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This text communicates the sense of Buddhism as a comprehensive whole, as it is a non-sectarian guide to the Buddha's essential teachings. ... Read more

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Coherent and Level Headed Introduction to Buddhism
This book presents a level headed introduction to Buddhism. It starts with a brief historical account of the life of the Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama who eventually becomes what is known as the Buddha. It then goes on to document when and where Buddhism spread.

Buddhism is not a simple religion. It is very old and naturally attracts intellectuals. Ask a Christian what Christianity is and you will most likely get the twenty five words from John 3:16. Ask a Buddhist what Buddhism is and you will most probably get a four hour lecture.

This book does a good job at trying to answer that question. It attempts to document the various turnings, collections, traditions, lineages, schools, councils, trainings, canons, vehicles, motivations, and philosophies that have arisen out of Buddhism. Like any good teaching text, it introduces the various concepts incrementally. It starts off a subject from a high level viewpoint then returns to that subject over time, adding layer upon layer, in a way that is easy to digest.

The usual introductory materials are visited here including the four noble truths and the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. What was a surprise for me was the quite short treatment of the eight fold path and a long discourse and what they called the five paths which is new to me.

A must for every practitioner's library
As noted by the previous reviewer, "Ways" is somewhat a summary of the Ju Mipham's Gateway To Knowledge, itself a compendium of essential tenets of the first and second turnings of the wheel of dharma.Lama Mipham draws largely (but not exclusively) from the Abhidhamrakoa of Vasubandhu, and the Abhidharmasamuccya of Asanga.As such he provides a thorough overview of the essential doctrines which underpin the second and third turning teachings, and which, therefore, are also essential for an understanding of the Vajrayana. However, "Gateway to Knowledge", translated brilliantly by Eric Pema Kunsang Schmidt, is extremely concise and compact. As such it is useful either when accompanied by a commentary, or if the reader already has a great deal of familiarity with the views of the schools of the foundational vehicle and of the Mahyna. Lacking either of those two, it is a challenging read for the beginner. Which is what makes "Ways of Enlightenment" such a treasure; it unpacks a great deal of the contents of "Gateway" in extremely user-friendly language. Of course it does so by sacrificing some of the content of Gateway, and without giving deep commentary either. Nonetheless, the commentary in "Ways" is very useful, and wholly up to the task of helping the student gain a good, working understanding of many essential tenets. However, in addition to summarizing "Gateway", "Ways" also includes a fine introduction to Buddhism beginning with the life of the Buddha, his teachings, and the transmission of Buddhadharma after his parinirvana. Thus, taken altogether, "Ways of Enlightenment" is an extremely useful sourcebook for students of Buddhist thought, as well as for practitioners. It is a book that one will turn to again and again, I'm sure.

Brilliant overview of the Dharma
This is a book I can recommend to anyone interested in Buddhism. Ways of Enlightenment is based on the Tibetan Nyingmapa scholar Mipham's encyclopedic Gateway to Knowledge. The book gives in a quite accessible waythe fundamentals of the Dharma. The reader is given a detailed and almostschematic description of the five skandhas, cause and effect, emotionalafflictions, and so on. It is a book that will make it easier for theWestern Dharma practitioner to actually grasp the theories behindmeditation. ... Read more

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Centering on five life stories by Chinese women activistsborn just after the turn of this century, this first history ofChinese May Fourth feminism disrupts the Chinese Communist Party'smaster narrative of Chinese women's liberation, reconfigures thehistory of the Chinese Enlightenment from a gender perspective, andaddresses the question of how feminism engendered social changecross-culturally.

In this multilayered book, the first-person narratives arecomplemented by a history of the discursive process and the authorssophisticated intertextual readings. Together, the parts form afascinating historical portrait of how educated Chinese men and womenactively deployed and appropriated ideologies from the West in theirpursuit of national salvation and self-emancipation. As Wangdemonstrates, feminism was embraced by men as instrumental to China'smodernity and by women as pointing to a new way of life.

