Book Description
Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.
Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them.
It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers.
The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.
This is Immaculee’s first book.
Customer Reviews:
A Life Giving Antidote to Self Pity and Unforgiveness.......2007-10-04
This book deeply touched my heart. I found it was too difficult to read before bed but I had a hard time putting it down as well. Immaculee's story is one of true character and forgiveness that is more than just words. It truly challenged me to let go of unforgiveness. Nothing that was ever done to me....and I thought I had been deeply hurt...can compare to what she has had to forgive. This story is a light that shines the way on the difficult path of letting go of hurts, a path to which we have all been called by God. Immaculee tells of how this is, however, a path where Jesus leads and sustains and that ultimately ends in a freedom we could never have imagined.
Left to Tell Left Me Wanting.......2007-10-04
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust was written by Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. The story stands as an amazing testimony to the power of prayer and the importance of faith in prayer, but I wonder, how does all the God talk strike a non-Christian? Does it resonate with truth, with an A-ha! that changes a life, or does it exist as a concept without relevance?
The fact that the book is on the New York Times bestseller list says something, but what is it? Does the message of surrendering to Christ get glossed over by the same voyeuristic appeal that drives American culture to support Ultimate Fighting?
As a Christian, the way God moved in Imaculee's life is breathtaking and clear. It's without question. It inspires a hearty "Yes God. Bless you! You are faithful!" It stirs the soul, paints the picture of God's purpose in this world and shows where God was during the slaughter.
But despite that, the book didn't grip my soul. I enjoyed reading it, but it didn't possess me to the point of being unable to put it down. Living in a bathroom with seven other women for three months should be more than a statement of fact; I should live the emotional struggle between fear and faith, between death and life, with Immaculee. Instead, I experienced a foregone conclusion.
It's easy to say forgive your neighbor, but when that neighbor murdered your mother, butchered your brother and looted your home the magnitude of the act is incomprehensible. And the telling of that tale should have stirred more in me.
Left to Tell gets bogged down in details, of walking us through a holocaust timeline as lived by the author, and it's a journey without feeling. But that may just be my problem.
Amazing.......2007-10-03
Imaculee, If I could only meet you! This is a potentially life changing book. There is some shocking material but it is extrememly worth reading and will change you if you let it.
Left to Tell.......2007-10-03
Those of you who have struggled either to find a personal relationship with God, or to forgive those who have caused you harm, this book is for you. Those of you who have wondered what it's like to experience a holocaust from the inside, read this book. Immaculee has the riviting power of Elie Wiesel himself to convey the horrors of genocide, and to expose its demonic nature.
Suspense and God's Providence WON!!.......2007-10-01
Immaculee in her own words presents a chilling account of the brutality and that was happening in a small country in Africa and how with persevence , prayer and trust in God , shows the world that to survive WE must all not forget the Creator!!
Customer Reviews:
One of the most intriguing spiritual journeys of modern times!.......2006-02-17
I only recently discovered Muggeridge, and am so thrilled by the writings and the legacy he left behind. What a dear, honest man! He writes so fluently and gracefully, with utter humility and self-reproach as well as reproaching society for all its moral and emotional decay. His wisdom was truly from God. His eyes were opened to the fate of mortal man, and he explores this theme with clarity and a shockingly ironic tone. I love this guy!! Bless his memory; may his words never be forgotten!
The Third Chronicle of Mr. M........2005-07-13
This is the last book Mr. M. wrote, and the only one after becoming Catholic. It was previously published in England as "Conversion" and in America as "Confessions of a Twentieth Century Pilgrim". This paperback is the third title variation. It's sort of two books in one. Since there never was a third and concluding volume of his autobiography, The Chronicles of Wasted Time, Conversion sort of fills that bill. Second, MM follows his stated intent of reflecting on conversion. Intertwining the two approaches allows the author to slide back and forth between them.
Had not Muggeridge already wrritten two volumes of an unimaginably good autobiography, this book might get five stars. Its four star rating is merely relative to these others. That said, almost anything anyone likes about reading MM is here in spades. It's full of self-relfective bits, some of which recur in his other writings. The form allows memory to traverse backwards, dipping down here and there for the amusing anecdote and diverting story, yet these nearly always usher into some shaking insight as from a saint in the making--or maybe a gargoyle, laughing down from his steep perch midway between two worlds.
