Book Description
The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch is a dazzling novel from a writer of international caliber, based on the life of the nineteenth-century Irishwoman who became Paraguay's Eva Peron. Eliza Lynch met Francisco Solano López in Paris, when she was nineteen and he was in Europe to recruit engineers for the first railroad in South America. He left several months later with a pregnant Eliza beside him. Reviled by Asunción society and the family of her lover, who never married her, Eliza nevertheless had her son baptized his heir. In less than a decade, López became dictator and plunged Paraguay into a conflict that would kill over half its population. By then Eliza was notorious-as both the angel of the battlefield, inspiring the troops, and the demon driving López's ambition-and when López was killed in battle, she buried him in a shallow grave dug with her own hands. Anne Enright has written a gorgeous, deeply resonant novel.
Customer Reviews:
History in the remaking.......2007-10-02
After reading "The Gathering," I ordered three other books by the astonishingly gifted Anne Enright, who knows all about women. One of these was "The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch." Her sometime protagonist, Eliza Lynch, a "fallen" woman who knows a good thing when she sees it, falls stone in love with a customer slated to become the next ruler of Paraguay. The first sentence of the book verges on porn, but it is one of Enright's many talents that she can mix the crude with the romantic and maintain a high level of curiosity. She has a knack of clearly distinguishing each character while not choosing sides; that is, the reader sees all the human, and in some cases inhuman, flaws in the souls that people her books. Her style may be found "jumpy" by some, as she creates flashbacks and flash forwards, and speaks in various voices, but stay with it and you'll be rewarded by mysteries solved, history revealed and enough red herrings left over to make you think and comjecture. Her knowledge of humanity is profound and she knows how to outline the attitudes of men toward women and of women toward themselves at their most primitive level. I finished this in one all-night session.
The type of novel that gives bad novelists, a bad name.......2007-07-16
This is a work that has neither style nor substance. The first eleven pages in which Enright gives a supposed blow-by-blow account of "Eliza's" lovemaking with Lopez is obviously meant to titillate and arrest the reader's senses. It fails miserably. I was nauseated.
This severely disjointed narrative in no way mirrors the real Elisa. I have in my library over thirty books that deal with Elisa Lynch including many by contemporaries who knew her well. None of these accounts, even those written by her most ardent critics, would ever portray Elisa as the cheap tart that Enright serves up to us.
This book can at best be described as a hastily drafted piece of sensationalist Pulp Fiction. At worst it is a malicious attempt to defame (albeit through allegory) a most cultured and enigmatic heroine who survived some of the greatest tragedies of the nineteenth century (The Irish Famine, The Bloody Algerian Campaign, and finally the War of the Triple Alliance in which over 90% of the male population of Paraguay her adopted country perished) and yet, even in her darkest hour she was magnificent. This is a woman who stopped the entire Brazilian Army in its murderous campaign to permanently annihilate the Paraguan race, by the simple act of burying the mutilated bodies of her eldest son and her Life companion Solano Lopez with her bare hands in the raw red earth of Cerro Cora, while that same Army watched from a distance in silence and awe.
The real story of Elisa Lynch and Solano Lopez is a Love story, full of courage, bravery and loyalty. It's breadth and scope cannot be sensed within the mangled historical inaccuracies and most shameful abuse of the truth contained in this rather trashy piece of verbiage, which to quote Enright in her acknowledgements section " It is around these facts that this (scarcely less than fictional) account has been built.