"Rarely does a reviewer or publisher encounter a milestone: this isit. It is the first major study of the development of Chinese feminismin what is arguably the most formative period in the history of modernChina. In its women-centered approach, the book challenges theofficial women's history authored by the Chinese Communist Party andlong accepted by Euro-American scholars. This book will set the agendafor future scholars researching the relationship between feminism andnationalism in China."--Dorothy Ko, author of Teachers of theInner Chambers ... Read more

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A review
Wang Zheng¡¦s Women in the Chinese Enlightenment presents five personal narratives of women who were deeply affected by May Fourth and the political turmoil in almost the entire 20th century.In Part One of her book, Wang also launches her version of the history of China after the MayFourth era as the background for her oral narratives.Her textual historysupplements what Gilmartin takes for granted in Engendering the ChineseRevolution, for example she explains and redefines feminism and its closerelationship with nationalism in the May Fourth era, how feminism was usedfor political cause by the nationalists, the CCP and the GMD, and how thewomen¡¦s movement evolved and changed in different periods.In a way, shedeconstructs the generalization of ¡§feminism¡¨ and ¡§women¡¦s movement¡¨.Moreover, she does not stop at 1927, but argues that ¡§feminism did not¡¥fail¡¦ or disappear at that point.¡¨¡§Rather,¡¨ she continues, ¡§as aviable discourse, New Culture feminism continuous affected the historicalprocesses of twentieth-century China.A whole generation of educated womenwith a new subjectivity were both constituted by and contributed to thefeminist discourse in China.¡¨ (359)She asserts that those new womenbrought or sustained institutional changes and enabled Chinese women¡¦ssocial advancement in the first half of the century by pursuing¡§independent personhood¡¨.Furthering Gilmartin¡¦s search for the¡§language and rituals of women¡¦s emancipation¡¨ the CCP kept after 1949,she argues that the first Marriage Law in 1950 which was drafted by MayFourth feminists, the general secretary¡¦s speech in 1996socialist-feminist visions of public kitchens, nurseries, and other socialwelfare facilities for women ¡§tell a story of continuous feministcontestation within the system of the party-state. (360)Women¡¦s issuessuch as women¡¦s equal legal rights have been incorporated in the politicaldiscourse because ¡§gender equality and modernity were cemented so fast bythe New Culturalists that no Chinese ruling group claiming to lead thenation toward modernity has openly tried to separate them.¡¨ (360)Sheadmits that the CCP¡¦s ideology became the dominant one, but she alsoattempts to show how women contested and negotiated their feminist interestwithin the dominant political discourse.

Even though Wang uses oralaccounts of women to challenge the dominant official history of the CCP,she believes that the influence of the May Fourth era and liberal feminismis indisputable.Her goal is to ¡§highlight the unique experience of theMay Fourth women and simultaneously illuminate the differences andsimilarities between Chinese and Euro- American women¡¦s struggles forliberation.¡¨ (6) I am baffled by the author¡¦s purpose.Even though shemaintains that she is aware of poststructuralist criticism and counterargues that she is only concerned with ¡§what might have been useful forChinese women in their struggle for social advancement and improvement¡¨,and that Western liberalism ¡§provided a discourse of resistance,facilitating Chinese men¡¦s and women¡¦s struggles against the hegemonicConfucian framework¡¨ and it was ¡§actively deployed and appropriated byvarious Chinese social groups in their pursuit of self-interest andnational interest¡¨ (361),it seems that Wang takes in the story of womensubordination and emancipation (as in Croll¡¦s book) without questioningit.I am not sure how much of the oral narratives is edited and rearrangedto present that story that ¡§highlights¡¨ the May Fourth influence, but Isuspect that she has overemphasized the power of May Fourth in some of theoral narratives. Also, I do not understand why the author needs tocompare China with what happen in Europe and America. Is it to prove thatwomen¡¦s movement in China take a path on its own? Or to show there that¡§universal womanhood¡¨ does not exist?Or to argue that Chinese feministswere so much better because they did not embrace the notions of femaleinferiority associated with the sex binary as the West?

