning is that all the stars and planets take up only a very small fraction of the total space. The cosmos is an awesome place and Origins by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith discusses how it all began and what our place is in this vastness.
Logically enough, the book pretty much starts at the beginning, namely at the Big Bang. Actually, it starts slightly later, when the universe was 10 to the minus 43 seconds old; before that, things are shrouded in mystery. From there, we see how the universe evolved, from a haze of pure energy and subatomic particles to one where matter, well...mattered. We then read of the formation of galaxies, then of stars and planets, and finally of life itself.
Are all the answers known? No, of course not, but certain theories have been dismantled (such as the steady state theory of the origin of the universe), others are still sketchy (like how the Earth and other planets formed and a few are really speculative (like how much intelligent life there is beyond the Earth). Somehow, though, the fact that there are still mysteries out there is more pleasantly tantalizing than frustrating.
There can be alternate explanations involving supernatural entities which may provide simpler answers but are not really theories as they cannot pass scientific scrutiny. Tyson and Goldsmith touch on these alternatives, but mainly just on their inadequacy from a scientific standpoint. That is to say, if you believe in "creation science", this is probably not the book for you.
If you have read a lot about astronomy and cosmology already, such as Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, then Origins will not offer much that you don't already know. This book is designed more for the layperson whose knowledge of these fields is more limited. On the other hand, the authors write with a lot of wit and clarity, so even if you know most of the information within, it is presented in a refreshing enough manner to still make it worth your while.
Excellent Book.......2007-03-14
I am a recently graduated high school student, going on to university in September. I am by no means a physicist or astronomer.
This book has done an incredible job of describing the known universe in the simplest way possible to me. It is full of information, lucidly written and definitely a starting point for anyone interested in the subject. Both quantum theory and physics of space are excellently dealt with in this book, and I strongly recommend it, for anyone mildly interested.
Book Description
The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.
Customer Reviews:
Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited".......2007-08-22
After reading the commentary attached to the one star rating given by the young man from Texas, I feel compelled to step forward in defense of this very fine book. With only one exception, every point made in that negative review is simply wrong. Just not factually correct. The reviewer identifies himself as a young man (... "to my young mind"), and since all of his other Amazon reviews are of TV episodes on DVD, video games and rock music CDs I take him at his word. Well, I am an "old man," closing in on my sixty-third birthday, and I came to Mr. Casspriano's book after six decades of life experience, the last three of those decades a zealous practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I say this not to "brag," but simply to qualify myself as a reviewer before beginning.
I'll start where the one star reviewer closed his argument, with his statement that the simplest path reduces to two Socratic concepts: "Admit that you don't know anything" and "know yourself."
The first part is nominally true (the exception). Like Zen Buddhism, a central tenet of the simplest path is working to release the false notion we all hold that we know ourselves, other people, the world around us. But identifying and releasing our attachments to our illusions is a life's work, not some brash "I don't know nothin'!" as the young Texan seems to imply. Under normal circumstances, we go about our daily lives with no idea we are deluded about anything, as Maya (the illusion of the phenomenal world around and even inside us) is so convincing that most of us never even think to question its validity. Casspriano did not invent the notion of human beings being trapped in illusion, as this truth was known to the timeless authors of the Hindu Vedas and is central to all schools of Buddhism (not just Zen). But his scientific/spiritual exploration of the mechanism by which Maya ensnares our minds and can, with effort, be overcome is among the best "plain English" explanations of this process I have read. There is no "inscrutable mystery" in the simplest path (a criticism that has been accurately leveled toward Zen Buddhism, as a lot of Eastern thought truly does come off as "inscrutable" when translated into English and/or the metaphors of Western culture). Casspriano lays out in no-nonsense American English exactly what our brains are doing when they create the illusion we mistake for reality, then shows the reader in the same clear terms how to train his or her brain to break free of illusion and taste reality as-it-is. In just 216 pages, that is no mean feat. After thirty years of Zen practice and numerous kensho experiences (of varying depths and intensities), I can say from personal experience that Casspriano is correct. Enlightenment comes as the fruit of a long, incremental process of retraining the mind to touch reality in a new way, and the process described in the simplest path is the same as that followed in Zen practice, especially Rienzi Zen koan study (I'll have more to say about this in a later paragraph). Casspriano's approach and language is very different from traditional Zen (more "scientific," and no sitting meditation is required), which I think would appeal to Americans and other Westerners seeking to experience "awakening" without necessarily committing themselves to a religion like Buddhism, but the internal mental/spiritual process and final destination are the same.