He refers to himself in the third person, as "the student," "the journalist," or "the soldier," thus avoiding the problematic "I" of the autobiography, and allowing him to revisit and comment on the range of experiences covered more closely in the Chronicles and elsewhere. He also writes from memory, whether quoting St. Augustine and Simone Weil, or recalling his own adventures, with very little attribution.
Conversion, for Muggeridge, wasn't a late in life one-time experience (as might be thought), but a slow process over time, definitively formed when he met Mother Teresa, and continuing throughout life. Seasoned readers of Mr. M. may find this to be the best part of the book, which includes a letter from Mother Teresa and musings on The Cloud of Unknowing. Readers new to MM will also find this a good place to start, as he briefly touches here and there on topics that he delves deeper into in other books. Thus, Conversion is both a third Chronicle and a sort of road map leading readers to discover the inimitable MM.
Book Description
A compilation of writings on the chemical, biological, psychological, and experiential dimensions of Ayahuasca
• Includes 24 firsthand accounts of Ayahuasca experiences and resulting life changes, including contributions from J. C. Callaway, Charles S. Grob, and Dennis J. McKenna
• Discusses the medical and psychological applications of Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic Amazonian plant mixture that has been used for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years by native Indian and mestizo shamans in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador for healing and divination. Many Western-trained physicians and psychologists have acknowledged that this substance can allow access to spiritual dimensions of consciousness, even mystical experiences indistinguishable from classic religious mysticism.
In
Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca Ralph Metzner, a pioneer in the study of consciousness, has assembled a group of authoritative contributors who provide an exploration of the chemical, biological, psychological, and experiential dimensions of ayahuasca. He begins with more than 20 firsthand accounts from Westerners who have used ayahuasca and then presents the history, psychology, and chemistry of ayahuasca from leading scholars in the field of psychoactive research. He concludes with his own findings on ayahuasca, including its applications in medicine and psychology, and compares the worldview revealed by ayahuasca visions to that of Western cultures.
Customer Reviews:
Well worth the read.......2006-01-27
Ralph Metzner's book Ayahuasca: Human Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature (1st edition) and Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca (2nd edition) is an excellent overview of modern conceptions of Ayahuasca and where and how they originated.
The book starts off with a brief history of the available data on this most powerful of entheogens. Next Metzner delves into modern trip reports of the experience by mostly well-to-do professionals, doctors, psychiatrists, etc. In this section, the book does tend to get a little fluffy and new agey in its descriptions. Here, too, I was disappointed that he did not offer/include indigenous descriptions of the experience.
While at first this book had difficulty drawing me in, it wasn't until the end of the trip reports section, probably around page 150, that a startling story, so identical to one of my own, really grabbed my attention into the book as a whole. The stories previous to this one were also similar to my own, as I have seen the snakes, etc., myself, however the other stories often didn't draw me in as this one in particular had as it twisted around my soul like a boa.
About 2/3 into the book it becomes clear why Metzner has chosen these particular stories. He uses the stories to show a sort of universal archetypal imagery found within the experiences as well as using them to show the overall personal benefits and healings gained by each individual's direct experiences with the sacred brew. He makes especially clear the importance of "la purga" or the purge, which are the effects of Ayahuasca to cause vomiting to cleanse the body and soul. However, I questioned if this was done while possibly omitting negative reports, not of trips, but of Kanaima related issues (see Dr. Neil Whitehead). Though I must admit that my own numerous experiences were indeed along the same lines of self-recognition and self-responsibility laid out in the work.
Next Metzner calls on the famed Dr. Dennis McKenna to break down the chemistry and history of Ayahuasca, as McKenna with his brother Terence were pioneers in the research on DMT and Ayahuasca. Next Metzner calls on Dr. Charles Grob and Dr. J.C. Callaway to give an excellent (yet self limited) history on Ayahuasca from its studies to its effects on human psychological behavior, drug addiction, etc. Finally he ends the book with a well thought out and in some places admittedly speculative conclusion on the possibilities to the fulfilling of human consciousness on a Gaian or global scale.
Not the most profound read, but well worth the read. I'd give it a strong 4.5 star. A necessary addition to any ethnopharmacological library. However, I should mention that the best material is said to be The Antipodes of the Mind : Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience by Dr. Benny Shanon. I will point out that I have not had the chance to read Shanon's book yet, but it has come highly recommended by many leading experts in the field and is on the top of my to read list. Shanon is published by Oxford.