Based on this offering I can only conclude that this is the type of novel that gives bad novelists, a bad name
Maligned figure, well-written book.......2005-02-21
I had read a recent(and somewhat misogynist)biography of this woman, the Irish courtesan Eliza Lynch, before starting this book. The author of this novel, Anne Enright, seems to have her history right: Lynch met the Paraguayan dictator Lopez in Paris and became pregnant by him before returning with him to Paraguay. There, she was reviled by high and low, probably because she was considered shameless (she did not hide her relationship with Lopez), tried to bring Parisian "culture" to this backwater, helped herself to the country's wealth (it was rich in yerba maté) and encouraged Lopez in his grandiose ambitions, resulting in simultaneous war with Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina; a war that killed tens of thouands, saw the country's wealth destroyed and Lopez himself lose his life. Historic sources say that Lynch not only did nothing to restrain Lopez's brutality, but even added to it by seeking revenge against those among Paraguayan society (such as Lopez's family) who disdained her.Enright, writing in the third and first person (Lynch herself), brings this story to life vividly, especially in describing Lynch's first trip upriver to Asunción. Her language is colourful and evocative. The story, still sticking to history, ends with Lynch, having survived Lopez, Paraguay and the war, now in the UK and seeking damages against one of the few Europeans, a Scottish doctor named Stewart, who had remained loyal to her and her husband. History, and even this book, paints her as unsympathetic, but so seems everyone (including those who loathed her) in this sordid, brutal bit of history.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Irish Literary Supplement, published by Irish Studies Program on March 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1375 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: More than an intellectual bodice ripper.(The Pleasures of Eliza Lynch)(Book Review)
Author: Christina Hunt Mahony
Publication:
Irish Literary Supplement (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2003
Publisher: Irish Studies Program
Volume: 22
Issue: 1
Page: 20(1)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
John Taylor just discovered his long-gone mother created the Nightside--the dark heart of London--and intends to destroy it. To save his birthplace, he will have to travel back through a very distant--and probably deadly--past.
Download Description
John Taylor just discovered his long-gone mother created the Nightside--the darkheart of London--and intends to destroy it. To save his birthplace, he will travel back through a very distant--and probably deadly--past.
Customer Reviews:
Search for Nightside's Origins.......2007-09-27
Paths Not Taken (2005) is the fifth urban fantasy novel in the Nightside series, following Hex and the City. In the previous volume, John Taylor finally discovered the identity of his mother when she visited Strangefellows, but quickly regretted the knowledge. Walker and his minions invaded the bar to destroy Taylor, but are defeated by Taylor's friends and relative.
Bad Penny stabbed Taylor and was permanently banished from Strangefellows and everywhere else. Merlin even nullified the Speaking Gun. Then Taylor tipped his mother out of the bar back the way she had come.
In this novel, Taylor has a visitor at the office. Unfortunately, he is actually present at the time. When asked his complaint, Eamonn Mitchell says that he is being hounded by other versions of himself. Then such other versions appear, armed with change wands, and make a mess out of Cathy's carefully filed paperwork [snigger]. Taylor and Tommy Oblivion -- another Nightside PI -- track down the man behind the plot and reason with him.
Taylor is impressed by Tommy's talent and invites him along on a trip back through time. Suzie Shooter invites herself into the party. Old Father Time sends them into the far past, but not quite far enough.
In this story, Taylor and associates find themselves in the Nightside of sixth century AD. Taylor figures than Lilith has interfered with the time transfer and gets VERY angry. After he cools down enough, they decide that their best chance to go further back in time is Merlin Satanspawn.
Failing to locate Merlin at the Londinium Club, they next try the current version of Strangefellows. Taylor recognizes the exterior view of the Avalon from a prior experience. They find Merlin inside and shortly thereafter Nimue the witch appears.
Nimue is a bubbly little golddigger. A former Druid, she had run away and then convinced Merlin to teach her real magic. Now Taylor talks her into helping them, but their plans go dreadfully wrong. Despite all this, Taylor and Suzie go back further in time, but not quite far enough.
Taylor finds someone, or something, else to send them even further in time. Finally Taylor gets back to Nightside's origins. It's not much like his expectations, but he does have a confrontation with his future mother.
This story parallels the previous novel. He meets people, or things, that he had encountered in the previous novel during his excursions back in time. Naturally, these persons or things have some memory of Taylor when they later -- or earlier -- meet him in the future.