"Know yourself," on the other hand, is not in this book at all, at least not in the way the young reviewer, or Socrates for that matter, uses the phrase. As in Buddhism, Casspriano takes pains to demonstrate that "self" is as much of an illusion as our misapprehension of the phenomenal world, and is a byproduct of exactly the same mind process that creates outer Maya. A core teaching of Buddhism is that our "self," our personality/ego, is nothing more than an aggregation of outside influences that cluster together in our minds like shiny stones gathered into a pile, and which we mistake not only for something "real," but tragically, for our essential selves. Yet this "pile" has nothing really to do with who we are at all. Buddhism teaches "no-self." Belief in the illusion of a unique and independent "self" is our greatest obstacle to enlightenment. Wasting time and energy getting to "know yourself" in the Western sense is foreign to Eastern thought. Casspriano again does a great job of translating the Buddhist concept of "no-self" into Western scientific/spiritual terminology. He shows the process by which our ego/personality aggregate "piles up," as well as how to take the pile down, stone by stone. Enlightenment is what the pile was covering up, and so it naturally appears as soon as the pile is removed - but oh how we cling to our personal pile of stones! "Self" is what we must trade for enlightenment, what must be surrendered, and Casspriano returns to this truth many times in the simplest path. My point is that the one star reviewer's reduction of the simplest path to "know yourself" has no basis at all in the actual book.
As to the book being "gimmicky": Yes, the words "The Simplest Path" recur frequently throughout the book, but not in reference to the book itself (at least that's not how I took it), but rather to the system of understanding the mind and working toward "awakening" Casspriano is describing - and it is a complete system that deserves to be considered as a whole, on its own. At times the repetition does have a feel of "branding" in the commercial sense, so I understand where the reviewer may have taken his impression. But the simplest path, while resonant with Zen Buddhism (and apparently, according to Casspriano, with the Toltec philosophy espoused by Carlos Castaneda, of which I have no personal knowledge, so I'll have to take the author's word for that) is far enough different that it needs its own "name" to set it apart from other schools of similar but not identical thought. The reviewer's criticism is like saying that every use of the term "Zen" in a book called "Zen Buddhism" should be taken as a reference to the book, and not to the larger practice of Zen Buddhism as a spiritual discipline that the book is describing. Casspriano's point in repeatedly linking The Simplest Path, Zen Buddhism and Toltec Shamanism throughout the book, at least as I understood it, is to highlight these three spiritual practices as related reliable paths through a dark forest of illusion, a forest in which many apparent (and more popular) paths, including most (all?) religious beliefs, actively vie to mislead travelers toward deeper ensnarement in the dream, rather than leading them toward "awakening."
I want to say a word about koan study in Rienzi Zen and how it relates to the simplest path. Koans are those quirky Zen sayings and stories like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "what was your original face before you (or your parents) were born?" that have no rational answer, and which Zen students turn and turn in their minds like the tumblers of a combination lock until their imprisoned psyches "explode" in a "super-rational" experience of reality beyond the illusion ("irrational" would be the wrong term, as that implies "nonsense"). That "super-rational" vision of reality is called "kensho." I have experienced it myself, more than once in my lifetime. I have come to think of Casspriano's "Key Questions" in the second half of the simplest path, especially the later seven of the ten, as "cultural koans" designed to trigger "collective kensho" for the whole human race at once. Like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", unflinching consideration of the value of human life, of how our beliefs about the future shape the present, of the true origin and destiny of life on Earth, etc., especially as seen through the lens of Casspriano's "Key Question Technique," reveals that none of these questions have rational answers, yet all require our active and immediate response. Successful resolution of these larger riddles that impact everyone will require us all to eventually "explode" into reality, together, in a "super-rational" way. We'll have to break through the illusion and wake up together, as one (which has been the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is a sect, since around 200 BCE). That is the "Planetary Awakening" addressed in this book, and I believe Casspriano's "Key Questions" are a concrete step in that direction. I'm glad I spent my fifteen dollars.
This is my "old man" take on the simplest path, having encountered it after 30 years of Zen Buddhist practice (I'm not veering off my chosen path here, just bowing respectfully in passing toward Casspriano's). From a Buddhist perspective, the simplest path is true Dharma, though I do not get the impression from reading his book that Vincent Casspriano is himself a Buddhist or a follower of any religion. That to my mind makes his book all the more interesting.
True, but gimmicky.......2007-08-09
Casspriano's book is scientifically and philosophically sound as best as my young mind can tell, but I don't recommend this book. Its scattered with numerous pages of advertising about how his "program" works and how it compares to other religions and spiritual movements. Why must this author physically write out "The Simplest Path" in reference to his book every other page, and talk about his second volume? Perhaps because he's not out for pure truth, but for our money.
All this book comes down to after you strip away the nonsense is two things. First, admit that you don't truly know anything. Second, know yourself. Do those two things (they essentially both mean to question EVERYTHING), and you'll have Casspriano's "Planetary Awakening," with 15 bucks still in your pocket. And you'll be following the fundamental truths already said by Socrates.. so do yourself a favor and pick up Plato's "Apology" and read up on the Socratic dialogue on how to live a good life. And don't stop there, because you can't be sure he's right.
And I have 10 bucks that says these other couple of reviews were written by the book publisher. In any case, ignore the hype.
A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15
This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.
Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10
This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.
While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.
If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.
A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13
I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.
I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:
From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":
"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"
Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.
If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."
And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.
One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.
Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.
From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":
"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."
And later in the same chapter:
"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."
For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":
"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."
Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.
The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.
Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.
This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":
"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:
· World oil supplies are running out.
· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.
· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.
· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.
· Time is running out..."
Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.
