Rating: 
Summary: Very relevent, very timely
Review: As a Methodist minister from Iowa and a life-long reader of Thomas Merton, I was so moved by this book, and wanted to post here the same message I sent the author, who generously put his e-mail address in the book. I agree with the Amazon reviewer above..noone has ever captured the spirit of Merton better. Mr. Katz shows that grace comes from ones life as well as from religion. I'm very appreciative of this fine and very moving book.
Rating:
Summary: thoughtful book of author in search of authentic self
Review: Jon Katz does not promise a religious book, but what he does do is provide a wonderful look at a person deliberately seeking his authentic self. Unlike The Cliff Walk, another great book which chronicles a person's search for self after losing his job, Running to the Mountain involves a person making a purposeful choice in leaving familiar surroundings and in seeking who he is and what he wants in life. I thought the author was very upfront in sharing his emotions, which is genuinely refreshing to see. Well worth reading for any seeker, in hopes of discovery.
Rating:
Summary: A very moving experience
Review: Katz has written a book that is incredibly spiritual, if not conventionally religious. I appreciated that, since everyone seems to be talking to God these days. It's a wonderful journey book, a fascinating and very touching trip that he took. I like that he makes no other claims than that. A human being on a very human trip, and it's sure a warm book, and very, very funny.This is a rare combination.
Rating:
Summary: Like the Washington Post said..
Review: I got this book here after a great review in the Washington Post by Colman McCarthy. He said the book was insightful, powefully written and moving. It is.
Rating: 
Summary: Katz has exploited Merton without offering any real insight
Review: Disappointment! "Running to the Mountain" and John Katz's promotional interviews for the book promise Merton and deliver nothing of the sort. Almost completely absent from the book is meaningful insight into how Merton's ideas have influenced the author's life. Totally absent is any new insight into Merton's work itself and into its application to human life in general.By no means an expert on Merton, but simply a regular reader of his work and happy beneficiary of his ideas, I greet any promise of new work about Merton with great expectation. I know I can always learn more about how to understand and apply Merton's writing. And I've come to believe that the richness of Merton's writing is so great that it is a virtually inexhaustible resource to be mined with each new scholar's tools. Rather than a new toolkit, "Running to the Mountain" is a misuse, an exploitation. Katz is explicit about his intentionally ignoring the religious aspects of Merton's life and writings. One need not share Merton's religious convictions to appreciate Merton's ideas. But with Merton's faith being profoundly central to his life, one can hardly expect to understand anything at all Merton does while determinedly ignoring his Catholicism. More offensive to this regular Merton reader than leaving out the spiritual pivot around which Merton's life revolved is Katz's mischaracterization of Merton's extraordinary candor. The Merton journals are full of his anguish with various aspects of monastery life and with his own shortcomings. Merton's willingness to give voice to the kind of criticisms, doubts and fears we all have but are often too ashamed or terrified to express is a great reassurance and source of liberation to his readers. Katz recklessly quotes a few of Merton's many negative comments and incorrectly construes them as "evidence" of Merton's being fundamentally uncommitted to his faith and to his religious vocation. This reader could only conclude that Katz remains unsettled with his own need for psychoanalysis and has made himself feel better by concluding that a person of Merton's stature was also less than perfect. Surely Katz has realized that linking the story of his own inadequately processed midlife crisis with Merton will help to sell books. As for those who would benefit much more from reading Merton himself, the best that can be hoped is that the media machinery, of which Katz is a master, will raise the visibility of the great Trappist's work for a new generation.
Rating:
Summary: Give this to your husband, brother and boyfriend!
Review: Katz goes on a great trip and unlike some men I know, has fun, tells hilarious stories and doesn't hurt anybody. I'm giving this book to every man I know, cause I haven't had the same experience, frankly, with men. Funny and VERY inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, moving,unpretentious
Review: This book carries a lot of punch. It' snot really about spirituality, but finding your own way in the world in the best way you can. It is very funny, very honest, very moving. It doesn't promise or deliver a great spiritual payoff, less you count living your life with grace. I loved the Merton stuff too.
Rating:
Summary: Profound insights yet very funny
Review: This is a marvellous book! Aside from the prologue, it is such a gripping, fast read that I couldn't put it down. It's very funny and also incredibly honest. Since I also was a Thomas Merton addict as a teen-ager, it speaks profoundly to my own existenial angst. Katz understands not only men but any human being's deepest feelings and spiritual struggles. Compared to "The Celestine Prophesy", which was on the best-seller list for over two years, despite the fact that it was very very badly written, this book addresses the same basic issues in our souls and is extremely well written.
Rating: 
Summary: An enjoyable book, but somewhat uneven.
Review: I have been a fan of Jon Katz's magazine and online writings for some time. When I learned about this book, I immediately bought it. I had expectations mostly to be entertained. While I did enjoy reading the book on the whole, I was a fairly disappointed with it. Surprisingly, I found myself less than sympathetic to his frequent lamentations about his life, both past and present. This is probably more of a reflection on my own mindset, but as one about to turn 40 with 3 children of my own, I found his inability (or unwillingness) to take care of the mundane things in his life to be ridiculous, and his triumph in discovering how to do these things on the mountain less than revelatory. Also, I found his notion of spirituality to be constantly vague. I doubt he has yet settled for himself what spirituality is. But, because of this vagueness, the book (and his experiment on the mountain) seemed to lack focus. The small, eveyday details of his rustic experience were frequently truly mundane. Perhaps the chapter on having a satellite dish installed best exemplifies how the book affected me: He made excellent points that I happen to agree with about how to utilize and regard technology. But, despite all the well made arguments, it still came off as an effort to rationalize what he himself felt was a questionable move -- a feeling I also agreed with. He wants his MTV! :) I felt the best chapter was the later one describing Thomas Merton's life in greater detail. This book will, no doubt, speak more eloquently to some than it did to me. Unfortunately for me, it just never sang.
Rating: 
Summary: A spiritual self examination in a place of solitude
Review: The author attempts to experience the search of self by going into an enviornment of a small cabin seeking answers to indepth questions. He accomplishes some of his goals and as a result may improve and experience changes of attitude and feelings toward life in general. It could have been more indepth, but he did well.
|