Wang¡¦s goal ofwriting the book is inspiring and ambitious, as she says: ¡§My study grewout of both a political interest in deconstructing the CCP¡¦s myth ofChinese women¡¦s liberation and an intellectual dissatisfaction withstories about women that lacked women as protagonists.¡¨ (2)Her method ofusing oral histories greatly stimulates my interest. By presenting analternative micro-history, she is successful in debunking a macro-historyand teleological view, one that does not contain women as agents or actors.The discordant noises in these accounts help the readers to rethink aboutthe contradictions, to deconstruct and demystify what has been written, andperhaps to reconstruct a fuller picture closer to the ¡§truth¡¨.It isespecially important in Wang¡¦s case since she thinks that the history wehave now is male-oriented and it is necessary to supply what those textscannot do.However, I somehow think that her combination of oral andtextual histories makes her book less approachable. In Part I of thebook, the author informs (mesmerizes?) the reader with her questions andarguments, after that it seems the oral histories cannot be read withoutthe author¡¦s surveillance.(Not to mention that the narrative istranslated, edited, and selectively presented by the author.) Furthermore,the author attaches her interpretation after each narrative, thus thereader is further subjected to the author¡¦s psychoanalysis of thenarrator.The role of the reader as a critic is limited, and both thenarrator and the reader have to entrust the author with the storytelling. Nevertheless, it is a relief to know that the author is well aware of thepositions of the interviewer and interviewee, and the limitations andeffects of oral histories.I am notice that the interviewees were alleducated women who lived in Shanghai for most part of their lives, and theywere included intentionally because they were eager to participate inhistory-writing (from the author¡¦s point of view) and the author believesthat ¡§the richest and most colorful stories were told by those who hadmany accomplishments before 1949 but were reduced to marginal positions inthe Mao era.¡¨ (123)

Wang is successful in showing the relationshipbetween feminist groups and other political forces, the struggle of thewomen in those political forces, and the hypocrisy of the male leaders inthe Communist party. Even though the discourse of women¡¦s movement wasat first created by men, women were inspired by the man-made feministdiscourse and responded to it actively. The author successfully shows theiractive participation and how they were very different from the new womenimages constructed by the male writers. (62) She also tries to show theconflict between the belief independent personhood and the dominantideology and how the search for independence was reflected in the women¡¦slives. This belief, together with an independent women¡¦s movement, wasdropped after Marxism came into play and socialist revolution became thefirst and foremost goal. To me, it seems that women¡¦s emancipation hadalways been used to serve a larger purpose.It was used to overthrowfeudalism and tradition when nationalism was professed.Only because theanti-oppression proclamation fit well in both nationalistic and feministpurposes that there were no obvious conflicts.Despite that, Wangdemonstrates how gender hierarchy persisted even in the early 20s bytelling the story of Lu Xun and his wife: ¡§the male champions¡¦ sense ofsuperiority as well as their cultural entitlement to privilegesunchallenged but sustained in an age of unprecedented agitation forwomen¡¦s emancipation.¡¨ She uses the history of the ¡§Ladies¡¦ Journal¡¨to reveal the change in ideologies in the women¡¦s movement and howwomen¡¦s reaction to the publication affect the journal. ................... ... Read more

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The idea that society progresses through stages of development, from savagery to civilization, arose in eighteenth-century Europe. Albert Craig traces how Fukuzawa Yukichi, deeply influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, “translated” the idea for Japanese society, both enriching and challenging the concept.

Fukuzawa, an official in the Tokugawa government, saw his career collapse when the shogunate ended in 1867. Reinventing himself as a thinker and writer, he made his life work the translation and interpretation of the Western idea of the stages of civilization. He interpreted key Scottish intellectuals— Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, William Robertson, John Millar; relied on American geographies to help explain how societies progress; and focused on invention as a key to civilization.

By defining the role of “less developed” nations in the world order, Fukuzawa added a new dimension to the stage theory. But by the end of the 1880s, he had come to dismiss the philosophy of natural rights as “the fatuous idealism of Christian ministers.” Though civilization—as represented by Britain—was still his goal for Japan, he no longer saw the West as a uniformly beneficial moral force.

This engaging history offers an illuminating look at an important figure and the world of ideas in nineteenth-century Japan.

