Rating: 
Summary: Making sense of a world gone slightly mad
Review: History will no doubt record Ken Wilber as one of the greatest philosphers of all time. In this and over a dozen other books, he brings together philosophy, psychology, theology, the hard sciences (physics, biology, etc) and the broad sciences (sociology, political theory, linguistics, etc) into a single coherent vision that enables the contemplative thinker to make sense of what is going on in the world today. This book in particular offers a clear framework that enables meaning to be found both in your own cultural context as well as the domain of international politics where multiple cultures of different degrees of complexity are forced to interact on the emerging stage of global techno-commerce. He also offers a clear vision of the perils facing humanity unless we can quickly evolve a more inclusive and compassionate stance to other humans and all life of earth. A "must read" if you are interested in lending a hand to help humanity evolve into a new age of global consciusness. Also required reading if you wish to evolve personal practices that lead to authentic trnasformation into higher and deeper realms of personal peace and empowerment.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Start
Review: I bought this book because I'd read "A Brief History of Everything." In this book Wilber recaps the underlying theory of "History" and then gets into an overview of how to apply that theory to our world. Candidly, I expected more from this book. But, having read it I don't know what Wilber could have done beyond what he did in this book. What he did was give a brief (too brief) synopsis of how to apply the theory (four quadrant analysis/spiral of evolutionary development) using "integral thinking" to various areas of our civilization such as politics, business, education etc. All of what Wilber has written is fine as far as it goes but seemed to get bogged down in an effort to provide a comprehensive survey of how his theory could be applied to various areas of human endeavor. Perhaps the book would have benefited from a more complete and in depth explication of how the theory could be applied to one or two subject areas instead of inadequately summarizing a wide range incomplete applications. But, it's still well worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Blah, blah, blah!
Review: I certainly did not expect to be handed a Theory of Everything, or as the author refers to it T.O.E. Unfortunately, I did expect to read a good book. What I ended up with was seriously flawed. Ken Weber Frankenstein'd several theories of human psychology into a very tall pill of [poop]. Flaw 1: The Theory was weak and unsupported. It sounds reasonable; however it is only supported with endless name dropping, cross references, and circular logic. Flaw 2: What does it all mean? Ken promised that he would apply his TOE to practical matters. Here is one of the two sentences that applies it to spirituality "...integral transformative practice to socially engaged spirituality to relationships as spiritual path." What? Blah, blah, blah, blah! Flaw 3: Ken never finishes his topics. You know the type of writing that continues to promise answers in future chapters. They never come! Instead, he self promotes other books that he wrote that he promises answers the outstanding questions. I sure hope he is not truly a leader in this field of study.
Rating:
Summary: Not on my wavelength
Review: I personally love eclectic, interesting, insightful books, so when I came upon this title, I just had to have it. I was very disappointed, though. The author seemed comfortable talking about talking about the broad topic, rather like a bibliographer, but when it came to a central vision, a personal spark, there seemed to be nothing. While it might appear to some to be sophisticated and academic, it is neither.
Rating:
Summary: A clarification
Review: I'd like to respond to the two reviews posted here that knock "A Theory Of Everything" for dealing with certain spokes of the great integral wheel, such as business, only briefly. The gripe of the reviewer of September 14 and of Roar Bjonnes from Ashland, Oregon is that all the deeper questions haven't been answered for them. But T.O.E isn't a how-to book. It's an overture of a brand new vision, an opening treatise on fresh beginnings intended to inspire us all to discover our own solutions. It's perfectly clear that this is an introduction and summary of works in progress, not an all-inclusive almanac addressing every possible issue. To call its sweeping condensation a "simplistic, half-cooked" medley is amazingly petty; to say he "has utterly failed in bringing it down to earth" is to jump the gun; to pan the entire book on this point is pointless.
Rating:
Summary: One of the important books of our time
Review: If you ask me, this is one of the most important books of our time. Most scientific theories attempt to explain things from an objective third person perspective. The arts attempt to understand things from a subjective first person perspective. Sometimes, the social sciences consider the social nature of our explanation of "truth" and attempt to understand things from a second person perspective in addition to the other perspectives. That is all fine but we can only develop a unidimensional understanding of the world with just one of these. Although Heisenberg and Gebser and others have suggested this from their study of physics and philosophy and even though Wilber has been trying to tell us this with the fifteen books that he has been writing for the last ten years, it seems that nobody is really getting it. There are a few exceptions though. A superb book called The Ever-Transcending Spirit authored by Toru Sato is actually one of the first books that makes a decent attempt at putting these three perspectives together. It explains that we are directly involved in the world and not just objective observers of it. When somebody says something to us (or writes a book or a review), we need to understand how the person is subjectively experiencing what he or she is talking about. We also the need to understand why they are saying this to us (from an interpersonal perspective) by accounting for the emotional impact this has on the communicator (him or her) and the recipient (us). We also need to understand the objective meaning of the things the person is trying to communicate. We still have a long way to go but I think Wilber and company have a lot to offer in showing us the direction we should be going.
