Rating: 
Summary: I Just Finished Reading it about 30 minutes ago
Review: In the beginning of the book, I thought it promised more than any book could deliver, but I changed my mind. Ive read about 3 or 4 books that tell a story focusing the protagonist's spiritual growth, but this book in particular is the best, because unlike other's I have read, it doesn't focus around a lead character who is spiritually leaving almost everyone else in the dust. Instead, it paints a paints a more communal and less narsissistic (sp?) picture of the high life, and one that can be more readily applied to our own personal experiences..
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE IT!
Review: This is an amazing book. I think it starts off right from the first page itself. James Redfield has written this story in a way that doesn't make the reader feel that they're a two year old, hanging on to a finger, and being led about the story. There is so much depth to the insights that the author offers, and there's space enough for the reader to think and absorb it in their own mind. Every time I do internal thinking, I want to be on that high mountain surrounded by rain forests the author talks about! So much CLARITY is gained from and by this book. This is not just philosophy or psychology. It's a total evaluation of who we are on the insides. Mind you that the author doesn't suggest we do that ~ but one can't not do it once they're in the story. It's an evaluation of who we are personality wise, spiritually, what kind of biases we carry, and how to break free from them. I was introduced to this book years ago. It's amazing to see how it has spread by word of mouth. Please remember that as profound as this book is, it IS fiction. Don't go looking for the manuscript. Do remember, though, that just because it's fiction doesn't mean that the message coming through isn't very real and applicable. Kudos, James Redfield! May we find more people like him to keep sharing whatever wisdom they gain, so we may learn from them. We don't live long enough in one lifetime to learn EVERYTHING! We may over several, but wouldn't you rather learn as much as you can here? Love, Peace, Light, and Laughter... :)
Rating: 
Summary: A Book That Binds People
Review: In the way that this book connects people, it is in a unique category. Apart from literature in the form of novels or plays, it was not created to call attention to itself on its technical merits, like Shakespeare or Emerson. Would critics of writing be so quick to criticize the writing of Mother Theresa or the Dalai Lama? No, due to their worldly status, but the inspirational essence of their writing has great humanitarian value, and this is the point of author Redfield's Celestine Prophecy and its sequels. Critics have taken out of context that his writing is done with spiritual and humanitarian intent. Evaluating on the basis of whether the material is intellectually challenging and craftily verbose fails to take into account that when writing touches and inspires people, it has great value. 220 pages of beautiful writing without meaning has no value, and humanitarian messages shouldn't be an intellectual challenge (God help us if it is.) Has anyone yet recognized that the reason this book has sold such a staggering number of copies is that it has social value among mutual readers? The phenomenon surrounding this book is that when one person reads it and begins to consider that everything in his life has purpose, he shares it with the person in his life whom he feels is there for a reason - as a way, in part, of communicating that. Reading The Celestine Prophecy with another person is to confirm that the relationship has synchronistic value; i.e. 'we were put on this earth together for a reason'. The Celestine Prophecy also serves to validate the messages we have for eachother. This happened to me personally after stopping to, God forbid, talk to a stranger, and after an amazingly rich exchange, he asked me why I thought we as strangers could have established such a rapport - I suggested he read the Celestine Prophecy, to see how people have messages for one another. Soonafter in a church the organist coincidentally recommended the same book. The book has served as a validation for our bond of friendship, which would not have occured without an a measure of faith in the purpose of relationships that come unexpectedly. The popularity and book sales result from other readers having similar experiences - not from the plausibility of the Manuscript with reference to geographical or historical considerations. Those who recieved the book as a gift and hated it may have missed a valuable message from the giver - or perhaps it was a sign that the relationship was not meant to be!
Rating:
Summary: Changed My Life
Review: alright, let me just say that this book totally changed my life. it gave me a new outlook on everything in my life. because of it, i've taken on a whole new spin to my life and how i go about everything. it's made me open my eyes to so much stuff that i hadn't before. i've been so much more content with somethings in life since i read it and realized a lot that i hadn't previously. james redfield is definately the best author i've ever read anything by. check out his other books as well. i loved them all. not as much as this one though. in my opinion, you'd have to be crazy not to like this book!
Rating:
Summary: Life Changing Book
Review: There are many very positive underlying messages and feelingsthat are encased in this inspiring adventure. Nine spiritual insightsare revealed in this book and they so familiar to some of us, it's startling. The book validates and strengthens knowledge in those who believe in the inherent abilities of the human mind and soul ... as well as our physical existence on Earth. ... I read this book several years ago, bought several copies and shared them with at least a dozen people who agree with me... I believe the book is meant to spark positive energy and hope for all those who read it... END
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly written, trite conception
Review: This book was written terribly, and it strikes me that Redmond did a bunch of acid, came up with a neat idea, and then decided to stretch it out over a couple hundred pages. This book could have been written as a couple paragraphs in a philosophy book, even though its an overused, uninteresting concept. If this book changes your life, you never really experienced the world at all. That and you must be obsessed with aliens.