Book Description
An in-depth look at the therapeutic and transformative powers of storytelling in Native American and other cultures
• Explores how to create a healing state of mind using stories
• Includes healing stories from Native American traditions and other cultures from around the world
• By the author of the bestselling Coyote Medicine
Stories are powerful sources of meaning that shape and transform our lives. We tell stories to track our process of personal and spiritual growth and to honor and respect the journeys we have made. Through stories we are provided with experiences of spiritual empowerment that can lead to transformation.
In Coyote Wisdom, Lewis Mehl-Madrona explores the healing use of stories passed down from generation to generation in Native American culture and describes how we can apply this wisdom to empower and transform our own lives. A storytelling approach to transformation starts with how we were created and how we can re-create ourselves through the stories we tell. As we explore the archetypal characters and situations that populate the inner world of our stories, we can experience breakthroughs of healing and even miracles of transformation.
This approach to healing through stories runs counter to the current model of modern psychology. The stories we tell about ourselves may model our lives, but by introducing new characters and plots, we can come to see ourselves in a new way. The author also draws upon the cultures of other indigenous peoples--the Maori, East Africans, Mongolians, Aborigines, and Laplanders--to illustrate the healing use of stories throughout the world.
Customer Reviews:
Best one yet.......2007-04-12
I think this is Dr. Mehl-Madrona's best book yet. As a registered nurse, Zen Shiatsu therapist and shaman-in-training, I to have witnessed the power of the story in healing...even when all else fails. I'm looking forward to the next book!
Rich with wisdom.......2006-03-27
Lewis Mehl-Madrona is certified in family practice, geriatrics and psychiatry, and includes Native American traditions in his practice. Healing through storytelling is the principal approach he shares in this book - of the various Native American ceremonial treatments that he uses.
Mehl-Madrona's storytelling is rich with the wisdom of his Cherokee grandmother. He seems to have stories available for every possible circumstance and occasion. These tales provide insights into a person's hidden fears and hurts that often underlie and contribute to or even cause the development of many physical and psychological problems. The stories also suggest a variety of solutions and inspire hope that change is possible.
Through these stories, he helps people discover the inner healing resources that can transform their lives, including their illnesses. He reports dramatic successes - often with people who have struggled for many years with their health issues - including anorexia, lupus (a chronic form of arthritis), victimization through emotional and physical abuse, panic disorder, and more.
What I see as particularly helpful are the suggestions for change that Mehl-Madrona intersperses within the stories. These are very similar to the tales that Milton Erickson used to tell - in the process of hypnotic inductions, with imbedded suggestions that often slipped past the sentinel guardian defenses of his patients.
Mehl-Madrona is most remarkable for having gained a measure of acceptance for his methods within western medicine.
For a book that contains generous portions of wisdom, this book is an easy and enjoyable read.
See also Mehl-Madrona's earlier books: Coyote Healing and Coyote Medicine.
Refreshing.......2006-03-21
This book gives perspective to illness in ways that balance Western medicine with healing stories based in a variety of traditions but primarily Native American creation stories. I value that the author offers credentials from both backgrounds and appreciate the wisdom one gains from understanding that so much of what we bring to the mentality of illness is based upon the opinions and attitudes that we have been exposed to in medical text or taken on board through our own environmental coping mechanisms. The stories radiate hope when we realize that we alone can be empowered through fresh perspectives to create our own story for health and well being.
Book Description
It is one of the great mysteries of life that in atmospheres of the harshest cruelty, a certain few not only survive but emerge as beacons of light and life. Father Arseny, former scholar of church art, became Prisoner No. 18736 in the brutal "special sector" of the Soviet prison camp system. In the darkness of systematic degradation of body and soul, he shone with the light of Christ's peace and compassion. His sights set on God and his life grounded in the Church, Father Arseny lived by injunction to "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).
This narrative, compiled from accounts of Father Arseny's spiritual children and others whom he brought to God, gives stirring glimpses of his life in prison camp and after his release. It also tells the stories of people whose lives, often during times of almost unimaginable crisis, were touched and transfigured through their connection with Father Arseny.