Highly recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of tough detectives, various magics, and a personal quest through time.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Super Reader.......2007-08-26
Not really as good as the last few, because it really breaks the fantasy-noir feel to go on a time travelling adventure, for most of it.
John takes Suzie Shooter and Tommy Oblivion with him through time, to try and work out a way to stop the war with his mother Lilith.
Along the way you get Arthur, Mordred, Merlin, Nimue, Father Time, and a rather meaner version of Herne the Hunter than previously.
Lilith, of course, is still waiting for them, as the relationship between John and Suzie intensifies.
Another awesome book by this author. .......2007-01-12
well, this is like the 6ht one i read of his.
I love the NIghtside even if i seems to be much of the same over and over.
was kinda sad to see dead boy was not in this one.
Better, but still.......2006-04-14
Trust me, it is not fun being the lone wet blanket amongst a chorus of positive reviews, but....
This was better than the last book, but the last was so lame that it took me a long time to read this one. Green STILL isn't doing ANYTHING different from Cook's Garret series and the Garret series is still better. That's why it only gets 2 stars instead of 3.
Look, if you only read super duper mega fiction then you will like this series, heck you will like anything that Green wrote. Also, you should be reading a lot of the miliporn done by Brunch and Drake and by the way have you resubscribed to Soldier of Fortune and Babes with Guns?
I like his work when there's nothing eles to read, but know this: Walter Jon Williams does the male-female buddy cop characters better than this, Cook does the fantasy detective better than this and the Dresden series handles fantasy meets machineguns better than this, and Morgan's Kovacks character is much tougher than John Tyler.
Still, its a fun ride, but not a great book. I will read the next book because its a fun ride. It is wrong to say its a good book however, because the plots are still shallow (though there's actually some character relationship development in this one) and the characters are stock put in every book Green has ever written. If you've read the other books in the series this is better than the last because it has an interesting take on Roman times, however, I still ask: how much over the top phantasmagoria can you take before it becomes mediocre?
Per my 16 yr old who reads them-.......2006-02-06
This book was very good! Excellent author; love the series.
Book Description
This book is a comprehensive analysis of the relevance of international law to the conduct of international relations and foreign policy. Written by a distinguished international lawyer and academic with over 35 years of experience, this book contains a systematic treatment of both fields of study. This work serves as an introduction to contemporary theories of international relations and as a primer on international law especially for the non-lawyer. Focusing on contemporary problems of terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation, war and peace, economic development, protection of the global environment, reform of the United Nations, democracy and protection of human rights, this work develops the thesis that international law is a neglected tool of foreign policy that can be used to address many of today's difficult and unresolved problems. It concludes by advocating a 'new global order' in the form of the rule of law and multilateral solidarity in addressing world problems.
Book Description
In The Path Not Taken, Jeff Horn argues that--contrary to standard, Anglocentric accounts--French industrialization was not a failed imitation of the laissez-faire British model but the product of a distinctive industrial policy that led, over the long term, to prosperity comparable to Britain's. Despite the upheavals of the Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, France developed and maintained its own industrial strengths. France was then able to take full advantage of the new technologies and industries that emerged in the "second industrial revolution," and by the end of the nineteenth century some of France's industries were outperforming Britain's handily. The Path Not Taken shows that the foundations of this success were laid during the first industrial revolution.
Horn posits that the French state's early attempt to emulate Britain's style of industrial development foundered because of revolutionary politics. The "threat from below" made it impossible for the state or entrepreneurs to control and exploit laborers in the British manner. The French used different means to manage labor unruliness and encourage innovation and entrepreneurialism. Technology is at the heart of Horn's analysis, and he shows that France, unlike England, often preferred still-profitable older methods of production in order to maintain employment and forestall revolution. Horn examines the institutional framework established by Napoleon's most important Minister of the Interior, Jean-Antoine Chaptal. He focuses on textiles, chemicals, and steel, looks at how these new institutions created a new industrial environment. Horn's illuminating comparison of French and British industrialization should stir debate among historians, economists, and political scientists.