Rating:
Summary: A brief followup
Review: I just wanted to make a few points clear about the nature of this book. It seems that James Redfield was perfectly prepared for the critics that have read this book. As a matter of fact I find it very very amusing that they blow off the book in the same IDENTICAL manner the church leaders in the story do. Its incredible how misinterpreted most spiritual study is and its amazing how people are upset that this book wasn't written like Shakespeare or Edgar Allen Poe. It wasn't designed to be a great piece of literature. John Gray isn't the highest selling psychological author of all time because the man can write. Its because of his ability to relay truth in a method that people can understand. Its designed to make a CONSCIOUS point about this "critical mass" of people that is uniting little by little to soon provide the near future shift from the materialistic worldview to the synchronostic worldview. He is not saying, "Ohhh lookie here... I am the first person in the history of mankind to think that there is a divine energy out there that responds to our intentions" ! Does anybody out there really believe that he wrote this book proclaiming that he has discovered the insights in the book for the first time in recorded history? Do you really honestly believe that a man with so much intelligence can be that redundant? Does anybody know the difference between now and 50 years ago? Does anybody know the difference between now and 100 years ago? Does anybody know the difference between NOW and 500 YEARS AGO? A very important aspect of the novel makes very good use of knowing the differences and how and why they came about. Do you really think this book is strictly about karma like every other spiritual book? Have our critics contemplated as to why this book is an adventure and not simply a FACT book? Has anybody realised that the book is based on a true story on his life that was slightly embroidered into a fiction book simply because he could not get it published as a true story? WHAT is the point of this book? To preach about That there's a divine energy out there that responds to our thoughts? Do we know just how often thats been written about before? Has anybody thought about what HIS contribution to the spiritual world is? Its not simply a reiteration of Know Thyself and God created the heavens and the earth and it was good and seek ye the kingdom of heaven within" It talks about a very conscious change in people. How more and more people are tipping the scale on the "Materialistic worldview versus the Mind over matter worldview" Thats the context of the book. That chronology and context has not been written about yet. The how has been written about many times, this book talks about the why. Its talking about how the now was derived from the static mindsets of the past and even how the past was derived from the even more static mindsets of their past. Kind of like something dare I say makes sense? Its not simply a book on how to live your life, its a book about how to understand our evolution, starting from the beginning and why the beginning was like it was and how it was very useful in bringing us to this "Critical Mass" he talks about. The Critical Mass is the growth in human consciousness that is being achieved not just in the power of one person but from the contributions of many and more and more people as they read this book. Once you can connect with energy from the universe rather than stealing it from people, you would then no longer argue, fight with people and sustain human conflict which only exists because people do not open their minds to the energies of a sychronistic and responsive universe. It all makes perfect sense and its not expressed in dollars, pounds, shillings and pence or kronar or french or swiss francs or guilders or escudos or pasedas! Its expressed in synchronicity and evolution. If not, then I can't imagine as to why this book became a international best seller when the man didn't even tour it or promote it or go on TV or the radio or anything. Nobody knows who he is ! How does a man create an International best selling book if he doesn't tour or brag about the book or go on TV and on magazines like everybody else who has to? He didn't have to. Its because there is a "Critical Mass" that the book was past onto and read by millions of people. Doesn't it make perfect sense? Or does he have the gift of gab like everybody else who was forgotten? Until somebody can explain to me how a man can use their knuckles to punch through a stock of 8 blocks of ICE that would require three or four men with sledge hammers.... Then talk to me about there not being some energy out there that contributed to it possibly? Nick
Rating: 
Summary: Nice message!
Review: Not a great piece of literature but exciting and contains nice message. Didnt really give me new ideas but makes you wonder about many things in life...good spirited book! Recomend it, take it as it comes! Arni
Rating:
Summary: Why is this book so intensely loved or loathed?
Review: The intrigueing thing about this book is that readers either love it or loath it in almost equal numbers. I read it because it was given me to read by the lady who later became my wife. I loathed it with all the intensity so amusingly described by the one star reviewers below and for all the same reasons. Somewhere on the web someone has catalogued a very long list of the egregious historical and scientific errors it contains. Here is my addition to that list:- Oak trees did not occur in precolumbian South America, therefore 500 year old specimens are an impossibility. But that brings me back to the question, why does my wife, an intelligent educated person, who obviously appeals to me in other ways, love the book so much? I think it came down to two facts. As a child she was one of those people who actually do see auras. This is a neurologically recognised phenomenon due to some kind of sensory leakage between normally separate brain areas. Some people see colours in association with sounds for another example.She was also searching for some new direction in her life at the time and this book does offer an appealing and easy answer to life's problems. Everything has a meaning, you just have to go with the flow and all will be made clear. Well, I am grateful to the book because it turned out I was the coincindence and she went with my flow! I kept quiet about what I thought of the book and have put it on a high shelf. She hasn't mentioned it lately. This is my confession. Hence the anonymity. I gave it three stars to represent the bimodal response.
Rating: 
Summary: trapped in a fortune cookie factory
Review: I'm not sure why one needs a supposed ancient manuscript from Peru to learn philosophy that can be picked up from a fortune cookie, and a kindergarten version of the history of Western civilization. The sheer implausibility of the story doesn't help either. If I were one of the "scholarly" characters in the book, the first thing I would assume was that these documents were particularly clumsy, inept forgeries. Basically, it deserves one star or less, but it is *sort of* absorbing, thus the two stars.
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