Emerging from the context of the particular tragedies of Soviet Russia, this book carries a universal impact certain to be felt by readers in the West today.
Customer Reviews:
Something is important is missing.......2007-09-30
I have mixed feelings about this book. At several different points the stories about Father Arseny brought me to tears. It is clear that God used him to bring humanity, goodness, and hope into the life of the Soviet Gulags. He was a beacon of light that the powers of darkness could not extinguish, by God's grace. Father Arseny changed the people who encountered him, and after reading his story I hope and pray to be more like him.
On the other hand, Christ and the truths of the Christian faith are missing from these stories. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he said: "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor 2:2). Christ was the sum total of Paul's message. If you take Christ out of Paul's writings, or out of the N.T. there is absolutely nothing left. It is all about Jesus, about his life, his death, his resurection, and the salvation that was wrought on the cross for our sakes. Christ is the all and all of Christian faith and life. Consequently, if you go to the simplest Pentecostal or Baptist church, and attend a time of testimony, or listen to a sermon there, you will probably hear about Christ, the cross, salvation, and living for God.
But in reading these recollections of Father Arseny we find very little mention of Christ at all, let alone the great truths of Christianity. At best we get a sense that Father Arseny was a deeply moral person, who loved those around him, and worshiped (venerated?) Mary, the Mother of God. But Christ himself is absent. The Cross is absent. The gospel, in effect, is absent. Someone unfamiliar with Christianity will not learn few, if any, theological Christian truths from this book. Even at those moments in the book where the gospel would have been most crucial... when someone on their death bed is struggling with their sin and struggling to believe in God... Father Arseny never responds by explaining the gospel or even mentioning Christ. At least no one recollects him as having done so. Compare this approach, for instance, with similar instances in Lutheran bishop Bo Giertz' classic "The Hammer of God."
In sum, there is very little that is specifically Christian about this work, in the sense that it does not proclaim or explain the gospel, or any truths of the Christian faith. There are important moral lessons to be learned, of course, but that is not enough. No doubt, many people will be upset at that claim, but I do not see how it can be refuted. Similar biographies of St. Seraphim of Sarov, and St. John of Kronstadt are unmistakably Christian through and through. But with Father Arseny's book, I could not help but think something important was missing.
Life-Changing Experience.......2006-05-09
A life so filled with the Love of the Lord Jesus Christ spreads the Glory of God wherever that life is told. The living word of God written in the heart of Father Arseny shows us Christ within this humble Orthodox priest. I cannot read more than three pages or so without weeping, both in joy and in profound sorrow that I fall far short of such a Christian. This is not only a book, but a treasure of how to live the Orthodox Christian Faith which has so much to tell us about the Gospel of Christ and how to cooperate with His Holy Spirit in our hearts and consciences. Note: a friend visited a Russian home, and the grandma warned him of thieves in the neighborhood. She made the sign of the Cross over him with prayer. That evening he was indeed accosted by someone who stood, ready to attack, and then ran away into the darkness ..he knows that the Lord protected him - again by the simple faith of Christ's people. Please do not keep this book to yourself, but pass it along to as many as have the heart to receive it. It is a powerful, life-changing testimony.
A great witness........2006-02-27
Most Christians, Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox, think of the great saints as people who lived many centuries ago. But every generation has its saints, its shining lights of God's glory, and Fr. Arseny was one of the 20th century saints. Every person has the potential to become a beacon of God's glory. Fr. Arseny showed how one can become transformed, or divinized, even in the most wretched circumstances. Must reading for all people of faith or doubt.
My Audio Book was *ABRIDGED*.......2005-11-05
I first encountered the book in the audio format. It was excellent! The only drawback, as I experienced it, was the accent of Vera Bouteneff (who reads half the chapters). Her Russian accent sometimes made it a just a bit difficult to understand a word or two, but never sacrificing my overall understanding of so much as a paragraph.
A year after first listening to the audio book, I was given a copy of the paperback, and lo and behold: the print book is about 50% longer than the audio version! And the audio book packaging says nothing about being a shortened version.
Overall, both versions are excellent. Just be warned -- unless the audio book is being released in a new version -- the audio book is missing about the last third of the book. It is *not* unabridged as advertised.
