Book Reviews
Full Title: Rudolf Steiner - An Introduction to His Life and Work - by Gary Lachman
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: A friendly read-able book. The life of Rudolf Steiner might come out dry for some authors to write, but Gary Lachman, founding member of the rock group Blondie, did a great job and I will look for his other books; ’The Garden of [...]
Full Title: Breaking Open the Head - A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism - by Daniel Pinchbeck
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Felt a bit like blog reading. His personal ideas/perspective as he tries out various psychedelics and studies up on the history and current state of psychedelics in the US. The writing style improved the more the [...]
Full Title: The Calling by Amitabh as received and transcribed by Rasha
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Not quite a lecturing or condescending tone, but close.
Summary: Through this book the Amitabh have chosen to provide the straightforward guidance needed in these times, outside the structural hierarchy of any organized religion. Some of the topics include; the origins [...]
Full Title: The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
Rating: 4/5
Summary: From http://www.annotatedrawshark.com/ : ‘Attacked in his own home by a force he cannot see and memories he cannot ignore—including those of a perfect love now lost—Eric tears open the parcels and discovers he is being relentlessly pursued by a shark that may exist only in his [...]
Full Title: Universal Principles of Meditation - Inviting Silence - by Gunilla Norris
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Simple and focused on meditative practice with no leanings towards any religious denomination.
Summary: The book is a nice addition to a meditation collection, but perhaps not the only book you would like to have. The Contents include ‘Beginning Silence, Growing [...]
Full Title: Awakening - Conversations with the Masters by Anthony De Mello
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Small quotes captured directly from Masters.
Summary: 365 small pointed stories to think about. A nice collection to read, and review again later. This book is decent enough that I will search out more Anthony De Mello works, maybe his Contact with God [...]
Full Title: The Essential Yoga Sutra - Ancient Wisdom for Your Yoga - by Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Great. Focused, direct, and helpful commentary.
Back Cover: This book is a new translation and explanation of the first Yoga Sutra. This sutra is accepted as the ultimate source by all modern schools of [...]
Full Title: Shaman M.D. - A Plastic Surgeon’s Remarkable Journey into the World of Shapeshifting - by Eve Bruce M.D.
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Decent, but not awesome. The word ‘Shapeshifting’ is repeated and used many times.
Summary: A quick life review of Eve Bruce M.D. She is a dual board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon and initiated into [...]
Full Title: Chakra Meditation by Layne Redmond, Transformation through the Seven Energy Centers of the Body
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Direct, accurate, purposeful. Very well presented book.
Summary: A very good description/explanation of the seven chakras along with purification practices and accompanying cd for additional help.
Comments:
Probably the best book to start with in getting a great start into [...]
Full Title: Studies in Contemporary Religion - Osho Rajneesh - by Judith M. Fox
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Small book, nice compact summary information on Osho. The author comes across pretty opened minded and fair on the subject.
Summary: A pretty fast run through on the life of Osho Rajneesh/Bhagwan/Mahon Chandra Rajneesh.
Comments:
The book was a good fast summary. [...]
Full Title: Contacting the Spirit World by Linda Williamson
How to develop your psychic abilities and stay in touch with loved ones.
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Taken as an introductory book into Spiritual areas this book does pretty well. Straight forward simple writing style.
Summary: Part 1 briefly describes a few spiritual ideas; near death experiences, astral journeys, dreams, etc… [...]
Full Title: UFO Religion; Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture by Gregory L. Reece
Rating: 3/5
Writing Style: The book has a great format and historical accuracy, but the author’s comments usually come across bitter.
Summary:The author splits UFO culture into general groups; ‘Nuts and Bolts’ people and ‘Contactees’. Nuts and Bolts people collect photographs, wreckage, evidence to try [...]
Full Title: Dancing in the Light by Shirley MacLaine
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Feels like reading her personal blog or running diary. It works as a nice way of getting ideas across.
Summary: Shirley MacLaine reviews her family, her past relationships, and then her past lives. Heavy on Spirit Guides, Higher Selves, and reincarnation.