Average customer rating:
- Such a Little Book & yet .......
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The Path Not Taken: Reflections on Power and Fear
Allen Wheelis
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0393028313 |
Customer Reviews:
Such a Little Book & yet ..............2007-08-05
So powerful. Every time I reread this, I see the world more clearly. It has provided me with the courage to persevere with & in the world as I search for meaning to my life.
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American Modern: The Path Not Taken
Victorino Tejera
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0847683095 |
Book Description
Written in the American tradition, "American Modern: The Path Not Taken" describes how four major American thinkers practiced philosophy non-reductively by incorporating the arts and other human activities. Tejera provides a detailed analysis of Peirce, Dewey, Santayana, and Buchler, showing that the importance they placed on the human can cure what is missing in recent philosophy. "American Modern" will interest philosophers, historians of philosophy, and scholars of American intellectual history.
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The Path Not Taken
Manufacturer: Watermark Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1575530031 |
Customer Reviews:
Jen was amazing!!!!!!!!!.......1998-08-24
She rocks the world with her words of wisdom and love!
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Paths Not Taken: British Labour and International Policy in the 1920s
Henry R. Winkler
Manufacturer: University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0807821713 |
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Paths Not Taken: Political Pluralism in Postwar Singapore
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Singapore | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 997169378X |
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Paths Not Taken: Speculations on American Foreign Policy and Diplomatic History, Interests, Ideals, and Power (Praeger Studies in Diplomacy and Strategic Thought)
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Non-US Legal Systems | Perspectives on Law | Law | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0275967697 |
Book Description
In America's foreign affairs there has been a delicate balance between often conflicting imperatives of interests, ideals, and power. How these imperatives have intersected to shape the constellation of American foreign policy decisions throughout the nation's history and, indeed, how they have served to advance or subvert attainment of America's regional, hemispheric and global ambitions, is the subject of this study. This collection of essays explores seminal decisions in American foreign policy and diplomatic history, from the early National period to the Vietnam War, each of which proved to be a turning point, and then asks readers to consider alternative futures based upon different courses of action. Nielson underscores how history could, and perhaps should, have been different. U.S. foreign policy has in large measure been contingent upon decisions made by individuals in positions of power. Their personalities, characters, and assumptions about duty and America's role in the world have uniquely shaped policy choices and, thus, the course of foreign affairs, for better or worse. This book hopes to show that history is ever fluid, unpredictable, and problematic. It will complement traditional texts as a "what if" counterpoint which will stimulate interest in and speculation about leadership roles, national interest, and decision making in foreign policy.
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The Uncanny X-Men #275 : The Path Not Taken (Marvel Comics)
Chris Claremont
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic
X-Men | Characters | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: B000RVBG4Q |
Average customer rating:
- sad and bleak future that would've been better...
- as always, interested
- a great example of cyberpunk
- The Future Predicted
- Decent writer who nonetheless gets too much wrong
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Futureland: Nine Stories of an Imminent World
Walter Mosley
Manufacturer: Aspect
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Mosley, Walter
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ASIN: 0446529540 |
Amazon.com
Futureland is bestselling mystery author Walter Mosley's first science fiction book since Blue Light, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Futureland's nine linked stories will provide an accessible and intelligent introduction to written science fiction for mystery or mainstream fiction fans who do not normally read the genre.
Experienced science fiction readers, however, may be less than satisfied with Futureland. Reading it, you might decide Mr. Mosley grew up reading SF, respects the genre, and still watches SF movies, but has read little SF written during or after the New Wave of the 1960s. However, something more may be going on here than a genre newcomer making beginning-SF-writer mistakes. Mr. Mosley may be deliberately, and craftily, creating SF accessible to his large non-SF readership and to others who are strangers to this genre.