Rating:
Summary: Superficial and judgmental, not wisdom
Review: In "A Theory of Everything" Ken Wilber cites a critic saying of an earlier Wilber book: "This is one of the most irritating books of the year, pompous and over-bloated."(p.41) Except for the over-bloated part, I would say the same applies here. In fact, this book is surprisingly short (under 200 pages, including notes) for what it claims to address (see the book's title). The main way Wilber keeps the book so short is with a steady stream of self-referential citations, as if the reader could not possibly comprehend the whole Wilber canon in one book. The result is a book that fails to deliver on the most basic goals it sets for itself. For example, at the beginning of the book Wilber promises to suggest how to live "an integral life," but this section turns out to be five pages at the end of the book that are primarily an endorsement of several other books. A book like this is more of a McBook, intended for a reader who does not have the patience to digest more than a couple of hundred pages or more than a brief superficial schema. Let's hope that this is not what readers come to expect. As for the judgmental nature of the book, despite regular protestations to the contrary, there is a definite hostility to those who do not share Wilber's "openness." The category that I probably fall into in his hierarchy is "green." And Wilber makes it clear that a review such as this one simply reflects a "belligerent and reactionary defense - what might be called in this case 'the mean green meme' (which is especially the home of boomeritis)." (p. 125). Talk about a pre-emptive ad hominem assault. The insights that are here are primarily simplified versions of the substantive work by other writers such as Samuel Huntington and Thomas Friedman. Read their books instead. If you have any sympathy for any of my other reviews, do yourself a favor, save some time and money, and don't buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Disintegrated Vision
Review: In Wilber's latest book, he has, despite his promise, failed to translate his lofty theory of everything into a deep and meaningful vision of business and politics. Let's look at business as an example. In the extremely short section on business Wilber says that "business is business", thus indicating that his theory can be used for both good or cynical and selfish purposes. But doesn't that simply mean that his theory is limited (not integral) in application? Can you use a truly integral idea for evil purposes? If integral business means a balanceed economy that serves both people and the environment well, can that ever be cynical or bad? Thus a truly integral business agenda can only be bad for the status quo, for business as usual, for those only thinking the bottom line. So to me, such simplistic statements simply means that he has not really figured out how an integral business culture should look like? In other words, Wilber has failed to answer what the purpose of a truly integral business is. Moreover, that he is simply talking about business, which is only a small part of what we call an economy, shows that he has really just started the enormous task of applying his grand theory in the real world. Let me be more specific: In the short section on business, he informs us that business managers are now trained in "spiritual intelligence". Nothing wrong with that. However, the purpose of an integral business structure, which again is just a small, integral part of the larger economy, is to transform its whole organism and function into being of integral service to the whole of society. In other words, an integrative business agenda must be sustainable and environmentally sound (produce products that we need at a cost that people can afford while not destroying the environment) promote integral culture as opposed to a "shop til you drop" culture. Furthermore, an integral business structure would maintain a healthy balance between profit and equitable distribution of its wealth, which means nothing less than a whole restructuring of the current corporate culture. Finally, it would be led by people with spiritual intelligence. What I'm getting at is this: it makes little sense that managers display "spirituell intelligence" by meditating and drinking organic Star Bucks coffee while they continue to make 100 times more money than those on the assemblyline, while stockholders are waiting for their quarterly profit fix, and while the company is producing more luxurious junk we don't really need. Since Wilber has not even begun to adress some of these important issues,the underlying culture and objective of business, he has, to my mind, failed to create an integral vision of business. Even though I'm a Wilber fan, and I agree with his overall theory, he has utterly failed in bringing it down to earth. (His best job at this, so far in terms of the environment) I thus disagree with the reviewer that likens this book to the Communist manifesto. It's a manifesto alright, but it's way to abstract to have much meaning in the real world. A manifesto is a piece of work with clear objectives. And, after reading this book, I still do not know how Wilber wants to change business in any meaningful, much less, integral way. To do that, Wilber needs to write a true manifesto in which business would have mucher deeper, integral objectives than just staying in business. Sorry to sound so one-sided, because this book has merit on the theoretical or macro-level and as a philosophy, or life vision. But on the micro-level, Wilber's vision is still blurred.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth a read
Review: Ken Wilber continues to write in lucid form an integral story of an integral world. In this book he summarizes and clearly discusses much of what he has been studying and living for much of his life. It is a real pleasure to read and learn from such a profound thinker.
Rating:
Summary: Ken continues his excellence.
Review: Ken Wilber continues to write in lucid form an integral story of an integral world. In this book he summarizes and clearly discusses much of what he has been studying and living for much of his life. It is a real pleasure to read and learn from such a profound thinker.
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