Rating: 
Summary: Excellent-One of the most thought provoking books I've read.
Review: L. Shlain's theory has been almost inpossible for me to stop thingking about-I'd love to see/hear someone dispute it, my guess is it would be incredibly hard to do so. A very easy read,yet keeps you guessing and thinking the whole time.
Rating: 
Summary: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof!
Review: After digesting Leonard Shlain's AVG hypothesis, I was left wondering if I had just experienced a brilliant, revolutionalry discovery, or the biggest pile of bull I'd ever read. It was an interesting intellectual exercise to come to the conclusion that it was most likely the latter. Shlain's hypothesis was interesting, but there was nothing he presented that convinced me that it had to be true, or was even likely to be true. The idea that the *process* of reading or viewing images has powerful effects on the brain that are independent of the *content* is so radical that it requires extraordinary proof to be accepted as true. Dr. Shlain has gathered interesting anecdotal evidence to support his ideas, but makes a huge leap by identifying the mental process of reading as being key. Even if literacy is correlated with women's oppression, what are the alternative hypotheses? Maybe literacy allows laws to be firmly codified and spread throughout a culture, allowing more organized government or repression that would favor a patriarchy. If this were the case, television could be expected to have an impact similar to literacy, instead of the opposite, liberating effect, as Shlain claims. He does not have a satisfactory answer to my question of how current media images of violence and female oppression could possibly be beneficial to women. Finally, Shlain's biological argument was very weak. As a neuroscientist, I am always skeptical of male/female, left/right brain ideas. When Shlain extended this metaphor to say that the rod photoreceptors in the eye are "feminine" and the cones are "masculine" I really began to tune out. I am disheartened by the lack of critical examination of Shlain's ideas and urge others to critically evaluate his work before accepting it as truth.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT!
Review: I never read a book like this before! Although I knew that many cultures honored Goddess before they converted to God(Male) it never occurred to me what the circumstances might have been. And as I look at other reviewer's comments I'm surprised that a few took offense that the author "only looked at the facts that supported his idea" Oh yeah? Since when did this become a new phenomenon? Since...the written word, maybe? Hmm.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite kind of read!
Review: I'm still haunted, after reading AVG, by the idea of the female racial memory built into our bones since long before Gutenberg. No wonder some of us, anyway, tend to keep low profiles. Speaking of which, Ann Boleyn was beheaded at 29, not 19. No matter. Now I'm running AVG by everybody I know, to talk talk talk about it. Better conversation here, alas.
Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking Thesis on the Word vs. the Image
Review: Very seldom has a book been written that successfully fuses science and history/anthropology. Leonard Shlain's "The Alphabet versus the Goddess" is one such book. Mr. Shlain points out that the dominance of left hemisphere values (such as logic and reasoning-masculine oriented beliefs)coincided with a decline in women's status (feminine attributes are associated with the right hemisphere of the brain) as human society progressed into a growing literate society. Some people may argue that women's status has improved with the increase of written communication. However, Mr. Shlain's, deftly written work is very convincing in maintaining that the written word has done much to extend masculine dominance at the cost of feminine equality. Demonstrating a solid understanding of history and anthropology, Mr. Shlain is able to incorporate his scientific thesis into various events in the past. For this alone he should receive credit for it is no easy task to do. I quite agree that changes that bring many benefits to society can also attract negative aspects as well. Reading has been beneficial to most people but it also can cause problems. Iconography is no longer as dominant as it once was. Yet, there is hope, according to Mr. Shlain. With the resurgence of visual media (i.e., television, cinema,etc.) right hemispheric values have re-emerged to challenge the masculine, left hemispheric dominance, that has been in power for too long. I enjoyed this book because it was very informative, yet not overwhelming. Mr. Slain proposes an interesting thesis supported with solid arguments. When I finished reading "The Alphabet versus the Goddess" I found I had a new purpose whenever I read historical matter. I have a new perspective and renewed curiosity in my research. Isn't this what an author hopes to achieve when writing a book? If so, then Mr. Shlain has been successful in his latest endeavor.
Rating:
Summary: amazing amount of thinking and work
Review: i thought this was an amazing book. i actually read it (something the reviewer before me doesn't seem to have done - check the link you clicked on, it says 'i have READ the book and want to review it', not 'i saw the author speak and want to pitch in my 2 cents) and i was consistently challenged and surprised with the work. reading it made me think that "the TV is the goddess" - and with the emergence of the internet, which began as a text-only medium, the struggle is on again, and the web is winning because of its ability to incorporate images, sound, etc. it's like the process of balance, or synthesis between image/word, left/right, woman/man is being played out again - we needed the supremacy of the word to overcome the vagaries and excesses of the image goddess era, and we need the balance of the image today to mellow the autocratic reality of a word-based culture. that's my 2 cents, but that's my right since i read the book. i think it was brilliant, definetly check it out.
