I propose a listing exercise with a very simple rubric. Add whatever you'd like but follow this format:
I recommend that, instead of reading [place name of book or name of author in blank], one might profit more from reading [place name of book or name of author in blank].
Just add to the list and include all of the previous entries, chain-letter style. Do not give your reasons on this thread but do consider, when you can get around to it, presenting your reasons and any compare & contrast exercise in a separate thread under this Reviews topic.
Feel free to do the same with movies, interchangeably. Just add movies and books to the same list. To wit: I recommend that, instead of watching [place name of movie or director/film star/producers in blank], one might profit more from watching [place name of movie or director/film star/producers in blank].
I'll kick it off:
1) Instead of reading Ken Wilber, one might profit more from reading Daniel Helminiak.
Originally posted by Brad: [qb] If you want to read a good book written by a scientist, don't read Contact, by Carl Sagan. Read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman. -----
Oops. Maybe I didn't do this right. Okay...
Instead of watching Katie Couric anchor the ABC Evening News (whenever that starts, if it hasn't already), go to NationalReviewOnline.com.
BN, could you design a book cover for How the West Was Won ( and what we must do to get it back) - a concise critique of Ken Wilber's influence on modern spirituality
Originally posted by Brad: [qb] JB, I will definitely work on this. Also, let me know which book by Daniel Helminiak that you recommend starting with. [/qb]
I recommend going to Visions of Daniel and, in the context of this particular recommendation, checking out his discussion of Wilber. But if you are wilber-fatigued,as we all get around here about twice a year, there is a lot of other stuff, too.
Oh, I know I made no mention of the forward, but I believe a notice of such a thing, at most, would be on the back jacket unless the forward was by someone really well-known like Henry Kissinger or something. But in all good humor and with the worst of intentions, I present the first draft of the forward of this upcoming book:
quote:
When I was first approached by John and Phil to become a part of this book project, I said "Hey, who really cares all that much about Mr. Ed�s owner? Besides, I didn�t even know that Alan Young was into spiritualism." But then JB set me straight, as he always does. "I�m not talking about a TV show from the 60�s, dingleberry. I�m talking about Ken Wilber, the guy who has on the homepage of his website an endorsement by Dr. Walsh which says �Ken Wilber is one of the greatest philosophers of this century and arguably the greatest theoretical psychologist of all time.� Well, I�m going to argue that point and I want you to give me some of those brilliant, fantastic, incredible, -- dare I even say ingenious? � comments of yours."
How could I refuse? So after negotiating for a percentage of the book profits (gross, not net�I insisted on this -- I won�t be cheated), I proceeded to read John and Phil�s book. I was amazed! I was excited. I was on the edge of my seat! The cover art for his book was just exquisite. And then, after first having a trucking company forklift in an Oxford Super-duper Unabridged English Dictionary next to the side of my reading chair (with a couple Websters and several online dictionaries at my fingertips as a backup), I delved into his book. I was amazed! I was excited. I was hermeneutically spellbound. Never before had I seen fallacies exposed, dissected, removed, and thrown into the trash bin in such rapid succession. The multi-syllable semi-intelligible words were flying off the page -- although come to think of it, most of those phrases are so heavy they wouldn�t fly if you strapped a Saturn V rocket onto them. But that�s beside the point.
This is a most insightful (and I dare say inciteful) book by a pair of true intellectual heavy weights of our time. I understand that both their wives have them on proper diets now though. I now feel I possess a most thorough understand of Wilberian thinking and why, up to this point, Ken�s techniques have left me feeling that there was a little something missing. Well, John and Phil provide all the missing parts and more. This book is a feast for the mind. If brain food had a cholesterol rating, this would be like eating raw goose liver. But it�s oh so satisfying.
I recommend that all my friends run out and buy this book immediately. But since that amount of sales would leave all of us in poverty, I urge everyone else to buy one too. Don�t miss this ground-breaking and dictionary-shattering tome. Your spiritual life will be the better for it. In fact, you�ll probably be a much nicer person too, although Bantam Publishing insists that I put a little disclaimer in here and mention that that was a joke and that by reading this book you won�t necessarily really become a better person. [But I think you will � the heck with them fussy lawyers.]
Posts: 5413 | Location: Washington State | Registered: 21 September 2001
Man alive, those are funny, Brad! And very well done! You should be a graphic artist. Oh, wait . . .
I'll pass on actually doing such a book, as I'm quite burned out on critiquing Wilberish writings at this time. But one could copy/paste JBs posts from a number of threads and come up with a JB metaphysics manuscript. One could start here (a thread I've bookmarked for nights as a bulwark against insomnia). The Afterword is already written.