Some have labeled Futureland cyberpunk, and it does present a dark, infotech-saturated, corporation-controlled future; but it is in fact an inversion of cyberpunk. Instead of that subgenre's cliche of cool, cutting-edge, street-smart, but not very believable outlaws who out-hack and outwit powerful multinational corporations, this Dante-esque collection presents outlaws and outcasts who may be street-wise, but who have little chance of overcoming the corporations and governments that control, and sometimes take, their lives. Like shockingly few other SF works, Futureland directly examines the lives of the working and the nonworking classes, the poor and the marginalized, the criminal and the criminalized. In other words, Futureland is set in a world quite alien to many veteran SF readers, and is therefore a book they should try. --Cynthia Ward
Book Description
The place is the United States. The time, the near-future, 2020-2040. Here, justice is blind and the ranks of the disenfranchised have swollen to a toxic level. High-tech rules the day while human nature, for better or worse, remains constant. In nine interwoven tales, Mosley paints a keen if fictional portrait of what the future could hold if our own political climate continues. A bestselling author in the mystery and literary genres, Walter Mosley has added science fiction to his list of successes. Blue Light (Little, Brown and Company, 1998) netted over 30,000 copies in hardcover and was a #1 Los Angeles Times bestseller, a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, and a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. Additionally, Blue Light won widespread acclaim in national publications and was a Selection of Book-of-the-Month Club. iPublish.com offered two short stories from Futureland as original eBooks in 12/00. Walkin the Dog (Little, Brown and Company, 10/99), the authors previous short-story collection, grossed nearly 68,000 hardcover copies. Mosley is the author of the New York Times bestselling Easy Rawlins novels.
Download Description
The place is the United States. The time, the near future, 2020-2040. Here, justice is blind and the ranks of the disenfranchised have swollen to a toxic level. High tech rules the day while human nature, for better or worse, remains constant. In nine int
Customer Reviews:
sad and bleak future that would've been better..........2007-10-10
if the 'blacks good, whitey bad' simplistic racism didn't get in the way. you see it starting already today, not black and white but with the growing underclass - blacks & whites, workers not just giving up their rights at the workplace door but beyond (smoke, high cholesterol, you won't be hired, home visits, etc.? ), govt telling you more and more what to do, less and less autonomy...and less ability to fight back. hey, die from being tasered, and its basically your fault. a vision of the future?
as always, interested.......2006-09-20
Mosley has a style that is unlike any other. He is always extremely poignant, without being too intense. As a matter of fact, one can miss some of his most profound statements if not looking for them! Always enjoy Walter! He never disappoints.
a great example of cyberpunk .......2006-06-24
Mosley's collection of short stories is one of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking examples of cyberpunk to date. Many times the genre of cyberpunk relies on worn-out tropes and oft-used plot-devices in order to drive the story; the world Mosley creates is an immensely intricate one. This book is also one of the few cyberpunk book that adequately explores themes of race, gender, and class--it's perfect for the college classroom, or just for a quiet afternoon!
The Future Predicted.......2005-12-31
The future, predicted by author Walter Mosley in this astounding portrayal of imminent America, is anything but sunny and gay. In FUTURELAND, cities are built vertically with the wealthiest citizens living and working furthest away from the lower smog levels. Prisons are automated with inmates receiving various doses of pain if they fail to stay within their colored borders. A "clear" alternative to tobacco provides health-risk free smoking, while a legal entertainment drug called Pulse slowly makes its users mentally and physically dependent on it for survival. The world's greatest boxer and one of New York's only small-business owners are both women. Religion becomes computerized, along with the judicial system, yet interplanetary settling provides another option to living on Earth. There are more than ten large, active political parties in the American government, and race wars, class wars, and technology wars all threaten to wipe out the world completely.