Now that's a meme worth feeding.
Customer Reviews:
Slicing Humor..........2005-04-13
Slicing humor made me laugh out loud at times while reading it. My favorite subject was "Crawl-In"!!
No understanding of the value of the DARK!.......2004-07-26
This book has been written with the perspective of someone with a chronic lack of understanding of the value of the Dark. The author (or The Mission Control) proves to be very judgmental of the way we live on planet Earth, which is negatively polarized. The true mark of a highly evolved being, society, or organization is compassion. Compassion is not judgmental; it is a very profound understanding of both sides of a polarized reality, recognizing the value of both, Dark and Light, as learning tools in a soul's journey back to the Source. Taking sides with either of these two aspects of reality is detrimental to someone who's trying to grasp the "big picture". It's well known that the 5th dimension of our Universe is polarized to the Light. This book is a very good example of just that. But being "of the Light" is just as spiritually limiting as being "of the Dark" and only embracing both aspects takes one back up the dimensional latter towards reunification with one's soul and the Source. I gave two stars to this book for clarifying some concepts and terms that are widely used in today's New Age literature. Apply caution when reading this book for it radiates a lot of polarized energy that can make you easily hate the world you chose to live in and slow down your process of integrating and learning from both sides of our ever changing Reality. For more information on Compassion and a multidimensional perspective on the changes we are all going through, visit nibiruancouncil.com witch presents a 9th dimensional point of view on the subjects debated in E.T. 101.
DON'T PANIC.......2003-02-18
You may recognize that message from the cover of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the original guide, that is, not the Douglas Adams book named for it). It's an excellent resource, of course, and I hope you still have your copy. But the problem is, you're not a hitchhiker.
If you arrived on this planet without an instruction manual -- which is extremely likely if you're a crawl-in (an entrant through the normal birth process) -- you're probably wondering just what the heck is going on. And you've probably been trying to figure it out for long enough that you've become _extremely_ distrustful -- justifiably! -- of the usual Earth-based sources of (dis)information.
Relax. The truth is, you're operating under deep cover. Your mission required you to forget a lot of stuff, but you forgot just a little _too_ much because -- like a lot of us -- you didn't read your manual before you embarked.
"If at first you don't succeed, read the instructions." You can stop beating your head against the wall; help is here, in the form of emergency reorientation from Mission Control.
What's the mission? Well, that's what Zoev Jho (the former Diana Luppi) wants to remind you of -- or at least just enough of it that you'll remember where to look for the rest of the answers. The heart of the matter is, you're here to help install direct lighting.
How do you know these instructions are meant for _you_? Simple: if you've read this far and this is still making sense, they are. (Oh, there are lots of other, more complicated tests. Maybe you read _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_ and knew right away that the Combine was real. Maybe you watched _The Matrix_ and weren't surprised. It doesn't matter; once you've read the manual, you'll know.)
As another reviewer has already aptly commented, you're in the world but not of it. You are _not_ crazy. You are not alone. And you've got a job to do.
Don't forget to apply for a Creative License when you're done with reorientation. And let's be careful out there.
Here's your SIGN.......2003-01-25
Are you wondering what the heck is going on and Why I don't get it?? Here's your book, smart, funny and to the point, there are lot's of us out here that feel like there is just so much more and Diana has in a extremely readable manner put it all together. IF you understand what the Apostle Paul meant when he said "You are in this World, but, You are NOT of this World" then get a copy and clear up all those doubts.
I laughed every page - the message is "right on"!.......1999-04-28
This little book will perk you up when you think you are the only person in the world that 'just doesn't fit in'.
It puts down in words all the things you suspected about yourself. And gives you insight as to why you are out-of-sorts in this crazy world. The author provides some good advice in a hilarious manner on how to carry on. It truely is an instruction manual for life as we know it here on Earth.
Book Description
This book has long been known as a classic in the study of human consciousness, having been praised by such luminaries as P. D. Ouspensky and the psychologist William James. The author puts forth and supports the idea that human consciousness is evolving and that we, as human-kind, are moving toward a much more enlightened state. People who have experienced such states and who have appeared at certain times to move humanity forward are covered in the book including such figures as Jesus, Mohammed, Francis Bacon, Socrates, Spinoza, Emerson, Thoreau and many more. Bucke also writes from first-hand experience, having had his consciousness briefly awakened at age 35. According to the author the evidence is clear-all people at some time in the future will have far more wisdom and intelligence than we do today.
Customer Reviews:
Cosmic Consciousness.......2007-01-05
This book was referred to me by a friend. It is all that I expected and more. The language is easy understand, and the flow of the book is just as I would expect. I can embrace the knowledge of this book and it's author. It certainly helps to have some past knowledge of the workings of the mind and soul, however.
