Rating: 
Summary: Self-fulfilling Prophecy...
Review: I feel that there are many little things I wish people commented on that were not brought up in any reviews I have read on this book. Here are a couple things I found particularly troubling: 1. First of all the "physicist" in the book describes experiments in which scientists working on a subatomic level found that whatever they predict will happen in their experiments actually happens, proving a control we as humans have on matter and energy. These experiments obviously never took place. I believe the author may have been reading The Tao of Physics and stumbled upon Hiesenberg's Uncertainty Principle and totally misunderstood it and then threw a badly mangled explanation of it into his book. I enjoy the Tao of Physics very much. I think it comes teeteringly close to "out there" ideas and still comes away dignified, studied and rational. I can not say the same for this book. 2. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seemed as though the author described the main character driving up to the ruins of Machu Picchu. There is no way to drive to these ruins tucked away in the Andes and it makes me suspect further that the author did little to no research when writing this book. 3. The idea that we just start dealing out money to people who have had profound affects on us and that this will solve the problem of poverty in the world is the most ludicrous idea I have ever heard! I laughed out loud. Each time we meet someone who has information towards answers we need to find in life we should, according to the manuscripts, awkwardly dish out some cash to our new friend. And since everyone we meet coincidentally has answers for us, these exchanges will be happening so often that money will always flow to and from everyone, saving the world from greed and want! The greatest coincidence we should look into is how true this insight became for James Redfield and how much our money has flowed to him after he shared his "answers" with us. Thankfully I checked this book out from the public library. I should mention that I enjoyed small things about this book. I liked thinking about control dramas, about the four types of control dramas that were described and how they are created. This could be, and probably is, better illustrated somewhere and gone into in further depth. Honestly this is about all I got from the book. The book claims to be a bridge of the spiritual and scientific. It does no such thing. It marginalizes both by quickly and erroneously describing ideas presented by both worldviews in a fictitious book that tries to pass itself off as based in the real world. For the most obvious holes in this book, (I would almost go so far as to say it is one big hole), there is coincidentally an explanation in the manuscripts that can explain everything. For the rest of the holes there is just a dumbfounded reader thinking, how did a travesty like this ever become a best-seller???
Rating:
Summary: Amazing.........this book has absolutely no bottom
Review: Follow the vague instructions of this indigestable psychobabble and enjoy getting your lunch eaten by life.....try spreading the simplistic ideas of this book in the Middle East or anywhere in the world with real conflict. Once put up against any serious intellectual test, the ideas of this book vanish faster than its protagonists do at the end of the story. This book is for people with too much time on their hands who already lead a charmed life....try giving it to someone truly suffering from hunger, oppression or disease and its empty message and lack of true inspriational value is exposed in all of its irrelevance; read the Bible, Koran, or whatever your chosen holy book happens to be for truly timeless messages....skip this "once in a lifetime" book.
Rating: 
Summary: Contemporary Philosopher
Review: James Redfield writes solely on the topic of human spiritual awareness. His books are not meant to be read for a fictional adventure. Rather the story is simply analogous to his philosophical teachings on our everyday lives. He is a contemporary philosopher, and when reading the Celestine prophesy you need to look beneath the surface of the plot in order to interpret the significance of what Redfield is saying.
Rating:
Summary: Truth within the reader
Review: Anyone in the wicca faith (or any faith) must read this book...this book has changed my life..it'll change yours as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: Great book for someone looking for something "different" in life. Wether you are into mysticism, spirituality, or just want a nice tale that will give you some insight, I recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Belongs in Everyone's Humor Collection
Review: As far as unintentinal hoots go, this is by far my favorite. The blurb writer above describes Jesse Conti's delivery perfectly: " He reads in hushed, anticipatory tones, almost whispering the secrets of the prophesies." What could be richer? He appears to naively believe that he is imparting some sort of actual wisdom, or is unravelling the mysteries of The Dead Sea Scrolls. All he is doing, in reality is sounding incredibly inept. There is no wisdom to be imparted here, soul fans! Not even the slightest intimation of an original concept. Regurgitated 60s mantra music, from the newly annointed guru of pop spiritualism. Redfield makes Richard Bach look positively profound, by comparison. If you want to find true spirituality between the bindings of a book, pick up the Bible, The Koran, The Bagghavad Ghita, The Upanishads, Siddhartha, Kalhil Gibran, C.S. Lewis, etc. If you want a good belly-laugh, order this tape. BEK
Rating:
Summary: Very bad
Review: Commercial, uninspiring and really bad. I don't understand why this book was such a success. I read many many books of self-development, this is the only one I won't recommend you. If you really want to read about New Age "stuff", look elsewhere. You can actually write a better book! By Thei Zervaki...