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Summary: Great review of history, an interesting and provacative read
Review: All or written historical accounts reveal the same pattern: culturally rich stable civilizations overthrown by fiercer, less sophisticated, nomadic peoples tend to absorb the conquerors into their own belief systems. So how did the belief systems of the Goddess oriented cultures of the Middle East and Mediterranean basin become almost completely eradicated? Leonard Shlain believes this came about through the invention of the alphabet. An alphabet he says consists of thirty letters or less. Up until its invention about 1000 BCE the only written languages had been ideographic ones like those used by the Chinese and Egyptians. The idea of a shorter less cumbersome script had been floating around the commercial Middle East for some time but no one had devised an efficient system. The Phoenicians, a sea-going trading culture, have traditionally been credited with the invention of the alphabet but it is Shlain's idea that it was came in the form of a religious revelation to the Hebrews. He postulates that the religious laws revealed to Moses buttressed the use of the alphabet. The first four commandments forbid the worship of other gods, the creation of any graven image, and the naming of God. They define God as male through use of the male pronoun and order his worshipers to keep track of time. Shlain points out that the nature of the alphabet is linear. Letters are read one at a time in sequence. They contain an assumption of ordered time, of past present and future. He proposes that use of written language is a left brain activity. He believes that male (what he calls hunter/killer) values are lodged predominantly in the left brain while female (gather/nurturer) attributes belong to the right. Therefore, extensive use of the left brain due to widespread literacy has caused an imbalance in the psyche of every culture that has succumbed to the comprehensive use of the written word. This is the heart of his argument. The rest of the book takes the reader through an excellent review of the history of western civilization, in which the author points out the correlation between the rise of literacy and the persecution and debasement of women. He attributes this to the sublimation of right brain values. As Shlain brings the reader into modern times he argues that the advent of photography and television along with the discovery of electricity have restored the image (right brain comprehension) to a prominent place in our culture. This, he argues, brings a concomitant return to feminine values and value. He further postulates that the transition times as the pendulum swings back and forth are times of collective madness and terror. Among other events, he attributes the Spanish Inquisition, the wars of the Reformation, the Burning Times and the Russian Revolution to the advent of widespread literacy. This is an exciting and fascinating book. It is well written, clear and easy to read without being simplistic. Leonard Shlain has come up with a new and viable theory to explain how and why such extreme animosity towards women became embedded in our culture. I wish he had explored the early goddess-oriented societies more thoroughly and provided a time line. To my knowledge the fall of the most extensive matrifocal civilizations took place two to three thousand years before the rise of literacy. However these conquests did follow the usual pattern of melding described in the first paragraph. It was the remnants of goddess culture, which were destroyed by literacy. I would also have liked a more detailed review of the left brain/right brain research. I found the information sketchy and quickly glossed over. It seems a big leap from defining patterns of thinking lodged in different lobes of the brain to assigning them names like "hunter/killer" and "gather/nurturer". These are commonly accepted terms from the early days of anthropology before it had divided into cultural, biological, social, etc. categories at a time when almost everything was speculation based on assumptions drawn from current lifestyles. This weakness is so glaring for me that it counterbalanced my great desire to accept everything wholeheartedly. Certainly to have some reason - any reason assigned to the incredible amount of hate and calumny we receive as women, would be some balm to the terrible wound this malice inflicts. I do think the book can be a great instrument of healing. I would hope that many men and women read it, think about it and discuss it. With the Presidential scandal causing men and women to look so closely at the nature of relationship, it couldn't have come along at a better time. I'm very grateful for the inspiration. Leonard Shlain's ideas have provoked my curiosity and given me something new to think about. Already I find myself noticing examples everywhere that support his premise. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most mind-changing, life-changing books I've read
Review: This is a life-changing book! We read it aloud together, and it gave us a whole new way to look at history and the future. It offers a new explanation for so many events in our past as humans. It is compelling , funny, heart-breaking, and even a little addictive! It can be a bit densely packaged, so take it slowly and really savor it. The author is dazzlingly articulate, so keep a dictionary nearby! And even though he takes you through dark depths of intellectual and emotional despair, persevere to the end. There is hope for us after all! This was one of those books that will stay with us in heart, mind, and conversation for years to come. Dive in - but it is easier with a companion.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, well-organized, upbeat book
Review: This is a fascinating book that addressess a wide variety of ideas in a well-organized manner. Dr. Shlain applies his basic theory to many different cultures along a clearly defined time line. The book is realatively easy to follow and offers an upbeat veiw of current trends even though it highlights some fairly depressing events in the treatment of women throughout the ages.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, worthy read spanning ages and concepts!
Review: Shlain's book, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess, provides enlightenment, stimulates curiousity, and builds connections among and between many ages and concepts. Whether or not the reader agrees with Shlain's major premise, the book spans both depth and breadth of time and knowledge. I most appreciated the way Shlain looked at actions and attitudes of people and analyzed them in terms of right or left brain dominance.
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