Even with problems, it's perfect..........2005-02-28
I am wary of those who write about a book that it "changed their lives" or that "it is a book every person should have to read." In most cases, these are heavy exaggerations and over-dramatic praises. However, I must admit that this book falls into both of these categories. "Father Arseny" is not a perfect book; the translation (from Russian) is imperfect and the chapters are mostly very scattered, not having anything to do with one another. I was hoping for a chronological biography; instead I got many stories broken into 3 sections, the last with some stories which don't even make note of Father Arseny except when mentioning the fact that the people in the story later met Father Arseny or were his spiritual children. However, the impact some of the chapters have - both of the priest and of his spiritual children - is so deep, one does not want the book to end.
The first part of the book describes Father Arseny's time in a Soviet gulag and the many miracles which were performed through him. One of these stories in particular - that of Fr. Arseny and the prisoner Alexei in a cell for three days in -22 degree weather - is so miraculous, it alone makes the book worth picking up. Another - that of the woman being saved by the Mother of God from being raped - also has a profound affect on the reader. These are just two of the many stories which I will never forget, and which I will return to to read again many times in my life.
Mainly, this book taught me two things: First, I find that I see faith in everyone now. The Light of faith exists in all people, even if only a spark. The other main thing this book gave me was a much deeper and poignant respect, love, and trust in the Theotokos; some of the stories are as much or more about her than they are about Father Arseny.
Orthodox or not, I would recommend this book to anyone. Without a doubt, it will make that aforementioned spark of faith grow, and keep it burning for years to come.
(be sure to pick up the second Father Arseny book as well, "Father Arseny: A Cloud of Witnesses")
Book Description
Seeks to restore the pivotal role of the patient’s own story in the healing process
• Shows how conventional medicine tends to ignore the account of the patient
• Presents case histories where disease is addressed and healed through the narrative process
• Proposes a reinvention of medicine to include the indigenous healing methods that for thousands of years have drawn their effectiveness from telling and listening
Modern medicine, with its high-tech and managed-care approach, has eliminated much of what constitutes the art of healing: those elements of doctoring that go beyond the medications prescribed. The typically brief office visit leaves little time for doctors to listen to their patients, though it is in these narratives that disease is both revealed and perpetuated--and can be released and treated.
Lewis Mehl-Madrona’s
Narrative Medicine examines the foundations of the indigenous use of story as a healing modality. Citing numerous case histories that demonstrate the profound power of narrative in healing, the author shows how when we learn to dialogue with disease, we come to understand the power of the “story” we tell about our illness and our possibilities for better health. He shows how this approach also includes examining our relationships to our extended community to find any underlying disharmony that may need healing. Mehl-Madrona points the way to a new model of medicine--a health care system that draws its effectiveness from listening to the healing wisdom of the past and also to the present-day voices of its patients.
Amazon.com
Following his "Arctic dreams" that began with a photograph of the haggard crew of the ill-fated ship Endurance, Alvah Simon and his wife, Diana, set sail to winter in the high north. "We call them explorers, but I knew that look in their eyes," Simon writes of the early Arctic adventurers. "They were seekers, and that is a different thing." With self-discovery as a deeper agenda, the couple ventures into Tay Bay of remote Bylot Island; it is their ultima Thule--"the Last Unknown." Their small boat is willingly frozen in the ice. When Diana is airlifted out of the Arctic to tend to an emergency back home, Simon is unexpectedly left in solitude. His journey turns inward as he confronts the "uncomfortable awakening of my spiritual self." In the waning daylight, then total darkness, Simon's days are punctuated by depression and mania, a crackled voice over the radio, Inuit visitors, and hard-earned lessons as he is driven by the forces of the Arctic winter and by "the total loss of the sun." In this elegant, well-paced book, the Arctic darkness becomes a psychological landscape perforated with light and revelation, and Simon's thrilling tale is as captivating as his language. There is a welcome intimacy here as we share the same icy hull, listening close to this searching man. Simon courageously tells us about his darkest moments, dreams, and nightmares, and when the sun emerges, new eyes greet land and relationships. Simon has discovered his ultima Thule. --Byron Ricks
Book Description
In June 1994 Alvah Simon and his wife, Diana, set off in their 36-foot sailboat to explore the hauntingly beautiful world of icebergs, tundra, and fjords lying high above the Arctic Circle. Four months later, unexpected events would trap Simon alone on his boat, frozen in ice 100 miles from the nearest settlement, with the long polar night stretching into darkness for months to come.