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Although Adam Smith is often thought of today as an economist, he was in fact (as his great contemporaries Hume, Burke, Kant, and Hegel recognized) an original and insightful thinker whose work covers an immense territory including moral philosophy, political economy, rhetorical theory, aesthetics, and jurisprudence.Charles Griswold has written the first comprehensive philosophical study of Smith's moral and political thought.Griswold sets Smith's work in the context of the continuing debate about the nature and survival of the Enlightenment, and relates it to current discussions in moral and political philosophy.Smith's appropriation as well as criticism of ancient philosophy, and his carefully balanced defense of a liberal and humane moral and political outlook, are also explored.This is a major reassessment of a key figure in modernity that will be of particular interest to philosophers and political and legal theorists, as well as historians of ideas, rhetoric, and political economy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Best Analysis of 'Moral Sentiments'
Jerry Muller (The Mind and the Market) said this is the best commentary on Adam Smith's 'Moral Sentiments' and he is right! Griswold provides a thoughtful and understandable analysis of Smith's 'theory' of moral sentiments.

His explanation of the 'actor' and the 'spectator', the 'impartial spectator', the conscience,and just what 'morality' means to Smith are so clear. Griswold raises possible objections to Smith's system and answers them satisfactorily, showing a keen 'sympathy' with the topic he is so ably handling.

This book is a must, not only for Smith scholars, but for anyone interested in what morality is all about and how it all developed (and is still developing).

Buy this great work and have a mental and moral feast!

A Solid Effort!
Put on your scuba gear - we're diving down deep. Even though Charles L. Griswold, Jr. writes in a dense, academic style, it is worth swimming through his prose to learn about the remarkable work of 18th-century Enlightenment philosopher Adam Smith. Regarded as one of the fathers of modern economic thought, Smith has been misunderstood for the last century because his ethical philosophy has been overlooked. Instead, economists have drawn attention only to his thumbs-up for free enterprise and free trade. Smith believed neither was worthwhile without ethics, a point some modern economists might profitably revisit. We [...] highly recommend this richly detailed, insightful book to anyone interested in economic, political, or social philosophy.

Smith's morality given the weight it deserves
Griswold's book is pitched squarely between the academic of, and the interested newcomer to, the Enlightenment. It gives a refreshingly new outlook over enlightenment ideas as a whole, to illustrate the back drop to Adam Smith's moral notions. In examining the key themes in 'The Theory Of Moral Sentiments' with reference to Smith's whole body of work, Griswold is rare in attributing, to the work, the importance and weight it deserves. Books that focus on Adam Smith's moral philosphy are rare and this book is by no means a weak example of them. If you are at all interested in Adam Smith, and particularly those interested in 'The Wealth of Nations' you need to look at his moral roots, and Griswold's book is an excellent secondary text to look at. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

this reads like an encyclodpedia, but is essential
This book is about the education of the intellectuals of the Enlightenment.While it is very interesting to trace how their minds developed - how they mastered and began to question the works of the masters of antiquity in a manner far more daring than the scholars of the Renaissance - it is so encylopediac that it impedes the narrative.In other words, I got bored and literally set it down for years.However, this is the work of a first-rate historian and so may have been too sophisticated for an amateur like me.(I like history, but this guy has READ EVERYTHING in the original, which I cannot.)Once I picked it up again, I did indeed enjoy it.Rather heavy handedly, Gay argues that what they concluded was that Christianity was a fiction and could not be true.Readers should know this.While I am somewhere on the spectrum between atheism and agnosticism, what I interpreted as Gay's atheism is even a bit too much for me.

I learned an immense amount about this period here, perhaps the most pivotal of the modern world.While a bit much, if taken in the right way it is a great guide to many of the debates that continue to this day and that originated with these intellectuals.However, I look forward to the next book, which is about what they did in a practical institutional sense rather than what and how they thought (covered by this first volume).