Cosmic Consciousness - We Are Evolving!.......2006-11-27
_Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind_, first published in 1901 and republished by Arkana books, by Richard Maurice Bucke, M.D., is a classic investigation of the development of man's mystic relation to the infinite. Richard Maurice Bucke was a Canadian psychiatrist (or "alienist") who served as the head of an asylum for the insane. Bucke had little formal education and during his youth had traveled to the West where he lost a foot due to frostbite. Bucke became a doctor of medicine after putting himself through medical school and won many awards as a psychiatrist. After hearing of the poetry of Walt Whitman (particularly his "Leaves of Grass"), Bucke underwent a profound change and devoted much of his time to mystical matters. His first book was dedicated to Whitman, and Whitman plays a unique role in this book as well. In 1872, Bucke experienced an Illumination (which he took to be glimmerings of "cosmic consciousness") which led him further into his researches into mysticism. Furthermore, Bucke was long fascinated by the question of the authorship of the works of Shakespeare and long maintained that Francis Bacon was the real author of the Shakespeare plays and poems. This book came to have an important influence on later generations of mystical writers, including the Russian mathematician and philosopher P. D. Ouspensky, the American psychologist and philosopher William James, and the British writer on mysticism Evelyn Underhill. Throughout this book, Bucke maintains that a new form of consciousness is developing in man (that of "cosmic consciousness"), that this form of consciousness is as different from man's normal consciousness as "self consciousness" is from "simple consciousness", and that this development is part of an evolutionary process (Bucke bases much of his theory on the writings of Charles Darwin).
This book begins with a dedication to Richard Maurice Bucke from his father, following the death of his son. Following this a brief introduction to "The Man and the Book" by George Moreby Acklom appears. The first section of this book is entitled "First Words" and is dedicated to expounding Bucke's theory of cosmic consciousness. Bucke writes, "Cosmic Consciousness, then, is a higher form of consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man." Bucke distinguishes between what he terms "simple consciousness" (possessed by the upper half of the animal kingdom; consciousness of oneself, one's body, and thing's around oneself), "self consciousness" (the consciousness in man in which one becomes aware of oneself as a distinct entity from all the rest of the universe), and "cosmic consciousness" (a consciousness of the cosmos accompanied by feelings of illumination, joyfulness, elevation, and moral exaltation). Bucke contends that this new form of consciousness is developing in man, just as self consciousness developed out of simple consciousness through the process of evolution. Bucke goes on to explain various instances of cosmic consciousness, accompanying processes, and relates it to God, Christ, Nirvana, and Brahmanic splendour. The second section of this book is entitled "Evolution and Devolution". Here, Bucke traces the development from simple consciousness to self consciousness (as animals progressed to man). Bucke makes several interesting observations, including particularly noting that the ancients apparently had fewer words for colors than modern man does (perhaps indicating an evolutionary development in color consciousness). Bucke also provides a chart showing the development of the levels of consciousness (and their apparent proportion of occurrence in the general population). Bucke also mentions the idea of "devolution" (noting the prevalence of insanity and "idiocy" as instances of this). The third section of this book is entitled "From Self Consciousness to Cosmic Consciousness". Here, Bucke notes the various accompanying phenomena of cosmic consciousness (including that of moral elevation), the rarity of cosmic consciousness, the fact that instances of it are apparently increasing (since the beginning of recorded history), the fact that it is more likely to occur in men than women, and the fact that it tends to occur at the age of full maturity. The fourth section of this book is entitled "Instances of Cosmic Consciousness". Bucke maintains that the following individuals experienced definite instances of cosmic consciousness (and uses the increasing frequency of such cases to argue for his evolutionary theory): Gautama the Buddha (called "Nirvana"), Jesus the Christ (Bucke maintains that Jesus was a man; called "the Kingdom of God"), Paul (called "Christ"), Plotinus, Mohammed, Dante (called "Beatrice"), Bartolome Las Casas, John Yepes (Saint John of the Cross), Francis Bacon (Bucke maintains that Bacon was the real author of Shakespeare's plays and poems and quotes extensively from them to "prove" this), Jacob Behmen (the Teutonic Theosopher), William Blake, Honore de Balzac, Walt Whitman (Bucke quotes extensively from his "Leaves of Grass" believing Whitman to be among the highest levels of cosmic consciousness so far produced in man), and Edward Carpenter. The fifth section of this book is entitled "Additional - Some of Them Lesser, Imperfect And Doubtful Cases" and details some additional cases of cosmic consciousness, though of a lesser or more doubtful degree. Bucke mentions here various authors, poets, writers, and prophets known to him as well as a few cases from individuals that he personally met or corresponded with. The sixth section of this book is entitled "Last Words". Here, Bucke expounds upon some other instances of cosmic consciouness, again details his evolutionary theory, and explains why it is necessary for the individual so illuminated to be of the right mental and physical physique.
In this book, Bucke provides a unique study of the mystical phenomenon and its apparent increase among members of the human race. As with many scientists from the Victorian era, Bucke was perhaps too wedded to the ideas behind evolutionary theory and the notion of progress. Indeed, Bucke maintains that with the coming development of cosmic consciousness a new social order will be made possible, echoing many of the socialist theories popular at the time. Nevertheless, this book played a very important role in furthering our understanding of mysticism, our sense of the cosmos, and the attempt to study it using scientific methods. Bucke's work would be carried on by later thinkers and researchers who were to reference repeatedly in their own studies of mysticism.