FUTURELAND is a compilation of nine short stories that individually, and collectively, delve into each of the above scenarios, plus many more. Mosley creates a new America with characteristics similar to our current state yet also with characteristics spectacularly different. Without dedicating time to possibly distracting definitions, Mosley leaves small things for the reader to decipher. At the beginning, this can be confusing as lots of technology and futuristic terminology need to be defined, but patience and multiple examples allow readers to figure things out eventually. Another thing that can be confusing is the cast of characters. There are a multitude of characters in the book and it can be difficult to keep up with who knows who and what, who's a good guy and who has ulterior motives, especially since almost all of the characters show up in various stories throughout the book, before and after they've been introduced. One other note, Mosley is a strong African-American writer who does not hide his observance of multi-ethnical issues. Readers sensitive to race issues might have a difficult time swallowing some of the properties of and/or events in a few of the stories. However, if you take the time and effort to look below the surface, the underlying social comments and observations are very well worth uncovering.
Above all, FUTURELAND by Walter Mosley is an excellently composed novel. Mosley has already proven to be a master storyteller, and FUTURELAND is just another testament to that truth. All the stories are engineered to stand strongly on their own, but the tale they tell together is even more powerful. Extremely creative, three-dimensional characters combine with vivid portrayals of locations and graphic depictions of events to paint an astoundingly dark outlook of the future. What makes sci-fi work is how possible it could be; these stories are scary, to the point of sadness, and unfortunately very possible.
Reviewed by Natasha T.
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers
Decent writer who nonetheless gets too much wrong.......2005-01-16
I'd never heard of Mosley before I picked up (t)his book @ the library. My first warning of the bias to come was that its dedicated to Danny Glover, who has taken the ultra-liberal stance of loons claiming America "deserved" 9/11.
I read eight of the nine stories; two were character-driven and excellent, the rest were passable.
Futureland takes place around 2030. There is no privacy. Citizens are monitored at all times, or can be as needed. Corporations run the government; a software titan, quite mad, runs a great deal of the world from an island called Home (he's nothing like Bill Gates). A permanent, official underclass of Unemployed--including those prevented from working if they disobey company rules--sits under New York. Offshore corporate prisons house inmates completely stripped of their citizenship. Cloning is well out of its infancy with all the attendant promises and horrors to come. A drug called Pulse, which creates ultra-real fantasies and illusions but is virtually guaranteed to kill its users by collapsing their brain tissues, is legal. And the World's Greatest Boxer is a 6'9" coffee-skinned woman.
In this fascinating yet unlikely world Mosley weaves his tales. Sometimes the prose is shaky, and I disliked the way the overt (and unlikely) racism is portrayed with a chip on the author's shoulder. Mosley, who is black (and unsmiling in the jacket photo) seems to have it in for Whites, but compared to the Mosleyverse, the amount of real world power Whites wield, now and in the future, is shrinking along with the worldwide White population; by 2030 Whites will be a tiny minority (and globally, already are). There's not a single Hispanic in the book, and they're the fastest-growing American minority!
I can't understand how an otherwise skilled author, easily capable of illustrating the monstrousness of gigantic and abusive governments, doesn't realize that free markets are what bring people out of poverty; nothing else. Hope you eventually come out of the communist fog you're in, M Mosley.
Post-script: I agree with the reviewers who suggest Futureland should've been a novel and not a collection of stories. Word to your mother.
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Fun School: Futureland
Manufacturer: Europress Software
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Elementary School
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ASIN: 190059336X |
Average customer rating:
- Inner Journey Home
- Heavy Going, but Worth It
- Serious inner workbook of AH Almaas
- There's more to the Soul than "philosophy"
- A priceless vision for humanity
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Inner Journey Home: The Soul's Realization of the Unity of Reality
A. H. Almaas
Manufacturer: Shambhala
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1590301099
Release Date: 2004-04-27 |
Book Description
What is the soul, and how do we come to know it? What is its journey in life, and what stages and obstacles are encountered along the way? These questions are explored here in detail according to the Diamond Approach, a spiritual path that combines systematic inquiry into personal experience, the practice of traditional spiritual methods, and the application of modern psychological research. The Inner Journey Home is the centerpiece of the Diamond Approach literature, providing a complete overview of the teaching with references to the author's other books for more details on certain topics.