Comments: Maybe started a bit slow, but I [...]
Full Title: True Hallucinations by Terence McKenna; Being an Account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil’s Paradise
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: A bit rambley, but packed with way-out-there ideas.
Summary: An account of Terence and friends travelling the Amazon basin in search of shamanic hallucinogens.
Comments: This book is out there. Way out there. Rambling in the way [...]
Full Title: Clairvoyance, Key to Spiritual Perspective, Book III in the Key Series by Mary Ellen Flora
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: A direct concise focused guide to clairvoyance with relevant exercises.
Summary: A guidebook to understanding and using clairvoyance. Techniques presented in the book can be practiced during meditation or in daily life.
Comments: Other books spend a lot or [...]
Full Title: Eyes of an Angel; A True Story; Soul Travel, Spirit Guides, Soul Mates, and the Reality of Love by Paul Elder
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Pretty straight-forward. Minimal theory, mostly action.
Summary: Paul Elder’s personal accounts of his spiritual search and awakening.
Comments:
This book feels like further validation to the official Robert Monroe books, but not quite an expansion [...]
Full Title: Out On a Limb by Shirley MacLaine
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Fun read. Almost too much direct personal experience and not enough theory.
Summary: Shirley’s account of her life events during her early forties.
Comments: I really enjoyed the book during the reading, but afterwards it didn’t seem to have enough. Feels like the first book in a planned out [...]
Full Title: 11 Steps to Inviting Your Own UFO Encounters
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Pretty good. Has my favorite style of less talk (theory) more action (direct personal experience).
Summary: 11 steps are provided to allow yourself to have encounters.
Comments:
The start was a bit slow with feelings of paranoia leaking out. I wasn’t nervous about reading this book or hiding it in anyway, until [...]
Full Title: Evolution in this Lifetime; A Practical Guide; Kundalini and the Chakras by Genevieve Lewis Paulson
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Straight forward, way more substance than flair. Which is great.
Summary: A practical guide for Westerners on Kundalini cleansing and the chakras.
Comments:
I really enjoyed this book. Could easily re-read it a few times. I’m trying to find the specific [...]
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Straight forward, almost business-like. More substance than flair. Which is good.
Summary: The next Monroe out-of-body-experience (OOBE) book.
Comments: Overall the book is pretty good, but a person should start with reading the earlier ones; Journey Out Of The Body and Far Journeys.
The LifeLine program sounds cool. Helping recently moved-on folks to really move on to [...]
Full Title: New Spring; The Novel; The Wheel of Time; In The Beginning
Series: Pre-Book 1 of The Wheel Of Time
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Small, focused, great story.
Summary: A regular fantasy adventure series; quests, heroes, villains, magic.
Comments: No suggestions for this book, it was great. Maybe the audience of today can handle a cooler story than those written [...]
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Great.
Summary: A cool group of misfit anarchists continue on through their super ‘matrix’ world.
Comments: Still over the top like the first two volumes, but less time travel mix-ups, great conclusion, no loose ends, … an awesome finish to the series. Even though it did mess with my head, this series fits in well with all [...]
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: A collection of powerful quotes.
Summary:
Disciples of Swami Ashokananda collected his quotes over the years, and then organized them into one book. Very much appreciated by people unable to attend, like myself, since I was not born yet.
Comments:
The quotes are great. After a book of this quality I am interested in researching more [...]
Rating: 3- /5
Writing Style:
Rona Murray has a Ph.D. in English Literature and it shows. The tone is biting.
Summary:
Some talk of her own near death experience, many good quotes from other writers throughout the book, and finally her own writings on how we should be doing better as people.
Comments:
I was hoping for a book dedicated to a personal [...]
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Another good volume, but heavy on time travel confusion.
Summary: A strange group of misfit anarchists continue on through their super matrix world.
Comments: Still over the top like the first volume, but maybe too much into the time travel jumping around. I find the book covers lots of the dark evil universe, but rarely the good one. I [...]