Let There Be Light.......2006-08-14
About 12-14 years back I was at the beach with a friend of mine and it was a grey, drizzly day to say the least. But because I love the beach, I was going to make the best of it no matter what. So I dug a body length trench in the sand, draped my towel over the trench I had just dug, laid down and closed my eyes and just began repeating quietly to myself, "Let there be Light...let there be Light..." I really wasn't going for anything in particular I was just repeating this line from scripture because I was in a good place, but I wanted to feel an even deeper connection to life.
And as I settled into a deep meditative state, I let go of the mantra I had been repeating to myself and just let myself feel Life within me and all around me. Ahhhhhh...I can still feel those wonderful, alive feelings. It was like my body was buzzing from head to toe.
I came out of my meditative state and sat up. During those 30 minutes of meditating, the grey, overcast day seemed to give way to beautiful, golden light. I had never seen it so bright. Everything seemed to be lit up from the inside. I turned to my friend and I said, "Wow...it sure did get incredibly bright out here all of a sudden..."
He looked at me like I had just flipped my lid and said, "What are you talking about?"
"The sun...it's so bright. Everything looks as though it is awash in golden light..."
Again with the look, "John...it is very overcast out. In fact, I was going to ask you if you just wanted to go home..."
And then slowly the golden light began to slowly fade from my sight and everything began to dingy gray. So where did that light come from? Was I just imagining it? It all seemed so real...
I had, what Maurice Bucke calls, a "cosmic consciousness experience". You see, the Light I saw was not coming from the outside, but from the inside and I believe that we have all had one at one time or another and if we haven't, we will...but please, do not dismiss the experience. Like I said, I had one over fourteen years ago and it changed my life forever. I am so glad that I just didn't toss it aside. I'm glad that I was given just a little glimpse to how things really are.
I believe that the whole universe is alive with Light...that in Truth, the only thing that is real, is the Light. Everything and everyone proceeds from this Light. But we forget. Oh, man do we forget. This Light remains deep in our subconscious minds. At a deep, deep level we know that we came from it, but we fall into a sleep...a trance...and we begin to think that everything is dull and leaden, mundane and ordinary...
This book will excite you in a very deep way...but again, you have to be open to it. I used to try so hard to get my friends' and family to share my passion for these things, but they weren't ready...and now I know that it's okay...now I know that they will have their own experiences of the Light. Maybe in this life...maybe in the next...I don't know when, but I don't need to know when...
This book fueled my passion to become more and more acquainted with Higher Laws. Not so I could escape this world but so I could be in the world but still know in the back of my mind and in the front of my heart that I am not of it.
If you are into metaphysics and spirituality, you must add this classic to your collection. It's amazing...but then again, so are you...
Peace & Blessings
Cosmic consciousness Penguin compass edition.......2006-07-16
This volume is the complete volume by Richard Maurice Bucke...
this book is excellent, and presents more than enough food for thought.
Applewood books has printed a version that contains only the first four chapters, and thus misses the most important part of the book........ I cannot recommend the Applewood books.
Dito to the Yawn.......2006-06-18
This book was written over 100 years ago and it shows it; still having said this, in its day, this book probably inspired a lot of people. It was obviously also written at a time when Charles Darwin's Evolutionary theory was on the minds of many.
I applaud this book for stating that morality and ethics are indispensable upon the upward path towards a greater consciousness; an insight that even quite a number of present day Gnostics fail to teach, but that can be seen as far back as the `laws of Maat' and beyond. The belief that we have developed the ability to see a greater degree of colours over time, I also found interesting. As for the rest of what I read, this could have been summarised into a few pages.
Rarely do I not finish a book which I have commenced reading, but I could only stomach 130 pages of this 384 page book; to spend any more time, with much work to be done, made me nauseous, I mean I just can't. This book goes to great lengths to give us a picture of cosmic consciousness; for this it draws from the likes of Jesus, Moses, Dante, Walt Whitman, Horace Traubel (who?) and just about everybody else; giving us a book with a lot of tedious pages. For those looking for real answers and not just words (subjective second hand knowledge), I would recommend reading the other reviews to save time and then continue elsewhere (see my recommendations below). I for one will look to those authors who have devoted years to meditation and who provide practical examples to develop greater consciousness.
For those who have trouble reading tiny print, you will have trouble with this book, as there is a good degree contained in the page side notes; most of which I found annoying. This annoyance also related to the subjective clarifications as to the degrees of consciousness had by other authors and individuals. As to humanity as a whole increasing in consciousness in line with evolution, I'm not too keen on this belief; Hours of mindless television and computer monitor gazing, coupled with a society drugged up on pharmaceuticals, alcohol and mind altering substances, has if anything, decreased consciousness, from an esoteric standpoint that is i.e. information does not equate to true consciousness.
Having said all of this, I would recommend reading the works by Samael Aun Weor. I am also keen to read `Zen and the Brain' by James H. Austin, `Understanding the mind' by Kelsang Guyatso and `The great treatise of the stages of the path to enlightenment' Vol 1-3 by Tsong-Kha-Pa.