Recommended, but it is serious scholarly study rather than vacation reading! ... Read more

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The problems, purposes and methods of history writing have been the subject of varied debate for almost three millennia. This book is a collection of views on a range of fundamental historical questions by Western historians from early Greece to the end of the 18th century. ... Read more

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A book full of abstracts.
I am currently using this book as a textbook for my history class. This is a book not intended for one to learn more about history or historians, but it is more aimed to give you a feel on what kind of material historianswrote.Kelley tends to shy away from giving detail about historians andfocuses on their writings instead. He provides very little informationabout historians (about a paragraph), but he shares very intersting samplesof that historian.It is a excellent book for studying historians'writings and it helps one find a historian that you might want to choosefor further research. Instead of looking at 100 different books trying tolook at different patterns in historical writings, one can just read thisbook.Kelley did a great job in researching and writing this book andreacing his intentions.The only fall back, and it is a huge one, is thathe does not give enough information on each historian.Unless you havestudied these historians in the past, you will not gather a lot ofbackground on them from this book, but you will find a great example ofthier works. ... Read more

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A coherent, elegant philosophic edifice constructed with well-crafted essays
This is a superb book.The editor has assembled a carefully crafted collection of pieces that, brick by brick, make the author's case for his perspective on Enlightenment history.And the author, of course, has provided the essays themselves, written with elegance, maturity, and wisdom.Each chapter takes a piece of the puzzle, whether it deals with the Enlightenment in Scotland, or change and ferment in religious orthodoxy, or a willingness by early historians of the period to break from a deductive, religious causality, or the different approaches to history in various European countries, and gradually builds the case for the profound change in writing history that occurred in 18th century Great Britain.For an American, the author's analysis has the added appeal of putting in perspective the intellectual milieu that existed at the time our Founders were formulating their views on independence from Great Britain and how a new nation should govern itself.

Another Superb Collection of Hugh Trevor-Roper Essays
This collection of essays by the late Hugh Trevor-Roper, who died in 2003, is particularly welcome given the recent publication of Adam Sisman's fine biography of Trevor-Roper (also reviewed on Amazon). As Sisman explains, T-R was looked down a bit, despite his fine accomplishments, because he never published the "big book" that was expected. But as Sisman also explains, and this collection demonstrates, T-R more than made up for this shortcoming, if that is what it was, by publishing scads of wonderful essays which established his reputation as the finest historical essayist of the 20th century. T-R's unique mastery of this form of historical writing is much evident in this collection, edited by John Robertson of St. Hugh's College, Oxford.

Robertson's "Editor's Introduction," puts the various essays to follow into a helpful context, especially for those who are not familiar with T-R and his interests. Robertson has also taken much care with the essays' notes, supplementing some and adding references where none was published with the essay. In his appendix, "A Guide to Later Scholarship," he discusses some more recent work that pertains to T-R's topics. This update is very helpful because the essays were published mainly in the 1960's, 1980's, with the most recent being published in 1997.

The essays themselves, all tied somehow to the enlightenment and the writing of history, reflect some of T-R's most central interests.For example, there are three perceptive essays on Edward Gibbon, long a T-R favorite. I came to a much better understanding of why Gibbon is so important, both to the discipline of history, as well as to our substantive knowledge. The Scottish Enlightenment, an area in which T-R got even the Scots to take an interest, pops up in several of the essays, including a very interesting one on David Hume. Surprising to me, T-R devotes one essay to Sir Walter Scott and his contributions to the "romantic movement and the study of history."Thomas Carlyle was introduced to me in a study of his historical philosophy; I knew the name but never had read any of his work. Similarly, Lord Macaulay and his dominance of English history is examined under T-R's microscope.Finally, an essay on the Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt concludes the collection. Other essays discuss Pietro Giannone, Dimitrie Cantemir, and Conyers Middleton.