Customer Reviews:
Inner Journey Home.......2007-01-12
I have read most of Almaas' work and this is by far his masterpeice of spiritual discourse--providing an unfolding of understanding and transmission through the written word.
Heavy Going, but Worth It.......2006-05-19
A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali) has been one of my "teachers" for the past several years as I negotiated my way through his Diamond Approach works. His clear vision and faithful rendition of Sufi teachings in the context of Western depth psychology, are major intellectual and spiritual achievements.
I have found, from my own experience (anecdotal, of course) that his explanations of human psychological and spiritual development are accurate and relevant.
Inner Journey Home is written for those who have a good grounding in Almaas's prior work. Reading it should not be attempted without reading his works Essence and the Elixir of Enlightenment, Spacecruiser Inquiry, and the Diamond Heart series. I would also recommend Davis's The Diamond Approach as a good overview.
I plan to reread Inner Journey Home, because I am certain that I only grasped a portion of the wisdom it contains in my first reading. Even so, I recommend the work as a good resource for those contemplating the nature of the soul.
Serious inner workbook of AH Almaas.......2005-09-23
Under his pen name AH Almaas Hameed Ali has written some fifteen books by now. All of these are original and thorough explorations of the many facets of becoming more aware of who we essentially are. The Inner Journey home is the book that puts all his other contributions together. After reading this book, the overall framework of the journey to enlightenment has become much clearer to me, and I have all the other books where more detail is needed.
As Almaas is one of the few teachers who couples the insights of modern psychology with the wisdom of the ancient traditions there really is a lot of ground to be covered. Almaas does that in this book with amazing precision, with lucidity, and with deep internalized understanding. It's not easy describing that which is beyond concepts, but Almaas does an excellent job.
Because of its depth and width it is not an easy introduction to the spiritual path. It is a work book, that you put away over and over again to contemplate on how what is written resonates with your own experience.
I recommend this book to all those (and only those) who are seriously committed to self development on the spiritual path.
There's more to the Soul than "philosophy".......2005-02-11
Gaining a deep understanding of the "soul" is a subtle process requiring both knowledge and practice, in addition to "time and circumstance," through which one absorbs the teaching and the experience(s) toward which those teachings are directed. Many writers have impressive insight into such knowledge (e.g., Wilber), and some have participated in aspects of the practice (e.g., Grof), but no contemporary writer has been able to fuse knowledge, practice, and interior experience into a corpus of work having such a unique clarity, depth, and eloquence appropriate to the contemporary Western audience as has Hameed Ali (literary name, A. H. Almaas). The reason for this is that no contemporary writer (with the exception of Idries Shah) has authoritatively addressed the nature and function of the subtle centers of the "lataif" or essential qualities (different from the "chakras"), and only Hameed's practice directly addresses the "activation of the lataif," which are the substance and expression of the mysterious "pearl" of the Soul. This knowledge and practice goes far beyond the rational and intellectual (e.g., 'philosophical') perspectives which can 'point to' these truths and cross-correlate them across world traditions but do not facilitate one's experiencing or 'tasting' them.
Discussion of such experience(s) requires a degree of "circular philosophizing" that is designed to show the reader how this knowledge resonates with what is in their cultural experience, such as orthodox psychology, German Existentialism, Sufism, Eastern religions, etc. (his Diamond Mind series), or how the practice resonates within the egos, minds, and souls of those who are attempting to "taste" their essential nature (his Diamond Heart series), and offers suggestions for how to pursue that practice (his Diamond Body series). Yes, one does indeed need a "frame of reference -- which is provided by Ali's other books," as is true with any authentic operative philosophy (Gnosis) designed to assist sentient beings (ordinary people) to begin to engage the full depth and essential nature of the Soul and situate that process within a larger Essential Reality that is indeed tangible and accessible to the soul. Hameed's work is not just another intellectual "philosophy" (and certainly doesn't deserve to be referred to as "semantic mush"), rather it is the current flowering of previously secluded Naqshbandi Sufi knowledge and practice related to the "activation of the lataif," arising out of 21st century Western soil carefully prepared by the decades of work by Idries Shah and others; this combined with the mature expression of the enneagram school of psychology and psycho-dynamic practice expressed in the lineage of Oscar Ichazo -- Claudio Naranjo -- Hameed Ali, another occasion where 1000 year-old esoteric Eastern knowledge and practice has emerged within the contemporary Western stream of cultural confluence.
