Sneaks' Book Reviews: 'Kryon: The End Times (New Information for Personal Peace) (Kryon Book 1) (1993)

Book: Kryon:The End Times: New Information for Personal Peace (Kryon Book 1)
Author: Lee Carroll 
Year: 1993

It has been a long damn while since I last posted a book review, so here is one I recently read. I have been re-reading lots of books I already read many times in the past and just haven't been keeping up on the reviews for them. The Kryon books, are a series of channeled writings by author Lee Carroll, which I personally have found to be quite enlightening and positive in terms of the visions for humanity's future here on Planet Earth. I am writing specifically for book one of that series, as there are many Kryon books and this first one was originally published back in 1993, yet it is highly and most relevant for our current times of rapid change and global transformation. For those who are open-minded and looking to hear some positive visions and information for humanity, check out this book. Also, these are available in audiobook format too. 

A Brief Book Review for 'The Art of Learning' by Josh Waitzkin (2007)

Book = The Art of Learning (2007)

Author = Josh Waitzkin

Rating = 5/5 Stars ****

I recommend that everyone read this book! Its a auto-biographical work about the author's life, and his approach to learning new skills and achieving excellence in his 2 primary fields of Chess and Tai Chi Chuan. Author Josh Waitzkin is not your average bear, he was a child-prodigy at chess (many time world champion and in various tournaments), as well as a world champion in the martial art of Tai Chi Chuan, and all of this before the age of 30! Whilst being a high-achiever is not for everyone, it is still inspiring to read this book because the author details his own personal experiences and how he worked through his various challenges, which is probably the most helpful way that a person can share an experience with others. I find this very approach to be important as it is the true-experience and method of a real person, and not just the common beliefs that society holds about how true learning and achievement of the highest order is actually attained. Thanks to the author we get a window into that world, which is no doubt a wonderful contribution. If you are striving for excellence or trying to learn new things (most of us are I would hope) then this book holds something for you, so check it out. For more info on the book the author has a website you can visit HERE.

Brief Book Review for 'A Course in Miracles' by Dr. Helen Schucman (1976)

Book = A Course in Miracles (1976)

Author = Dr. Helen Schucman

5/5 Stars *****

Today I am briefly reviewing a course/curriculum (just one part of a Universal Curriculum) called A Course In Miracles (ACIM) (first published in 1976), which includes not only the preface and text, but also the workbook for students, manual for teachers, clarification of terms, and supplements. This book/course is for those seeking a structured path and curriculum to find inner-peace in their daily life. I just finished the entire course, which took me over a year, as the workbook has 365 exercises, to be completed one a day over the course of a year. This book has helped me tremendously and in ways that are hard to describe with words or mental concepts. The course is really geared towards those of a judeo-christian background, and much of the language in the book is written in judeo-christian terms, however, you don't have to be of this background to benefit from this course. I was better able to understand the course after watching Eckhart Tolle's review and introduction to the book on the January 2011 issue of Eckart Tolle TV, which I would recommend watching first if you are considering doing this course. There really isn't that much else to say other than the course really speaks for itself and is one of the many pathways to discovering at least a few first inklings of stillness within yourself, although if it doesn't work for you then it doesn't work for you, and vice-versa. That all being said, the course is also available in digital formats etc, so head on over to the ACIM website HERE if you fancy more information. I highly recommend this course and give it 5/5 Stars!! Enjoy!

Brief Book Review for: 'The Golden City' (Author John Twelve Hawks) (2009)

 4/5 Stars ****
The Golden City is a novel by action/sci-fi author John Twelve Hawks. It was released in the USA in September of 2009, and it is the 3rd book in the Fourth Realm Trilogy. I highly recommend this series if you are a fan of sci-fi adventure books that have a fast pace and lots of action (eg Dan Brown books), because I can tell you by experience that you will not want to put this book down and will likely read the entire thing in one or just a few sittings. The 3 books in this trilogy follow a Harlequin-warrior named Maya and a Traveler named Gabriel, and many of the people around them as they fight an endless battle against a secret organization called the Tabula (aka the Brethren) who control the human population via most of the governments in the world, corporations, surveillance systems, financial transactions, and 1984-style Big Brother tactics. The whole lot of which is termed the Vast Machine. So they are the resistance fighting the never-ending struggle against this Vast Machine and those who seek total control and total force over all humanity. The themes are very similar to those of The Matrix, and they confront real life realities about many of the new technologies that have actually infiltrated our global society, the erosion of privacy and individual freedoms in the name of security, and of course what it all means from a somewhat schizophrenic point of view...its just a story kids....really...Check this trilogy out if you are into sci-fi, conspiracy thrillers, and lots of action.

