Francis Bezooyen

"beautiful"

Revisado: 10-09-24

I so enjoyed reading this book and yet am finding it hard to put into words just what I liked so much about it... To be sure, the reasoning and arguments put forth in it are lucid and insightful, but more than that the word that comes to mind is that it is "beautiful" - the humanism, the wit, the invitations, the confessions - all of it. And, indeed, the audiobook is beautifully read with all the nuances you could wish for by the author herself. Well done Kate Chohen, and thank you.

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I wish the reader were more lively

Revisado: 01-17-24

Ok - I should actually read this again 'cause I found it so hard to pay attention to and know that I didn't take in nearly as much of it as I should have. Maybe it's just been my state of mind at the time of reading (a good possibility) but something about the combination of reader (I would become agitated the instant I heard his voice by the end - his style puts my mind into a stupor) and style of writing left my mind feeling like a stone skipping along the surface of a pond rather than sinking into it. I was constantly having to make my mind re-focus on the book - it was a chore.

That said, the overall vision of the book, and what details I actually gleaned from it, certainly do seem worth grappling with which is why I want to give it another go. Though, before I read it again I think I should read the two books by this author that seem to have been written as parts one and two of a trilogy of sorts, to which this one is the third installment. I believe those other two books are "A Theory of Justice" and "Political Liberalism"... I hope they make for more engaging reading.

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Wow - that was really interesting!

Revisado: 01-17-24

First, I should say that I am much more skeptical than the author about the prospect that the kinds of experiences related in this book are the result of actual encounters with supernatural beings and feel that there were some important errors in the reasoning he put forward in service to that conclusion (which, it must be said, he doesn't unequivocally endorse anyway). Despite this, I applaud him for exploring the possibility and - Damn! This was a really interesting read that, by my reckoning, makes a very persuasive case for the idea that altered states of consciousness of the kind so often achieved via psychedelics not only provide a believable explanation for the kinds of images we find in prehistoric cave art but many other phenomena, like alien abductions, faery sightings, angelic visitations, and the origins of most world religions. Furthermore, his assertion that the widespread similarities between these phenomena are not easily explained and deserve more than hand-waving about coincidences, mere hallucinations, people being crazy, etc is spot on. There appears to be a very interesting phenomenon here that cries out for a more rigorous and open-minded investigation. Though, at this point, my money remains with the answer being some version of it being all in our heads.

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fascinating

Revisado: 01-10-24

Fascinating and persuasive - just what you want out of a book like this. Truly, this paints a really interesting picture of the origins of at least the religious aspects of western civilization and does so in a way that I found so engrossing that I finished it in a single day.

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Pleased to find this is still worth reading

Revisado: 12-29-23

I first read this series at the age of 13. It was the first full-on fantasy series I had read and I loved it. It recently came to mind and I decided to look it up on Audible and found that it was available to listen to for free so I gave it a go and found that I still really enjoyed it and I plan to finish the series.

One thing I was surprised by though was finding that it was lumped in with a bunch of romance novels. Having re-read it now I get it - it definitely has some romance-novel aspects to it (even a jane-austen-esque vibe at times), including some racey scenes, but I still think it's misleading for anyone to classify it as a romance novel - it is solidly fantasy, though, in this first book in the series, the role of dragons and the magic of the world is on a slow-burn - it mostly focuses on developing the key characters of the series and the politics of the world in which they live.

That said, it does give me a bit of a chuckle to think that I was reading this at 13 and as much as I like it I don't think I'll be recommending it to my teenage daughters 'til they are a bit older. That's not just because of the racey romance stuff, it's also because of some more intense and disturbing stuff that I won't detail here... though I am torn. I actually think they might be mature enough to grapple with it... it's just that their mother would kill me LOL!

Regarding the audible edition:

The one thing that is a real disappointment with the audible edition is that it is using such horrible artwork for the covers of these books rather than the beautiful artwork created by Michael Whelan for the original print releases of them. I assume there's some rights issue behind this but seriously - the current artwork fairly screams at the reader that these books are amateurishly written, is bound to be reducing the readership of this series, and is just an insult to the author's talents.

Otherwise, I thought the narrator did a great job. It's nice to find a female narrator who can do believable male voices as well as female.

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In a word - Brilliant

Revisado: 11-30-23

"Brilliant" is precisely the word that kept spontaneously coming to mind as I approached the end of this book. I'm so glad I tried it despite some of the negative reviews that I'd read which put it down as not living up to the first two books in the series. To spell out just what made it brilliant would spoil things though, so I won't. I will say, however, that I am so very impressed by how thoughtful and creative the author has been in his exploration of the different forms that life might take and at least one very intriguing vision of the future in this series.