With his world circumscribed by screaming blizzards and marauding polar bears and his only companion a kitten named Halifax, Simon withstands months of crushing loneliness, sudden blindness, and private demons. Trapped in a boat buried beneath the drifting snow, he struggles through the perpetual darkness toward a spiritual awakening and an understanding of the forces that conspired to bring him there. He emerges five months later a transformed man.
Simon's powerful, triumphant story combines the suspense of
Into Thin Air with a crystalline, lyrical prose to explore the hypnotic draw of one of earth's deepest and most dangerous wildernesses.
Customer Reviews:
remarkable and unforgettable .......2007-09-12
Journey with Alvah as he sails for the Arctic and he will open his world to you as most do only with close friends. Share in his triumphs and struggles through his year in the Arctic. And more than just the physical adventure of a lifetime, Alvah shares the spiritual dimensions of being utterly alone in the most inhospitable of environments, completely engulfed by a harsh and wondrous Artic wilderness. This is a remarkable and unforgettable tale.
Adventure in the Arctic.......2006-09-04
If you like an exciting adventure that you don't want to end and if you enjoy the style of writing that makes you feel you're actually there experiencing what the writer is going through you'll enjoy this book. To gain an understanding of some of the native peoples of the frozen Arctic wilderness and this unique place on earth read this book!
Unbridled narcissism in an arctic setting. ?Spiritual?.......2006-07-07
I could not agree more with every word of Isha Beharim's review. My first impression at the beginning of the book was of the author's extreme self absorbtion, and the impression never left me, and the self absorbtion never left the author either, despite whatever "spiritual" experience he may have had. The book, by the way, never comes within a country mile of anything even remotely spiritual, and I think perhaps the word was used in the sub-title only to improve sales, although, who knows, maybe sadly this sort of stuff passes for spirituality for this guy.
The book was only interesting as the most extreme example of this sort of narcissist-meets-survival writing, which seems all the rage these days, and which also seems increasingly boring to me. I believe this book has cured me of my interest in this entire genre, and for that I suppose I owe a debt of gratitude.
It's more like a 10-star book.......2006-04-06
because it has all the things great books are supposed to have. It's exciting, honest, moving, educational, thoughtful, humorous, philosophical. You'll be different after you read it.
Okay, a husband and a wife and a cat going up into the Arctic to winter-over in a small boat is a goofy idea. The author admits as much and realizes he bit off more than he could chew. It was much worse than he expected, but with grit, resourcefulness, and well, lack of any other choices, he somehow, against all odds, lives to see spring.
That the cat got through the winter is even more astonishing. At one point Simon picks up the cat, and not knowing it's frozen, breaks off one of its ears. (The ear heals -- sort of.)
Simon's wife has to leave before winter sets in, and Simon is left alone with the cat to get through months of darkness and 60-below (F)weather. He goes blind for a time, nearly dies from lack of oxygen and carbon-monoxide poisoning, and loses his mind for awhile. He does endlessly dumb things -- it would be much less of a story if he didn't.
Simon is an astonishingly good writer, his style easy and natural, and his description of the Actic as good as Barry Lopez' best.
A Spiritual Odyssey of Incredible Self-Absorbtion.......2006-02-25
While the descriptions of arctic environment and people encountered in this book was interesting, the prose style of Mr. Simon was completely self-absorbed, dripping with condescension, arrogance, and numerous jagged barbs toward those who do not share his free lifestyle or post-modern worldview.
While he states this was a spiritual Odyssey, the story was all I, I, I, me, me, me, us, us, us. The Inuit accepted US, the wildlife accept ME, the fox that was near my boat had a message for ME, the raven that was a frequent visitor was there for ME, the bear I encountered also had a message for ME. Every piece of landscape, every person, every animal was only important in its relationship to them. That self-absorption got old really quickly.
He states it was a spiritual quest, but repeatedly stated that he needed the experience to "authenticate" himself. He needed to "interact" with the wildlife to "authenticate" his experience. Then, after all this "authentication", what great spiritual insight did he give his readers at the end of his journey? "I entered the abyss in many ways a stranger to myself and emerged intimately familiar with the inner man. I searched the edges of darkness and plumbed the depths of my soul, faced my fears, and uncovered my weaknesses." I, I, I, me, me, me. Please, enough already.