Average customer rating:
- Interesting fringe of science
- bad science fiction
- A classic Darwin critique
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Evolution From Space: A Theory of Cosmic Creationism
Fred Hoyle , and
Chandra Wickramasinghe
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
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Customer Reviews:
Interesting fringe of science.......2004-07-31
Astronomer and maverick Fred Hoyle is once reported to have said, 'Space isn't remote at all. ... It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards.' Hoyle was a world-renowned astronomer, and a very creative scientist who didn't let convention or popular opinion sway his views. He is often credited with coining the term 'Big Bang', a bit ironic, given that he used this term in a bit of scorn -- he never accepted the Big Bang theory of universal creation and evolution, preferring a Steady State Theory, never fully developed, as the astronomical community as a whole was far more interested in the Big Bang theory.
Hoyle's first claim to fame came from his work in stellar evolution and structure. He developed the theories of chemical element formation in the stars, commonly accepted by scientists today. Whenever you hear an astronomer or another waxing philosophic that we are all made of stardust or star-stuff, you are hearing an echo of Hoyle. While he did not win the Nobel Prize (many scientists think that he should have for this stellar work, no pun intended), he did with the Crafoord Prize, an award given by the Swedish Academy in recognition for fields not covered by Nobel Prizes.
In collaboration with Chandra Wickramasinghe, Hoyle was a champion of the modern theory of panspermia. Panspermia is essentially the theory that life comes from off the earth -- it has developed into a theory entitled 'Cosmic Ancestry' now, and includes many more environmental ideas. It argues that the Earth is not a biologically closed ecosystem -- apart from the fact that human-made spacecraft have propelled genetical material beyond the earth notwithstanding, Panspermia and such theories argue that the universe has, indeed, may be full of spores and other types of genetic 'pieces', viruses and the like, that occasionally find their way to earth, and rarely but occasionally survive the entry and become grafted onto the genetic structures on Earth.
This text with Wickramasinghe covers the range of ideas, including early theories from the late nineteenth century. Hoyle and Wickramasinghe also argue for an Anthropic Principle of Cosmology here -- that there is a purpose to the universe, and that human beings have a special place. Hoyle asks the question, why should we not believe there is a guiding principle in biology by intelligences beyond our own? Why is it that people are accepting of a God-principle, but not of intelligences that might fall between God and our own? These are rather dramatic and controversial ideas, to say the least. Hoyle and Wickramasinghe argue for a scientific pantheism, with God as the universe.
Hoyle's ideas are interesting, and backed up with impressive science (chemistry, physics, and biology). However, it is still very cutting-edge and beyond the mainstream thinking -- Hoyle prods the more Darwinian theories for evidence, while accepting that there is in fact no more evidence for Panspermia.
An interesting text for the edge of science. This is not what I believe, either scientifically nor as a theologian, but it is fascinating to see how such ideas are developed.
bad science fiction.......2003-10-05
Re: "Noone realizes it but this work is a classic on the issue of Darwinism. It has been 'refuted' so many times and still survives one must wonder if it doesn't scare Darwinists."
So does astrology survive. Guess what? Astrology doesn't "scare" astronomers. It is sad to see someone of Fred Hoyle's former stature reject the scientific method and embrace mysticism. ("No one" is spelled "no one", not "noone".)
A classic Darwin critique.......2003-07-28
Noone realizes it but this work is a classic on the issue of Darwinism. It has been 'refuted' so many times and still survives one must wonder if it doesn't scare Darwinists. One doesn't have to accept their perspective to see that the statistical difficulties of the original Darwinian theory were fatal, and should have been seen all along.
Attempts to deal with statistics in the Darwinian field have left a generation confused on the subject. The paradigm, to survive, has to keep the troops muddled.
Book Description
Mallove reflects on the awesome prospect that intelligent life may play a significant role in the destiny of the universe. He speculates about well-founded cosmological theory that life may ultimately transform the universe for its own designs, just as it has already gained planet-wide control of the terrestrial biosphere. The Quickening Universe is a reflective scientific tour of the marvelously inventive cosmos that has come to life - quickened - and is now examining itself to discover meanings in its origins and destiny. This is an informed and poetic synthesis of scientific wonders that endlessly provoke our imagination: a probably infinite cosmos that emerged about 15 billion years ago from perhaps absolute nothingness; the unfathomable sense in which the laws of physics seem to "ordain" life - not a particular kind of life but organized complexity; eons of evolution that have led to beings here (and almost certainly in many other places) who can perceive beautiful laws of physics and mathematics and who have an equivalent thirst for artistic beauty; the staggering realization that the universe does not "know" its own state of being at the level of the quantum microcosm; and the supreme enigma, the grand illusion of time.
Average customer rating:
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Hour of Our Delight: Cosmic Evolution, Order, and Complexity
Hubert Reeves
Manufacturer: W H Freeman & Co (Sd)
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Book Description
We are connected to distant space and time not only by our imaginations but also through a common cosmic heritage. Emerging now from modern science is a unified scenario of the cosmos, including ourselves as sentient beings, based on the time-honored concept of change. From galaxies to snowflakes, from stars and planets to life itself, we are beginning to identify an underlying ubiquitous pattern penetrating the fabric of all the natural sciences--a sweepingly encompassing view of the order and structure of every known class of object in our richly endowed universe.