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Straight forward, almost business-like. More substance than flair.
Summary: The sequel to Monroe’s Journey Out Of The Body is another out-of-body-experience (OOBE) book that goes much farther out.
Comments: I found most of the book great, just the last few chapters went a bit out their for me. I am still adjusting to [...]
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Great, but super-stuffed with religions, aliens, myths, psychic powers, dimensional over-lapped worlds, etc…
Summary: A more advanced version of the Matrix movie, with inter-dimensional alien villains instead of human-made robots.
Comments: Over the top so far, but I am glad to have finally come across this series. I liked the original Matrix movie, and [...]
Series: Book Eleven of The Wheel Of Time
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Pretty good, but not amazing.
Summary: A regular fantasy adventure series; quests, heroes, villains, magic.
Comments: A much better book than Wheel-Of-Time Book 10. Books 8 and 9 lost my interest in the series completely so I took some years off before caring to go back. I barely made [...]
Title: Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and J. Anderson
Rating: 5/5
Summary: The final, final ending to the Dune series. Other than a couple books about the Young adventures of Paul coming out.
Comments: The ideas in the Dune series are great, and this book is a good finish. The only minor issues being it gets a bit awkward finding [...]
Full Title: Yoga Nidra The Meditative Heart of Yoga by Richard Miller, PH.D.
Rating: 5/5 +
Summary: A step by step program in the daily practice of this meditative art. Also includes a CD with guided Yoga Nidra exercises.
Comments: This is a high quality subject that is handled very well in this book. (Even the paper is [...]
Full Title: The World To Come; The Guides Long-Awaited Predictions for the Dawning Age by Ruth Montgomery
Rating: 4/5
Summary: In her first book of more than a dozen years, and her final book, Ruth offers a look into the future; a dramatic shift of the earth on it’s axis, the Walk-In President, and more.
Comments: The book include many thought [...]
Title: Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and J. Anderson
Rating: 4/5
Summary: The Never-Ending Dune series is possibly ending. All the main characters in every Dune other novel are brought back for the grand finale.
Comments: The ideas in the Dune series are great, but this book particularly feels like a build-up to promote the next one. Not [...]
Full Title: Edgar Cayce’s Predictions For The 21st Century By Mark Thurston
With Instructions For Living In The 21st Century That Cayce Envisioned
Rating: 4/5
Summary: Sections cover Edgary Cayce as Visionary, Some of Edgar’s Prophecies (No Atlantis readings), and finally a Primer for Living in that visionary future.
Comments: Overall I enjoyed the book, but the content outshines the [...]
Series: Book Ten of The Wheel Of Time
Rating: 3/5
Writing Style: Alright. Not quite a page turner. Unless it is more in the sense of grinding through the current section faster in hopes for the next chapter being better.
Summary: A regular fantasy adventure series; quests, heroes, villains, magic.
Comments: Personally I gave up on this series after the last [...]
Full Series Individual Titles:
Magic Time: by Marc Zicree, Barbara Hambly
Magic Time: Angel Fire by Marc Zicree, Maya Bohnhoff
Magic Time: Ghostlands by Marc Zicree, Robert Wilson
Rating: 4/5, almost a 5/5
Writing Style: Entertaining. Fast paced. A definite page turner.
Summary:
Placed in the present day setting this trilogy covers the story of Cal Griffin on a quest to rescue his sister. [...]
Full Title: Prayer It’s Nature & Technique
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: In depth. Well written.
Summary: Specific and helpful manual of mystical prayer written in modern times.
Comments: The book should probably be rated as 5/5, but for my own part I am not near the same high understanding of prayer as the author. A very good book, aimed at hard [...]
Full Title: Daydreaming Unlock the Creative Power of Your Mind
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Great. Interesting, informative, and entertaining.
Summary: A comprehensible, intelligent explanation of the value of daydreams.
Comments: I really enjoyed this book and I will now go out of my way to find/read pretty much any book by this author.
I was expecting this book to be a standard night dreams [...]
