RLD

Interesting premise

Revisado: 11-03-23

I found this audiobook to be an interesting tour of mysticism in capitalist worlds. However, I left unsatisfied by the author’s neglect to delve deeply into the ethics of a mystical marketplace. Too often the author seemed to rely on the reader to go along with her implicit moral critique. The author seemed to rely heavily on the negative reactions that can be elicited by words like “whitewashing” and “colonialism.” For instance, she speaks of “muddled” religion, rather than really grappling with whether a healthy syncretism is taking place. Admittedly, she acknowledges such a tension. However, she never fully grapples with whether there is indeed anything morally perverse or harmful about universalizing religion and mystical practices. At times, she seems to essentialize and romanticize religious traditions rather than delving into the ways that religions and societies collide. Perhaps my negative impression about the moralizing tone of the book is in part related to the voice of the reader, who speaks in an ironic, aloof, and subtly arrogant manner, as if she is just a little bit too clever for the masses. These problems aside, I leave with a provocative vision of orientalism as it survives today.

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Exceptional Memoir

Revisado: 03-06-21

This is an incredibly focused and precise memoir. Gosse manages to give a deeply personal accounting of his religious struggle with his pious father, who is both a scientist and preacher, while drawing me into a larger world of transition during the Darwinian Era. I am reminded of my own ancestral family’s transition from cloistered Pennsylvania Dutch religious community to secular pursuits in a wider world. This book taught me much about the trajectory of social and philosophical thought during the nineteenth century while embroiling me in a compelling narrative. The performance, also, is exceptional.

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