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It's not about the psychology of totalitarianism

Revisado: 10-17-23

Sigh... you know, I wasn't long into the book before I realized where it was headed, but I stuck with it 'til the end to give the author the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, it turned out to be exactly as I expected. The book purports to be about the psychology of totalitarianism, but it really amounts to an argument for people to believe in God and that everything bad in this world - embodied in all those nasty left-wing "elites" - is a consequence of not believing in God, though he doesn't put it in those terms. No, the "devil" in this book is called "mechanistic ideology", and the author is careful to only once explicitly name believing in God as a solution to our troubles but the real message of this book is clearly: "god-ideology" - good; "mechanistic (i.e. godless) ideology" - bad (and to blame for everything).

Of course, as one should expect, what he deems to be "mechanistic" ideology is a giant strawman characterization and, in Deepak Chopra'esque style, he misrepresents quantum mechanics and the attitudes of famous scientists to make his case, all while ironically adorning himself in words that assume the style and form of the very mechanistic thinking that he is criticizing so that he might draw on the clout that has been justly earned by the successes of that so-called ideology to buttress his own credability.

To be fair, the author does make some valid points and interesting observations. There is content here that is worth engaging with, but the fact that the book as a whole amounts to what feels like a grift - and one I've seen far too often - really spoils whatever merit it might have otherwise earned. It is a grift that is especially galling to me when I reflect on my own experiences being raised in a religious environment because the very phenomena that he blames on "mechanistic" thinking - namely the irrational mass formations of peoples and the abandonment of humanist principles in service to incorrect ideas about the world - are the very phenomena that I find religions, and even a belief in God generally, are especially prone to produce in those who believe them. This is very much a case of the kettle calling the pot black... and even that is probably a too equal framing in the author's favor.

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Maybe it's my brain

Revisado: 02-23-21

Forewarning - this review is of no use to anyone but myself.

There's a very good chance that my lackluster experience with this book has been negatively influenced by the fact that I've been listening to it as an audiobook while working long hours on very little sleep in the midst of a household full of noisy, bickering, children, but, I don't think it can all be attributed to that. After all, I was, very recently, thoroughly engrossed in two other works of fantasy and science fiction under very much the same circumstances ("The parable of the Talents" and "The Rose and the Thorn").

I think I'm discovering that there is something about Brandon Sanderson's writing that simply fails to connect with my particular brain (or maybe it's the other way around) at least when "read" as audiobooks. I've read, in this way, Brandon's contributions to the Wheel of time, the first three books of the Mistborn series, and all of the primary books of the Stormlight Archive. Multiple times in a number of cases. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books of the Stormlight Archive. I was especially drawn into Kaladin's character arc (that was one of the most powerful experiences with a fictional character that I have ever had) and I really enjoyed many of the other characters and the overall story as well. But, aside from these two books I've tended to come away from Brandon's books having never really emotionally attached to the characters. I often find myself wishing that things would just move along already in moments that are supposed to be emotionally powerful. It's weird. I feel like I should be attaching to these characters, but I just don't. I'm genuinely puzzled by it.

Sadly, I expect that, for the rest of my life, I will be too busy with other matters to ever read a book like this as anything but an audiobook while busy with other tasks and will never be able to test the hypothesis that reading it myself with my whole, undivided attention, would change the experience.

If you've actually bothered to read to this point, don't let my less than riveted experience with this book dissuade you from reading the series. Try it for yourself. Everyone else seems to be getting much more out of it than I and even I will probably still read the next one when it comes out, in the hope that my experience will return to what I enjoyed with books 1 and 2.

(Note: this review was originally posted on goodreads)

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Interesting history but sketchy analysis

Revisado: 02-23-21

I found the historical information very interesting. However, the author's analysis of the record is very problematic on many points. Not that I disagree with him on all points, but he is deeply unaware of his own biases and he wields them in a very heavy-handed way. This is most pronounced in how he talks about religion as the only cure for all that ails us, but it also shows up in the way he lays the blame for all that ails us at the feet of a global communist conspiracy. It makes for a bit of a yo-yo effect, bouncing the reader from arguments that are insightful and well-made on one issue, to others that are laugh-out-loud absurd on others.

Despite the parts I am critical of, in the end, I found it a worthwhile read, even the parts I strongly disagree with.

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Something I must read again

Revisado: 02-23-21

I think the best way I can praise this book is to recount its effect on me. I found that a session of reading from this book had a distinctly positive influence on my thinking, leading me to be more patient and forgiving, to be more happy and hopeful - all by leading me to ponder the ideas and subjects found herein and to reflect on my own life and experiences. It's on my list of books that I should read again.

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