Full Title: Starwalking Shamanic Practices for Travelling into the Night Sky
Rating: 3/5
Writing Style: Average. Not a page turner, but informative.
Summary: A summary of ancient culture views on the stars.
Comments: I found the book a bit of a grind to get through. I’m not a huge fan of astronomy right now, but I enjoy ancient cultures [...]
Full Title: Realities of the Dreaming Mind - The Practice of Dream Yoga
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Straightforward. No frills. Feels like a practical caring Grandmother giving practical advice.
Summary: The author shares her unique approach to dream analysis and interpretation.
Comments: I was a little thrown off by the title of the book. I am into dreams, but not so [...]
Full Title: The Classic Work on Out-of-Body Experience.
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Almost a straightforward writing style. The author is overly concerned with how others view him so it builds an impression that he is holding back information.
Summary: Robert Monroe works through his own study and adventures with out-of-body experiences. The focus is to be bring non-believers a little closer to [...]
Rating:5/5
Writing Style: Concise and very well written.
Summary: A tale about a holy man who lives on a mountain. In each chapter a different style of person is helped in some way.
Comments: This book was a gift to me, and it makes an excellent gift to others. Small, entertaining, and very direct teachings. I have read [...]
Full Title: Money and Mindfulness - The Buddhist Path of Abundance
Rating:3/5
Writing Style: Authentic and engaging writing style.
Summary: Buddhist teachers write on prosperity and include many real life examples of Buddhist practitioners with their handling of money.
Comments: I picked up this book because I thought the focus would be on money and not Buddhist prosperity. Different than money. Prosperity as [...]
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Entertaining, Neil has great style.
Summary: A young girl goes through an un-used door to a darker reflection of her everyday house and family. The quest begins to escape back home.
Comments: Everything by Neil Gaiman is entertaining. I try to see all of his comics, movies, novels, what-ever. This particular story is definitely spooky and is [...]
Full Title: Astral Projection and the Nature of Reality, Exploring the Out-of-Body State
Rating: 4/5
Writing Style: Straight forward. Not trying to sell you on the idea of Astral Project. The author shares his own experiences.
Summary: A step-by-step guide to assist you in Astral Projection.
Comments: A very good book on the subject. The greatest books are always journeys [...]
Rating: 5/5
Writing Style: Radio talks adapted to the written page. Still great.
Summary: Five radio talks first aired in the late fifties. They could be re-aired today and be relevant. Alan is focused on introducing the ways of the Orient to American lifestyle.
Comments: I will read anything by Alan. I did not know the purest form [...]
Rating: 4/5, an o.k. finish to the series, not an amazing finish.
Writing Style: Entertaining as always, but too dark
Summary: The final book in the Harry Potter series.
Comments: Spoiler Alert.
The first book is happy and cheerful, the final book is sad and gloomy. The set items liked in the first few books were completely gone from the finish; [...]
Rating: 5/5, would own and buy for my mom
Writing Style: kinda gimmicky, but entertaining to read
Summary: Using the Kabbalah and Zohar ideas for prosperity.
Comments: The book is entertaining and well written. It has to be one of the top books on prosperity out there.
Previously read his mediocre “Dreams” book, and I chose this book because even though the [...]
Rating: 5/5, liked it enough to sign up for one of his workshops.
Writing Style: Always the impression that he has more to add on every topic, but keeps it out of the book just a little. The topics covered are already far enough out there as it is.
Summary: Adam is a distant energy healer. This [...]
Rating: 3/5, ok to own, worth the read
Writing Style: ok, but I am used to the style after reading the divine matrix previously.
Summary: Our DNA can be translated to Hebrew… which repeats the name of God.
Comments: The author warns you up front that section II is a bit of a work. It is if you are not already into translating DNA [...]
Rating: 3/5
Writing Style: Average
Comments: This book has many pages promoting Kabbalah and the Zohar. Which is fine, but it doesn’t seem to match the purpose of this small book. I’ll try out the author’s other books mentioned over and over again at some point in the future, but not right away. For a book dedicated [...]