This is the subject of Eric Chaisson's new book. In Cosmic Evolution Chaisson addresses some of the most basic issues we can contemplate: the origin of matter and the origin of life, and the ways matter, life, and radiation interact and change with time. Guided by notions of beauty and symmetry, by the search for simplicity and elegance, by the ambition to explain the widest range of phenomena with the fewest possible principles, Chaisson designs for us an expansive yet intricate model depicting the origin and evolution of all material structures. He shows us that neither new science nor appeals to nonscience are needed to understand the impressive hierarchy of the cosmic evolutionary story, from quark to quasar, from microbe to mind.
Customer Reviews:
Thought-provoking look at evolution.......2003-04-18
This is an enjoyable big-picture examination of evolution in light of thermodynamics, i.e. how can order increase despite the 2nd law of thermodynamics? You will need to recall some calculus and some basic physics in order to follow the thread of the discussion. Chaisson does an excellent job of laying out the subject, looking at the evolution of complicated structures, e.g. the universe, stars, galaxies, planets, life, brains, societies. He actually works through the numbers on several examples in order to give you a better feel for the subject of evolution, and for thermodynamics. If you have an interest in things cosmological, I strongly recommend this book.
Illuminating and rock-solid.......2002-11-17
Professor Chaisson has succeeded in providing a narrative of the Universe, one that is elegant and satisfying, and at the same time based on a rock-solid, quantitative approach.
This book has finally reconciled for me the vexing question of how complexity and disorder (entropy) can increase simultaneously. I knew that total entropy must increase, per the 2nd law of thermodynamics. What I did not realize is that the maximum POSSIBLE entropy of the Universe is increasing even faster, due to the expansion of the Universe. So now I have a way of visualizing the amount of complexity in the Universe - it is the difference between these two entropies.
One of my favorite aspects of the book is the clear identification of the phases of the Universe: Radiation Era->Matter Era->Life Era. The idea that we, as intelligent life, can give birth to a thriving, universal Life Era is visionary and uplifting (and part of the basis for Reason for the Common Good).
Cosmic Evolution is extremely well-researched, quantitative, and most of all, illuminating.
Worth the Effort.......2002-09-23
This book was not written for the lay reader of science, such as myself. At times the writer sounds as if, chalk in hand, he is giving a lecture to astrophysics third-year students - the only thing missing is the pronunciation of the equations. Those uncomfortable with formulas will find the middle of the book slow going.
The payoff, for those who persevere, is two or three new ideas. And that's why we read books like this.
Book Description
Our Cosmic Origins tells the story of our remarkable adventure on this planet, beginning with a single event in the depths of space. It traces the rich and wonderful history of the Universe, from the Big Bang to the creation of atoms and molecules, from the formation of stars and planets to the emergence of life on Earth. Delsemme brings together cosmology, astronomy, geology, biochemistry, and biology to create a unique look at the complex story of the Universe. He chronicles how the first light atoms were made and formed stars and how heavier atoms were cooked in stars and scattered in space, creating dust mrains and organic molecules. He examines the growing eomplexity of plant and animal life, including the emergence and extinction of dinosaurs. Our Cosmic Origins shows how the coupling of eye and brain led to self-awareness and intelligence. It explores the cosmic coincidences that might explain our existence and concludes with the tantalizing suggestion that intelligent alien life is likely. This provocative book will appeal to anyone who has ever looked at the sky and wondered how we got here. Originally published in French, this edition has been revised to include the most recent research in astronomy and cosmology. Armand Delsemme has published four books and over 230 scientific papers. He received a Sigma Xi award for outstanding research and has had, by order of the International Astronomical Union, an asteroid named after him.
Customer Reviews:
The BIG picture!.......2003-07-20
Skirting metaphysics, this book assembles current science from many disciplines to create an integrated framework for understanding ourselves and the universe we live in. "Life, the universe, and everything," would work as a subtitle for this book that covers all the basics, building a launch pad for further explorations in any direction from biology to theology.
Without getting bogged down in details, Our Cosmic Origins sketches the basic story of reality as it is understood by science today, leaving open the questions that science cannot (and may never be able to) answer. It does get a little technical at times (there are even a few chemical equations) but it reads more like a detective novel than a textbook. The science is necessary to gain the confidence of readers who already have some knowledge of physics, chemistry, and biology. Others can skim these explanations and take the conclusions on faith without losing the bigger truths revealed in this book.
Every thinking person should read this book; it provides a solid foundation relating all empirical knowledge. I can't wait for it to be revised when the unified field theory is discovered!
Mind-expanding!.......2001-08-04
The book's subtitle reveals an uncommonly wide scope. We get a reconstructed history of our universe from the Big Bang, some 15 billion years ago. The history of the physical universe -- galaxies, stars, planets and the rest -- continues smoothly in the chemical one, and eventually in the evolution of life, on to the gradual emergence of intelligence and consciousness in some branches of the animal kingdom.