I can concur (word-for-word, including the "30+ years") from personal experience with the previous reviewer¡¦s observation that participants with whom I have partaken of Hameed's Ridhwan school are "simply the most mature, developed, clean, clear, and simply HUMAN human beings I have ever known in the 30+ years I have been seeking out transcendental experience/ knowledge." For the most part they are serious and dedicated individuals who have been disillusioned, misled, or even "burned" by other paths or approaches and find the Diamond Work provides the substantive teaching and practice they have been seeking and previously not finding. Or they are simply people who have little experience of such "paths or approaches" but have been drawn, in one way or another, to this work, which they find necessary and appropriate for their personal development.
I have great respect for the work of Ken Wilber (have most of his books and have read half of them), and for the work of Stan Grof (have most of his works and have read or re-read most of them), and I would include the lesser known but equally sweeping, prodigious, and perhaps more comprehensive corpus of some 20 works by John G. Bennett, particularly his monumental 4-volume "integral" synthesis, _The Dynamic Universe_, but Hameed's work is of a different order, being the expression of a comprehensive philosophy, psychology, and teaching, honed over years of instrumental practice. In conclusion, I own more than 2000 volumes of "books," mostly on historical, cultural, scientific, philosophical, transpersonal, and transcendental topics, and, to put it simply, Hameed's books are on the "top shelf." I would encourage those seriously interested in self-knowledge and individual development to take the time to immerse themselves in Hameed's work and absorb its Essence.
A priceless vision for humanity.......2004-09-30
I have met about a dozen people from the Ridhwan group, and worked somewhat with four of their teachers, and attended an "on-ramp" experiential study group. The teacher is known by his students, and they are simply the most mature, developed, clean, clear, and simply HUMAN human beings I have ever known in the 30+ years I have been seeking out transcendental experience/knowlege.
After reading a number of his books, seeing him speak in person a number of times, and assessing his students, I an confident that he is indeed the Teacher of the Age, and very possibly the Renewer of Islam for this century. I do not say this lightly.
Remember that even the greatest masters who have ever lived, the prophets and their inheritors, were only able to liberate a few dozen at most from their followers. Shayhk Hamid is a man like you and I, but he has already freed more souls than most of these masters.
Readers unfamilir with his work may want to try his earlier book "Essence" as an introduction. If you have a serious interest in liberation, you cannot overlook these materials, in my opinion.
Books:
- The Plum Thicket (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)
- The Powwow Highway (Contemporary Fiction, Plume)
- The Rabbit Factory: A Novel
- The Rock: A Tale of Seventh-Century Jerusalem
- The Sergeant in the Snow
- The Shadow Knows (William Abrahams Book)
- The Stranger at the Palazzo d'Oro and Other Stories
- The Transformation of the Avant-Garde: The New York Art World, 1940-1985
- The Turtle Warrior: A Novel
- The Woman of Rome: A Novel (Italia)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580
- Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean
- King: A Street Story
- History: Fiction or Science
- Japanese Film Directors
- Many-Particle Physics
- Numerical Ecology
- Model Tax Convention: Attribution of Income to Permanent Establishments
- Influence: The Formula for Success
- The Temporary Society
What Are You Like?: A Novel
Modern Ireland: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Lady Gregory's Toothbrush
Irish Art Now
Irish Writing: An Anthology of Irish Literature in English 1789-1939 (Oxford World's Classics)
