Rating: 
Summary: Mind opening
Review: Like many reviewers (who gave this book five stars), I was so overwhelmed with the experience of the insights when I first read the book about six years ago. It was like the book answered questions I'd had all my life ... like it put words to spiritual mysteries.
I didn't care much about the lousy writing, because of the spirit filled message, and meaning.However, I think the opposite of what was supposed to happen with the insights is what happened to me. Through a series of coincidences, the Celestine Prophecy lead me to Christ and Christianity. I'm sure this isn't what the author had in mind, but that is what happened. I think the original reading opened a part of my mind I had been keeping closed. That, in turn made me think I knew everything.. I had the nine insights, I had all the answers. With that concept in mind I eventually brought spirit filled people into my life, and found myself on my knees, thanking God for bringing me to Him. (Even though the path I travelled to get there was new agey.. I still got there). The reason I give the book two stars is because when I read it originally I would have given it five stars, and called it brilliant and rewarding. Now, I would give it 1 star, only because it opened my mind enough to let the real truth in.
Rating: 
Summary: The Great Celestine Hype
Review: I had heard so much about this book and what it meant to so many people. I started reading it and I began to wonder why all of the near religious fervor surrounding it. I never found out. I've lived in Peru and was hoping to read something to take me back to an incredible place still full of mystery and I was taken to someplace and that someplace wasn't Peru. The author knows not a thing about Peru and just as all of the New-Agers that I have read, has completely missed the boat on what Peru is all about. I really tried to read with an open mind, but I just couldn't finish this one. Those who enjoyed this one may also enjoy ... like "Pachamama's Children", by Carol Cumes.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible Book
Review: Let me be clear about one thing - I love Amazon.com and encourage you to buy a book before you leave the site. But not this one. It is not important that the plot is lame. If the message or lessons had any validity whatsoever, the plot would not matter. The problem is that the so called nine insights have no value. None. It is not that they are "wrong" so much as they are trite. There is nothing contained in this book that isn't said better in every other book you have ever read. So rather than waste your money on this garbage, continue shopping until you find a better book, and one-click it so Amazon can send you something worthwhile.
Rating: 
Summary: An eye opener
Review: THis is the first book that I read from this Genre, Spiritual, inspirational fiction. I loved it. It clawed my mind open. It was actually a painful process. But in the end I was made better. It was a good pain. THis book is a must for any spiritual seeker. It has some incredible truths and it is presented in an interesting and somewhat adventurous story. It is presented in a very simple format, but is very effective in it's style that doesn't try to do too much. This is why I give it 4 stars though I'd prefer to give it 4 and a half. The writing could be better. But like I said it is highly effective as is. ANd the Author's heart is definitely felt through the pages. I am glad that this book fell into my hands. It was the type of book that I had been searching for my whole life some 6 years ago. It is the book that I have mentioned the most to poeple to check out. I am surprised at how it's popularity has dropped some because I find it still much more compelling than most if not all of the other spiritual fiction that is out today. If you like this book you will love The Tenth Insight which starts slow but has some incredible truths in it's pages as well. THis book is a Seeker's must.
Rating: 
Summary: A must read for those searching for enlightenment
Review: This book changed the way i view the world, and my role in it. This book gave me the tools and confidence to look at the world in a more POSITIVE way. You will not be dissapointed. whoever recomended this book to you must really love you.
Rating:
Summary: Remember, the plot is not the important part!
Review: Let's compare The Celestine Prophecy to a geletin capsule filled with herbs. The capsule itself exists only to help you swallow the healing herbs inside. Generally, it does. However, some people find that the capsule sticks to their tongue. Others do not eat geletin because it is an animal by-product. None of that changes the fact that the herbs inside are what you're taking the capsule for, not the geletin. I'm sure some of you know what I'm getting at here. The story itself is not high quality. (...) However, this is like condemning an herbal suplement as ineffective because you didn't like the taste, texture, or another aspect of the geletin capsule it was in. The insights are the important part here. The story exists because it makes the insights easier for some people to understand. This does not work for all people. The Celestine Prophecy's insights are, in my experience, very true. As a spiritual seeker, I have read a good amount that seeks to answer the same questions that this book seeks to answer. I have also contemplated these questions myself. The more I read, and the more I think, the more everything seems to fit together. I have found that truth, to me, appears to be like a beautiful diamond with many facets. Many sources I have received information from have one facet. The Celestine Prophecy is a good example of this. If it was the only source I learned from, I don't suppose I would believe it. The many philosophies I have been exposed to, however, seem to shape eachother out. None are the whole truth, and they all contain small flaws, but when the essence of each is extracted, it forms a facet of the great gem that is Truth.