He quote Loren Eiseley, writing, "It is a commonplace of all religious thought, even the most primitive, that the man seeking visions and insight must go apart from his fellows and live for a time in the wilderness. If he is of the proper sort he will return with a message." Too bad Mr. Simon didn't return with one.
I feel sorry for someone so spiritually bereft that he must seek out such hardships in order to "authenticate" himself. And there are certainly better books about the arctic out there that are actually about the arctic and not just about the author. I suggest passing on this one.
Book Description
At the 13th International AIDS conference in Durban, Michael McColly, a journalist and yoga teacher living with AIDS, found himself confronted with the deeper issues and ethical dimensions of the epidemic. Seeing firsthand the destruction the disease was inflicting on South Africa and hearing the stories of activists from China to Nairobi challenged McColly to place his own problems within a global framework, forcing him to contemplate the lives of HIV positive people without access to treatment, health care, and a supportive community. Through interviews with Buddhist monks in a remote Thai monastery, male sex workers in India, African-American preachers in Chicago, and Senegalese mullahs, McColly comes to a fuller understanding of how cultural attitudes toward death and dying, sexuality and gender, and morality and spirituality affect the life chances of people living with HIV/AIDS. Part spiritual journey, part political transformation, Parables of the Body humanizes the often faceless struggles of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide and at home.
Customer Reviews:
McColly Is Doing A Great Service.......2007-07-07
We are privileged to be working on publicity on this amazing book. Michael doesn't hold back and is brutally honest in his latest book. We highly recommend it.
Michael is also creating a Prostrations for Peace on July l5th that is spreading throughout the country. It's a demonstration against the continued war in Iraq and the continued suffering and killing of our own and Iraqi people.
Sherri Rosen Publicity, NYC
Intense, compassionate, enlightening, inspiring.......2007-05-24
HIV-positive journalist Michael McColly travels through South Africa, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Chicago, and Senegal to document the lives of activists, sex workers, and people living with the AIDS. He also tells his own story, humanizing the disease and making it accessible in an intimate and compassionate way.
McColly's careful crafting blends scene and internal observations in a way that moves the vantage point from a feeling in the body to the exterior world, then out to a global perspective, taking the reader with him. Imagery and perception combine to make this not only an important sociological study of multiple struggles (sexuality, AIDS, poverty, healing), but also a literary work. He incorporates facts so that they become a part of the story without losing momentum, allowing the reader to step away from this book with a greater understanding of the scope of the AIDS pandemic.
Posing poignant and at times painful questions throughout his memoir, McColly challenges the reader to confront complex issues.
The book is both disheartening and inspiring as McColly's journey deepens. In Chennai, India, he interviews a man heading AIDS education for sex workers who says, "We are trying to make the young men ... into a cohesive, self-sustaining community. It's the only way they are going to survive not only this disease but this life." This becomes a subtle theme through the book: those who become active in helping others find that reaching out gives them a way to cope with the disease. At times, the story is devastating. Multiple viewpoints and approaches toward the treatment of AIDS help to put the struggles of various countries into a very real perspective.
The After-Death Room is a modern portrait of the diverse spectrum of the AIDS landscape. But the ultimate message does not just apply to AIDS. It is universal: the importance of connecting, understanding, loving, and helping others--which, in this world, is harder than ever to realize, is certainly a thing worth living for.
[...]
Book Description
Published between 1835 and 1907, these four narratives share a theme that continues to dominate African-American literature today: the use of Christianity to give strength and comfort in the struggle for liberation from caste and gender restrictions. Widely considered the first American-born woman (black or white) to give a public address, Maria Stewart links the dual concerns of spirituality and freedom in her fiery orations. Jarena Lee, the earliest black female preacher identified with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, offers a stirring account of her religious calling. Julia Foote presents an autobiographical sketch of her experiences as a renowned Ohio evangelist. And, in the last of these inspirational narratives, free-born Virginia Broughton recounts her twenty years as a missionary.
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Hell Without Fires: Slavery, Christianity, And The Antebellum Spiritual Narrative (History of African-American Religions)
Yolanda Pierce
Manufacturer: University Press of Florida
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ASIN: 081302806X |
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