Brief Book Review for 'Catcher in the Rye' (1951)

Catcher in the Rye (1951)

So I finally sat down and read this one, after years of intending to (honestly just never getting around to it), and also seeing it on that Top 100 BBC Books List that has been floating around the social networks this past year. Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, was written by author J.D. Salinger (who just past away a year ago in January 2010). After reading a little bit about the author's life (according to his wikipedia page) one comes to conclude that perhaps the book is actually written verbatim from his own personal experience of human interactions, and just going about his young-life in New York City for a few days. It is most definitely a book that will be less interesting to women, that is of course unless you wish to know how the mind of a young-male actually operates. This book also does a wonderful job of revealing the insanity of compulsive thinking, which is an affliction that affects almost every human being on the planet at present. I would recommend this book to you to read, especially if you are a male, and even if you a female too. I am not sure that I personally would put this book on the Top 100 of all time list, or consider it to really be one of the great American literary works as many do, but many acclaimed critics and people much more well read than I do. If it helps to unveil the insanity of the current state of human egoic consciousness to even a few people then more power to it. Check this one out!

Brief Book Review for "Island" (1962) by author Aldous Huxley

Island (1962) by Author Aldous Huxley

"Attention, Here and Now boys!!" I am not much of a book critic or whatever its called, but I do want to add some more content to this blog so here goes another book review. I just recently finished English author/writer Aldous Huxley's Island, which was published in 1962 and actually was the last book he released before he died in November of 1963. I would definitely recommend Island to anybody who is looking for some interesting reading, although it is not a fast-paced entertainment book by any means, however, it may leave you thinking critically about society and its many structures and why they are the way they are and if there could be a better way to do many things. The story is set on a fictional utopian-island-society called Pala, where an English oil-company ambassador (main characater Will Farnaby) becomes shipwrecked, while illegally surveying the coastline. Naturally may oil-companies are vying for a shot at winning the oil/industrial development contracts for Pala, but the society is yet to conform to the industrial-western model. The locals take him in and treat him medically at first, and he gets a good look for a few weeks at the society and starts to actually fall in love with it a bit. Much of the book isn't about plot so much as a peek into what an ideal society might look, as well as how transcendental experiences (drug-induced in many of his books) can open one's mind up to new ideas and better ways of living (or shake up some of the rigid and closed-off structures at least). Now, this may sound somewhat familiar to Huxley's other books/essays, such as the renowned Brave New World, or Doors of Perception, but I would personally say that this is my favorite of his books I've read so far, although I haven't read too many others to be honest, so take my reviews with a grain of salt full-stop. Be sure to check out the wikpedia page on this book HERE if you are interested in learning more about the book. And there it is, more brief book reviews to come!

Brief Book Review for "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle

I have deemed it now time to start adding a few book reviews onto this blog to enrich the content a bit more, which has been mostly music and a few movie reviews. So, here it is folks, my very first book review, and the book is....A New Earth, by author Eckhart Tolle: If you were to read one book of all the books out there I would recommend this one. Eckhart Tolle has written a few other books as well, including the well known Power of Now. I read the Power of Now about 13 years ago when I was in highschool still. Now I remember thinking that the stuff he was discussing and talking about made sense, but of course that was my first time being exposed to the material and it didn't really stick that well. A few years ago Tolle rolled out A New Earth, which I found to be much more palatable material, and well, it just clicked with me the first time I read it, and I think it would be the same for most people. Now, do not get me wrong and think that I am putting down the Power of Now in any way, now, when I re-read the Power of Now I find it much more digestible (is that a word?). Once you have been exposed to multiple sources/authors and spiritual teachers, and as you progress (if it can be called progress) down a Spiritual path that is right for you, you will naturally become familiar and multifaceted when it comes to this material. Thus, you will have been exposed to many different perspectives on the same topics, as well as have expanded range.

Now if I had to give an explanation for how I view the Power of Now vs A New Earth (and I would like to hear the views of others who are familiar with these books) I would describe the Power of Now as being more masculine or slightly more intense and in your face (I see the color green when I think of it, whatever that could mean), and I feel that the A New Earth is a step back, more gentle, and sort of leads you by the hand, so to speak through material that has become a bit clearer (color of lavender comes to mind when I think of it). Now Tolle is one particular filter through which the information comes into this world, as is anyone that the material comes through, and like all things, with time, these filters change, and so perhaps the teachings became clearer and that is why it was clearer, or perhaps it was me, or a combo of all the above. In the end I say read both of them, but for the purpose of this article A New Earth (and the audio-book version for all of you long-distance-commuters) is my first recommendation to those of you starting out on a spiritual path, or any path for that matter. I have included the intro excerpt to the audio-book as read by Eckhart Tolle, which was found on youtube.com, just to get you interested, enjoy...