Rating:
Summary: If I could rate this a Zero I would (Yes, it's that ghastly)
Review: This book is absolutely awful. It passes itself off as some sort of mystery book on the outside, but then turns into a jumbled collection of [material] that does a disservice to the New Age movement with which it is associated. It's not that it's just bad New Age literature; it is quite possibly one of the worst books ever written. Not only does it struggle to maintain some semblance of a shred of cohesion, but characters and "plot" devices just magically appear from thin air when needed. I would advise anyone who is looking for some sort of guidance in the New Age movement to look elsewhere. I would advise anyone who's looking for a good mystery/thriller with elements of the supernatural and archaeology to look anywhere but here. You could probably write a better story yourself, and you won't end up feeling less intelligent for the effort.
Rating:
Summary: it helped me and maybe it'll help you too
Review: i just finished reading the celestine prophecy! the knowledge within the book completely fit in with my knowledge of love, nutrition, alternative/wholistic medicine, psychology, history, chi, new age of aquarius, quantum physics, magick, my own dreams, group dynamics, meditation, ecology, relationships, addictions, etc... i could relate very well to much that it revealed. the 9 insights are very simple truths, easy to grasp; although Redfield occasionaly makes oversimplified generalizations. reading the first few insights of the Celestine Prophecy repeated to me much of what i had already discovered and i was mainly excited to see someone else having put into words what i'd already been thinking. the later insights also incorporated much of what i already understood, but they definitely gave me a new way of looking at everything and they assembled lots of pieces that've recently been floating in my head into something very clear. it all seems so obvious now. i like the way the insights build upon eachother sequentially and they are told in parable form. i looked at the reviews on ... and most all of the negative reviews were critiqueing his writing style, but i think they were missing the points, or insights i should say. yes, the way in which he reveals them and tells the story may seem slightly corny, but it wasn't meant to be a great peace of literature; it was meant to help people find meaning and to evolve spiritually.
my final word on The Celestine Prophecy is that it is a powerful vision that synthesized previous knowlegde to give me a more precise direction in my spiritual evolution. i'm sure that a year from now, i'll consider this book just another influential stepping stone on my path and not "the best book i've ever read" as i consider it now. nonetheless, if you are ready and open to these insights, then i think you can benefit greatly from them. below is someone else's review of the book that i found to be particualrly short and sweet.
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The Celestine Prophecy is not the best novel ever written, in fact to some it may seem hookie. What was great about this book, and in my opinion any book, was that it helped me grasp many of the ideas that had been swimming around in my head but could not be put into a working formula. Its one of those books that makes you say "yeah, I knew that, but I couldn't find the words." As the story unfolds so do aspects of the reader's self. Each chapter, or insight, revealed something new about who I was and who I wanted to be.
Many of the ideas discussed in this book are nothing new. They are at the core of many eastern philosophies and are heavily influenced by mysticism. But who cares! Each interpretation of these ideas is in its own way unique. Its like listening to a radio station that plays a certain jeanra of music: each song has a common feel and yet each has its own personality.
All in all, it may not be a literary masterpiece but The Celestine Prophecy is a must read. It will move you in places that have been forgotten, ignored, or that have been suffocoated by the monotonies of western culture and idealogy.
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So simple, you might miss it. I want to say that this book was incredible, but it IS credible. Unless you live in a cave somewhere, and you never interact with anyone, then you will find yourself saying, "Wow, this guy makes sense. Why didn't I notice that before?" I think the reasons that this book is either rated as absolute garbage or absolutely mind-blowing, is because it's so simple. It's often the simple, basic ideas that we overlook. This book changed my way of thinking. It addresses a great number of issues that affect all of us everyday. YES, it is fiction, but that doesn't mean that you can't apply it to your nonfiction life. From the way you see yourself, to the way you interact with people, to the way you deal with problems, this book offers basic, simple insights to our complicated, frustrating lives.
Don't let this chance for enlightenment pass you by.
Rating:
Summary: Read it to experience real magic
Review: I can see that these days THE CELESTINE PROPHECY doesn't have as many fans as it used to. And I don't want to change anyone's opinion about it (you may like it, you may not), but in this review I'd just like to share my personal experience with this book with readers who are looking into buying a copy or borrowing one from the library. Technically, THE CELESTINE PROPHECY may not be the best-written book ever. There have been many comments from disgruntled readers regarding the way author James Redfield wrote this book. In my case being a picky reader has not affected my reading experience when it came to this book. The novel (sometimes dubbed a "spiritual parable") is written using language that's quite simple and easy to follow. Maybe other readers wanted something a little more "grown-up" or "mature" in terms of the writing style, but the simplistic way that this was written worked very well for me. There are a lot of spiritual principles in THE CELESTINE PROPHECY that might be difficult to understand if they weren't explained as simply as they were. And those spiritual principles--outdated though they might be for the advanced student of metaphysics--could be very inspiring for someone new to exploring their spirituality, or someone terribly down in the dumps. In my experience, reading this book in my college years (around 5 years ago) certainly helped me see beyond our physical world so that I could better understand the purpose of my life and not get stuck thinking negatively. I'd like to share, too, that while I was reading the book, whatever spiritual principle was being discussed, I was experiencing acutely in my life. I got to see CLEARLY the energy around plants, and it was also at this time that I began to see the auric field surrounding humans. For those only beginning to explore the spiritual world, you might want to give this book a try. I recommend it to you with love. :)
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