A typically trenchant T-R essay on "The Historical Philosophy of the Enlightenment," commences the volume, and it is T-R at his best. Great in learning; incisive in analysis; uniting in one thesis many different strings of topics; and just a pleasure to read.This essay gives T-R a chance to discuss another of his favorite topics, Montesquieu and his enormous impact on both the writing of history and the enlightenment. An interesting theme developed in this essay is how the French Revolution impacted on the writing of history.One can only stand in amazement as to how much one learns from reading these essays, which are packed with information and challenging ideas, and yet are just fun to read as well. If only more intellectual history were this sparkling! ... Read more

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'Every Scot should read it. Scotland now has the lively, provocative and positive history it deserves.' Irvine Welsh, GuardianA dramatic and intriguing history of how Scotland produced the institutions, beliefs and human character that have made the West into the most powerful culture in the world.Arthur Herman argues that Scotland's turbulent history, from William Wallace to the Presbyterian Lords of the Covenant, laid the foundations for 'the Scottish miracle'. Within one hundred years, the nation that began the eighteenth century dominated by the harsh and repressive Scottish Kirk had evolved into Europe's most literate society, producing an idea of modernity that has shaped much of civilisation as we know it. He follows the lives and work of thinkers such as Adam Smith and David Hume, writers such as Burns and Boswell, as well as architects, technicians and inventors, and traces their legacy into the twentieth century. Written with wit, erudition and clarity, The Scottish Enlightenment claims the Scots' rightful place in the history of the western world. ... Read more

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Great book with great shipping
This is a fantastic book.The Scottish Enlightenment is greatly overlooked by most historians and professors.This book gives a great look at the Scottish Enlightenment, and its influence on the rest of the world.If you are interested in the Enlightenment, this is a must read.Understanding that Europe looked to Scotland in the late 18th century for what was civilization, you can see that France and England were not the only ones going through an Enlightenment, and they were not the most advanced during that time.Voltaire once said "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation." It should be noted that it is the exact same book as How the Scots Invented the Modern World, apparently the US title. ... Read more

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What has happened to the magic of learning? Playful illusions,spellbinding games, and lifelike automata were once integral toeducation. Artful Science reveals the exhilarating but paradoxicalintertwining of enchantment with enlightenment in the early modernperiod. A cross-disciplinary guide to intellectual high and low life ofthe eighteenth century, Artful Science makes the case for thepedagogical opportunities inherent in an oral-visual culture. BarbaraStafford draws on an extraordinary range of historical sources andpopular imagery, exploring from a new perspective the perceptualcognition that she so deftly analyzed in Body Criticism. Herimportant reinterpretation also casts many well-studied paintings asinstances of an instructive art of demonstration. Artful Science opensby describing the evolution of mathematical recreations and theirrelationship to the middle class's increasing leisure time. Subsequentchapters focus on the problem of distinguishing legitimate science fromvirtuoso fraud; the public performance of experiments; and earlyattempts to create informative and attractive natural history exhibits.Throughout, Stafford emphasizes the concern for telling truth fromfiction in a world of alluring technology. The enlighteners' relentlessassociation of sensory evidence with deception led to the submergence ofa "tricking" oral-visual culture by "serious" mass literacy drives,Stafford observes. Yet sophisticated teaching techniques and ingeniouslearning machines made abstractions concrete and appealing toever-widening eighteenth-century audiences. With the modern computergraphics revolution always in view, Artful Science suggests fresh meansfor putting intelligence, enjoyment, and communicative power back intothinking with images. ... Read more

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Beginning in the 1730s, Heather Minor tells us, Rome began to resemble one huge construction site, with a series of ambitious and expensive new building campaigns that transformed the face and substance of Rome. From renovations of the Santa Maria Maggiore and San Giovanni in Laterano and the restoration of the Arch of Constantine, to the creation of the Capitoline Museum and the establishment of the papacy's Calcografia, the push for reform not only renewed papal and Church identity but also revived Italian culture as a whole. Based on extensive archival research and full of fascinating stories about the often stormy theological and intellectual debates central to the attempts at reform, The Culture of Architecture in Enlightenment Rome brings to life the personalities of architects, theologians, and intellectuals and links these extensive architectural programs with powerful shifts in the intellectual climate of the time. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

informative but poorly written
I guess this is what passes for history these days. Make sure you pay homage to every point of view at every time and at every place, and never mind about organization. There's no doubt that Weber knows his subject, but come on, it's like he took all his notecards from a lifetime of research, shuffled them a few times, dropped them on the floor, and then wrote this book in the order that he picked them up. This book is all over the map, both figuratively and literally. I understand that all historical narrative is necessarily flawed, by point of view, cultural bias, etc., but hey, give me credit for having the intelligence to uncover these flaws myself. A work like this demands structure, which unfortunately this book does not have. I rate this book three stars only because there is a wealth of information in here. But be prepared to dig!