Rating:
Summary: Clarification
Review: I find it amazing that by scrolling down this page I see reviews with numbers of 1 or 5. (...) This book isn't some adventure. These "intelligent" people are babbling about how it's not a "Prophecy" and then talk about Steven Hawking? What ARE you talking about? Get it stright (...) - this book is Eastern Thought in a way Westerners (obviously not ALL Westerners...) can understand easily. How many of you guys could read the Tao Te Ching without ripping out your hair because of the "lack of plotline"? Or go and look at the T'ai Chi Bibles (I reccomend Waysun Lao's translation by Shambhala Production). In fact, go read anything by Shambhala and then come back and read this book. You will get a lot more out of it than "Boo hoo, there's no real Celestine Prophecy." The story itself is OK. The thought-provocation is what is really insightful (no pun intended). I wrote down the insights, and noticed that ALL of them match up to Taoist concepts. So, to all these people whining about how this book was just some novel and they want more substance, go check out the I Ching, it'll knock you on your (backside). But, for God's sake, stop saying this has no merit. Full of grammatical errors, are you serious? I'd love to see a raise of hands of the average people who care about that. THEY DON'T! The point was the story and the concepts, not the actual literary exceptionality (I don't think that's a word, but that proves my point!). Seriously, for everyone complaining about how it wasn't a good book for whatever reason, go check out Tao Te Ching or I Ching. I'll bet you won't get that either. Fact is you're not upset because the book (is bad), you're mad because you can't get past the fact that the book (is bad).
Rating:
Summary: Just Read SB 1 or God
Review: I saw the other review here about SB 1 or God. But first, with all the bad reviews Celestine Prophecy does have a right to be here. That is soley because it is in fact an honest effort by a man, Redfield who is in reality an average every day guy who has a desire to better. With that desire he, from these pages has a desire to help. He offered this book as a contribution to us. Now, why is this book so popular? For that total reason, there are alot of people out there who need this type of help. More than half the people in the USA have never taken a sociology class and have never had council. But these would rather read a book to help them. So, for the higher educated AND stable who are at peace, this is not the book. Now as for the Book SB 1 or God, another person here stated it is just a prophecy book, not at all, It is also a book of Great insight and help.
Rating:
Summary: Eeek, bad science
Review: Many other reviewers have done a fantastic job illustrating how frighteningly bad this book is. One item not noted thus far is the amount of bad science in the book. Though it is clearly fiction a great many physicists and biologists would role over in their graves if they read the book. James Redfield has an uncanny ability to completely mistunderstand simple concepts of physics and biology. He routinely presents oddly distorted accounts of well known theories from quantum mechanics, molecular biology and other fields in shockingly incorrect ways.
Rating:
Summary: You have never read a book like this before ...
Review: That is the headline on the back of my copy's dust jacket,
and I must say it is accurate. I have truly never read
such a poor book that was actually published, like, by a
real publisher. Literary cliches, grammar errors,
spelling errors, literary cliches, poor development, and
no substance. Did I mention literary cliches? I really
felt that if this could get published, I could write
something of actual substance and get published also. But
the publisher probably overlooked all the flaws because it
saw a mass market that would eat this tripe up, especially
dressed up with words like "prophecy" and "adventure", not
to mention the faux mystical sounding "celestine". And that is the second problem. I can overlook poor writing
if the content is worth it. But the "adventure" story is
so lame as to not be a factor. There is no "prophecy"; I
think the publisher or the author knows that that word
will play well in the new age crowd. So I think it is
disingenuous of the publisher/author to throw those words
around in or near the title to sell more books when they
are not at all factors. If you want adventure, read Clive
Cussler. If you want prophecy, read Nostradamus. Which brings us to the real point of the book, I guess,
the new age eastern mysticism. Why or how this ended up
in Peru, we have no idea, and our stomachs are so turned
that we don't really care. But here is a random quote
from the drivel, judge for yourself: "The Fifth [insight] shows us that an alternative [energy]
source exists, but we can't really stay connnected with
this source until we come to grips with the particular
method that, we, as individuals, use in our controlling,
and stop doing it -- because whenever we fall back
into this habit, we get disconnected from the source." What? And it goes on and on like this. There is no
spiritual magic here; you're better off finding a good
book on new age mysticism. This book doesn't get it
done. The book, simply put, is poor quality in every
conceivable dimension. There are people who think they want or need this book.
To those, I would recommend taking up sports or music
or some other hobby (or if physically challenged, mental
gymnastics, such as puzzles or well-written classical or
popular literature. One interesting suggestion is "The
Outsider", by Colin Wilson, the first book by the new age
writer which is an incredible blend of classical allusions
and modern insight by someone with superb writing talent). To everyone else, click the back button on your browser
as fast as you can. Don't get suckered.
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