Delsemme, after a career in French-speaking Europ, is now Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Toledo, Ohio. His book was first published in French, in 1994. The American edition has been revised, updated and expanded. The author's background in a French, European cultural tradition is a special attraction for the English-speaking reader.
The author has succeeded well in his efforts to reach the non-specialised reader. As Nobel laureate Christian de Duve writes in his brief foreword: "This is an eminently readable and informative account, consistently written in a language that tries to eschew technical difficulties, while remaining solidly anchored to the realities of scientific concepts. Readers could not wish for a better introduction to the history of the universe."
I am myself neither an astronomer, nor a biologist. But I have a long-standing interest in both disciplines. I have read this book with increasing admiration both for the author's wide-ranging knowledge, and his ability to present it in a very palatable form. He also gives the general reader insight into the basics of scientific research. In particular, he exhibits the scientific attitude, which implies hypotheses, which start as creative guesses, but do not emerge as full-fledged theories until tested by carefully designed observations or experiments.
Like most modern astronomers, Delsemme adheres to the Big-Bang theory, emphasizing the increasing evidence in its favour. His own special field is the comets, a subject that has received much attention in the last decade, leading to the daring, but not implausible conclusion that the oceans of the earth have arisen from a massive bombardment of the planet by comets in the first billion years of its existence. Darwin's Natural Selection concept, the scientific basis of his evolution theory, is nowadays accepted as a foundation for biological science as a whole. Delsemme extends Darwin's creative insight not only to the creation of the physical world, but also, at the other end, to the world of the mind. Man also , like the physical universe he inhabits, is a product, literally, of star dust.
This is popular science at its best. A fascinating, mind-expanding book. For further reading I suggest Edelman & Tononi: A Universe of consciousness.
Emergence of the biosphere.......2000-11-26
This reference is easy to read, and condenses a vast knowledge ranging from the Big Bang to the emergence of human intelligence, into a moderately compact volume. This reference tends to emphasize the topics related to the author's astrophysical background and interest in the emergence of our biosphere.
Good if you already know quite a bit about the subject.......1999-06-11
Despite being promoted as an introduction to cosmology and the origin of life for the general reader, this book assumes that you already know quite a bit about these things. For example, the Big Bang theory is described only in a one-page appendix and such fundamental concepts as Hubble's Law or the structure of matter are not explained, presumably because the author considers that too elementary--things everyone already knows about. But my non-science-major students certainly don't. When the first thing they encounter in the chapter on the origin of the universe is a cryptic argument that the vacuum genesis theory is superior to the singularity theory, they are lost, and it doesn't get better from there. The material on the origin on life, for example, assumes at least a basic familiarity with organic chemistry and molecular biology.
Throughout the text, the author promotes his own views, often sparring with opponents, usually unnamed. Chief among these views is the hypothesis that both water and the organic building blocks for life were delivered to the earth by comets. Alternative hypotheses, such as that the source of water is degassing of the earth's interior, are dismissed in such an offhand way that the uninitiated reader is unlikely to even realize what is happening. The only instance where Professor Delsemme is explicit in identifying an opposing position is the case of Fred Hoyle and his view that life itself, not just organic molecules, arose in outer space.
There is not much geology in this book, but what there is contains some errors, including an incorrect explanation of the origin of marine magnetic anomalies, confusion of "era" and "epoch," various creative spellings of Cretaceous (which may be the translator's doing), and, in a brief desciption of dinosaurs, use of the terms "sauropod" and "ornithopod" as though they were synonyms for "sauriscian" and "ornithiscian."
Nevertheless, there is much that is interesting and worthwhile in this volume for the reader who already knows the basics, and is aware of the uncertainties, controversies, and alternatives that swirl around many of these subjects. The chapter I enjoyed reading most is the one on the possibilities of life beyond our solar system. So, read this book if you are already into cosmology and the question of the origin of life and want to get a provocative slant on these topics, but not if you are looking for a ground-floor introduction.
A thought-provoking voyage through space and time.......1998-09-22
This book is the only one that I am aware of that covers a wide variety of topics ranging from the creation of the universe to the evolution of life on earth and the possible existence of life elsewhere. It is an up to date account of the current knowledge in the field of cosmology. The author is very objective and does an excellent analysis of current theories and explains them in a fashion that does not require you to have a PhD in physics. The book is a must for astronomy, cosmology enthusiasts and anyone in general who ponders when looking at the sky at night and asks themselves fundamental questions such as where do we come from ? how did it all start ? and where are we going ?
Books:
- The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium (with AceAstronomy, Virtual Astronomy Labs Printed Access Card)
- The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
- The Hand Of God: A Collection of Thoughts and Images Reflecting the Spirit of the Universe
- The Hidden Records: Ancient Pyramid Star Maps Decode the Secret of Human Origins
- The Invisible Universe
- The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory
- The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons for Us All
- The Naming of the Dead (An Inspector Rebus)
- The Nature of Consciousness : The Structure of Reality: Theory of Everything Equation Revealed : Scientific Verification and Proof of Logic God Is
- The Nemesis Affair: A Story of the Death of Dinosaurs and the Ways of Science
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