Insight into the complexity of Spanish colonialism in the Americas
Although this is a masterly piece of scholastic writing by perhaps the pre-eminent historian of Spanish colonialism in the Americas, it is also a vivid read for the non-scholar (such as myself).If you believe that the Spanish relationship to the native people in their American colonies was a consistently brutal and usurious one, this book will give you an appreciation of how highly varied and sometimes very moral (in the morality of the day), it actually was, especially toward the end.

... Read more

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This book is an evolving theory about the human condition and the true nature of reality.The theory states the laws of human energy dynamics that include the premise that all human stress, depression, anxiety, and conflict come from the perceived unfair or unequal exchange of human energy.The theory put forth utilizes the laws of physics from the physical realm and translates these same laws into human beings and human behavior.The theory clearly states that all human behavior is one hundred percent defensive, protective, selfish, self-centered, self-serving and is done so the human in question can avoid, relieve, reduce, or eliminate all forms of conceivable human suffering (self-destructive and suicidal behavior explained).The more we feel threatened and consequently suffer, the more selfish we become.There are no such things as selflessness, sacrifice, martyrs, or heroes because everything a person does or thinks about himself or herself has the subconscious and/or conscious goal of relieving suffering.Everything is a defense against suffering.The theory/philosophy presented in this book explains why people act the way they do, and why life is a brutal, fierce competition for scarce, finite, ultimately impersonal, ultimately impartial, and ultimately neutral human energy.All inevitable stress and conflict come from the entitlement people feel for this powerful invisible force (human energy), and there just isn't enough to go around to satisfy each person's unique entitlement issues.Even though this book talks about an inherent order to human beings with regards to energy, it is a very spiritual book meant to help people make sense of their lives and take the mystery out of why things happen they way they do.Once the reader becomes enlightened (aware) to the true nature of reality, only then can the human species evolve to a place where we can talk about what we are experiencing here on earth accurately.The final frontier for mankind is not o ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Sophistry and cowardness
I just bought this book from Amazon and began reading it. The author makes some interesting observations about humans' need to feel important and not feel guilty about it, but it seemed a little too abstract. I decided to start skimming after 50 pages and cut to the end, p. 272-3, where he discusses our egos and that War in Iraq.

First he states a kind of moral equavalence between the West and the Hussein's Iraq, saying that there is no good and evil, just a competition for scarce respect resources. Then the author says this on p. 273:

"Q. Why are the victims of September 11, 2001 heroes?
A. It makes us feel better to call them this. Since when does a hero sit at his desk and have a plane run into him? Anyone can do that and it doesn't take skill or anything to unknowingly have a plane crash into your office space. As far as the people who died trying to help - since when are heroes people who are/were conditioned on a certain trajectory in life to help other people in life and whose job and duty it is to help in such a crisis?"

There you have it. A brutal, vulgar insult to office worker victims and the police and firefighters who died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. This is beyond despicable. Now we see why the author didnot give his real name.

First I want to say that many of the office worker victims knew they would die and faced it bravely when they called their families and told them they loved them for the last time. Secondly the police and fire fighters were heroes the day the applied to join their agencies and the day they were sworn in. This cowardly author's attempt to denigrate them with his sophistry doesn't make them any less of heroes, many of them coming voluntarily from miles away while off duty to try to rescue people trapped in the Twin Towers.

I am sorry I bought this book, but I at least saw what a vile narcissist thinks and it will help me to recognize one in the future.

This book has a message that all with troubles should hear
I just received this book as a gift from my family which has seen me grow more distressed and depressed over the last few years as my life was not turning out as I had hoped.I COULD NOT PUT THE BOOK DOWN.IT HAS SAVED ME.

I have read many so-called self-help books in an attempt to figure out why I felt the way that I do.Enlightenment through Entitlement clearly explained the causes of my stress and has helped me to see past those problems.Now, I no longer hate life and am ready to continue living.

