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Summary: Merely the turning point of a long life...
Review: ...is what Guy Murchie's Seven Mysteries of Life has been to me. Avid, ardent reader forever. Almost 20 years ago, happened upon Murchie after my father died. You need a supple mind - not a brilliant one - to take in what Murchie says; a sustained spell of selective sci-fi, cosmology, or alternate-history reading might help. This book is science. But it is true knowledge that you have not previously seen marshalled this way. I have never been able to discredit any of the amazing assertions of fact that this remarkable polymath makes. Now, having also read Murchie's autobiography i understand the care with which Seven Mysteries was composed. By the end of the long, easy, pleasant book, you may have forgotten an enormous amount of detail, but you'll be left with an impression of awe at the organization of nature.For me, this single mind-opening experience began a journey of intellectual and spiritual discovery which has transformed my life. Heretofore out of print, i have bought a half-dozen or so used copies for very careful giving to family and friends whose curiosity, openness, and capacity seem to make them good candidates for reading Murchie - including both a Jesuit priest and a seminary drop-out now a professing agnostic. I've been wondering whether this only review i have put online was inspired as a thank-you to Guy Murchie. Maybe. But mostly i take the time to do so in the hope, and even confident expectation, that if you read and reflect on this book you may breathe up your own thank-you to its author.
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Summary: should have 6 stars!!
Review: best reading ever. Explains life without trivializing all of us amoebaea, as everything is shown to be important and connected. Pick up any chapter after two readings, and it reads like it is new and familiar, but always something new to grasp. This should be the national textbook of our High Schools... if this is all that was studied it would not be long before it was a better world. All the other rave reviews, like mine, cannot say enough about this book... but I am sure we (the other reviewers) are all from different 'walks of life', and that we all agree on this book, and should point anyone towards it.
After you have read it, you will always know where it is... and will tell others.. This is not religion, but it helps like those who say religion helps.
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Summary: "All Life in All Worlds"
Review: I feel May Sarton pretty much hit the nail on the head with her praise found on the back of the book. "A good book to take to a desert island as sole companion, so rich is it in knowledge and insight." I can't sum up my feelings towards the book in any more concise terms. This is basically an entire biology textbook expanded and opinionated. This is one of the few textbooks that isn't one. If you are able to complete this entire book and retain all of its teachings you would now have a comprehensive knowlegde of all life. This book is almost a sacred text, you can gather most of your knowledge of life from its contents. This brings me to the downside of this illuminating book. This author may turn off several scientific readers in the book because part of the exploration into science and philosophy includes facing the spiritual world as Murchie would have said it. His wider thinking is in no way dogmatic, but it more closely resembles a new age type. However I urge you, a religious skeptic, to read this book. There is NO other book of its kind penned by another author. So buy it. I would buy a couple dozen copies just to own. To conclude with the praise of Buckminster Fuller, "Embraces all the most important information about everything humanity needs to know for continuance aboard planet Earth, or anywhere else in the universe."
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Summary: Eye-opening rare poetic vision of all types of life
Review: I have read this book several times, in addition to having read the "music of the spheres" books which preceded it. guy murchie has a rare talent of mixing poetic imagery, an incredible vocabulary, real science and theories of living systems that are sublime & thought provoking. i think this would be an excellent adjunct to either a philosophy class - or an introduction to biology, physics or general science. since murchie infuses philosophy with his science it should be read with a big dash of salt. some of the concepts are strange & some are contrary to what most western thinkers believe is reality. if you believe in animism, tao, and an underlying order under the fabric of chaotic reality, you will enjoy this book. * * * * * * * * * * * * i give it a dozen stars!!
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Summary: simply the best
Review: If I had to choose only one book to read and re-read: this is it. Simultaneously, it is mind-bending, inspirational, hopeful, and life-affirming--all in one.
Get it; read it; and love it!
Rating:
Summary: simply the best
Review: If I had to choose only one book to read and re-read: this is it. Simultaneously, it is mind-bending, inspirational, hopeful, and life-affirming--all in one.
Get it; read it; and love it!
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Summary: Wow.
Review: If you don't believe that the real physical world we live in is incredibly fascinating, complex, and heart-breakingly beautiful, you need to read this book. When I was a kid and believed in god and heaven and all that, I used to imagine that heaven was this beautiful, quiet, sunny library filled with books that clearly explained the mysteries of the universe. When I read Seven Mysteries of Life, I felt that this was a book that I would have found in the library of heaven. Imagine a book that could explain practically everything in the natural world- how the various senses work, how sand is deposited on beaches, how sonar in bats works, how closely related we all are to other humans, to chimpanzees, to everything, how different creatures reproduce, how a tree is constructed, what a muscle is made out of, why the moon appears the way it does on the horizon- and yet somehow be an incredibly fascinating page turner of a book at the same time. That is this book. You may not agree with everything Murchie writes (some of the mystic argument-from-design stuff toward the end doesn't work for me), but you can't help but feel that you've somehow fallen in love with the world after reading this book.
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Summary: Murchie must have been a genius
Review: It took Guy Murchie 17 years to write this book, which is more than a book; it is really a vast canvas, upon which Murchie mixes poetry, science, speculation, and a beautiful use of metaphor to paint a picture of life which is wonderous and always mysterious. What struck me most about this book is how well Murchie writes and supports his arguments (more like theories, this is not a polemic). In the hands of a lesser writer, the book could easily come off as pompous New Age baloney, because Murchie himself posits some pretty wild theories - such as rocks being conscious. He also sprinkes the book with old-fashioned, gracious touches (such as referring to the reader as "gentle reader"). This is one of the few books I have given as a gift, and it is one you can pick up and start reading on any page and find useful information. And the illustrations alone - at least in the earlier edition of the book - are worth the price of the book. Go get it!
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Summary: An inspiring and passionate inquiring mind
Review: Part philosophical and part scientific, this book is a journey through some of the most interesting questions that can be possibly be posed. The author's small illustrations are a joyous companion to the text. It reads like a notebook of a brilliant autodidact. Guy Murchie is up there with the Essays of Michel de Montaigne. He goes even further when you consider that he grounds the book in factual observation, rather than just speculation. Simply fascinating and captivating.
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Summary: Wonderfully taken
Review: This book has great depth into facts of life many often set aside in the canyons of the mind. The fact that it is an excellent science book is only surpassed by also being a deep look into the philospies of life. It should be required reading for all college bound students. Mr. Murchie has a vocabulary suited to the tasks be undertakes discussing, it is an extensive book and wont be read in one sitting, but nights one wishes to pass the hours well spent it is a worthy read. I will read "The Seven Mysteries Of Life" again and again cherishing it with an ever renewed fevor for all its subjects. Thank you Mr. Murchie for your effors here.
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