If you have troubles and doubts, this is the book (and the message) for you.

A clue into the physical symptoms of depression
I just received this for Christmas and couldn't put it down! This book helps to explain why people with depression have absolutely no energy. By explaining how lifelong interactions with other people is a giving and taking of energy, it helps to validate this very physical symptom of depression. As a person in a profession who sees many people with depression, this book can help guide these people to a path of healing and enlightenment.

The New Leader in Reality is Here
This book explains reality like it has never been explained before.If you suffer from depression or any other "mental illness" this book is a must read.You will soon discover that the root cause of all your problems is deeply rooted in your entitlement issues for human energy.

up-lifting and easy to follow
This book takes you on a journey.You can feel it talk to you and your experiences.It helps you understand that being selfish is natural.We all seek to better ourselves, to receive energy from others and from our environment.Understanding how we behave relieves our stress, and gives us the freedom to better ourselves.This book is anti-drugs, except if you think they are helpful.It puts you in control of yourself. ... Read more

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Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod is the founding fable of American science, but Franklin was only one of many early Americans fascinated by electricity. As a dramatically new physical experience, electricity amazed those who dared to tame the lightning and set it coursing through their own bodies. Thanks to its technological and medical utility, but also its surprising ability to defy rational experimental mastery, electricity was a powerful experience of enlightenment, at once social, intellectual, and spiritual.

In this compelling book, James Delbourgo moves beyond Franklin to trace the path of electricity through early American culture, exploring how the relationship between human, natural, and divine powers was understood in the eighteenth century. By examining the lives and visions of natural philosophers, spectacular showmen, religious preachers, and medical therapists, he shows how electrical experiences of wonder, terror, and awe were connected to a broad array of cultural concerns that defined the American Enlightenment. The history of lightning rods, electrical demonstrations, electric eels, and medical electricity reveals how early American science, medicine, and technology were shaped by a culture of commercial performance, evangelical religion, and republican politics from mid-century to the early republic.

The first book to situate early American experimental science in the context of a transatlantic public sphere, A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders offers a captivating view of the origins of American science and the cultural meaning of the American Enlightenment. In a story of shocks and sparks from New England to the Caribbean, Delbourgo brilliantly illuminates a revolutionary New World of wonder.

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The High Heeled Guide to Enlightenment is the must have book for females who are looking to connect to something other than their internet provider! Alice Grist jumps stilettos first into all things spiritual and conjures up an entertaining, witty and honest account of her search for Enlightenment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Door Opener for Anyone ready to Embark on Their Own Journey Toward Enlightenment
"The High-heeled Guide to Enlightenment is the must have book for feisty females who are looking to connect to something other than their Internet provider!"

When I first read this sentence, my curiosity stood on full alert, and I couldn't wait to find out what this book was all about. I ordered the title on Amazon, and just a few days later I had the opportunity to find out for myself.

In The High Heeled Guide to Enlightenment Alice Grist takes the reader on a journey across the board of alternate spiritualities. Rather than delving into one practice alone, the reader is skillfully led to widen spiritual boundaries through the exploration of different practices, ranging from Wicca to Buddhism, Shamanism, Kabbalah and Feng-Shui.

Rather than being a main course dish, The High Heeled Guide to Enlightenment is a sampler platter offering something for everybody. In fact, while I am not a follower of many of the practices discussed, I found their descriptions fascinating and informative. I particularly enjoyed one chapter on coincidences and patterns, and once I finished reading it I found that some of the concepts were expressed in such a fresh, new voice that couldn't fail to charm anyone gifted with an open mind.

The dynamic writing style and the unique approach employed by the author make this book a delightful read for anyone willing to expand one's knowledge and personal boundaries. For the spiritual beginner, it is a must-read guide necessary to learn more about, and differentiate, the different paths; for those already intimately connected with some of the paths, The High heeled Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment is a great reference book aimed at shedding light on some of the roads less traveled.

A wonderful door opener for anyone ready to embark on their own journey toward enlightenment.






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Clear instructions on the foundation practices that illuminate the heart of tantric practice. ... Read more