Customer Reviews:
 Life changing May 2, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you are in the place to hear the wisdom and understand it, the truth within this book can change your life.
excellent book May 2, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a fantastic book that has really changed my life and my way of thinking.
Good book May 1, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
All right, this IS 2600 year old Buddhism, but it is a well written and insightful book. We get new books on Buddhism published every year, and we rank some of them high, don't we? E.Tolle's first book, The Power of Now, was really bad in comparison. The new book works for me, makes me think - and yes - more importantly it helps me stop think. And the latter, more or less, is what the whole striving is all about. Those who will respond to such writings in purely cognitive, analytical fashion will miss the mark. Or the book fails to work FOR them, admitted.
PS.Sakyong Mipham's "Turning the Mind into an Ally", to name one of recent Buddhist titles, can be even more strongly recommended, as its profound insights and more benign attitude seem to surpass what authors from our "collective pain body" region might be capable of offering.
 A TOTAL JOKE!!! May 1, 2008
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
I think I've found my true calling in life. Create a joke of a new age cult and get a self absorbed talk show host to peddle it and then the sheep will line up to purchase it. I couldnt get through chapter one. Please, a moment of silence for everyone throwing their money away, feel the oneness with your fellow sheep. I wish there was a zero star option!!!
 Spiritual Alchemy for the Busy Modern May 1, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
When I talk with most people about meditation, I usually end up listening to a litany of complaints about why they *can't* do it. "I've tried it, and my mind just can't sit still long enough to do it." "I'm too busy - who has time to sit still these days for a whole half hour?!"
In that vein, I enjoyed reading A NEW EARTH - and am enjoying its deserved success. No, Tolle doesn't say anything new here. You can get some of the same basic ideas, e.g., from the works of Pema Chodron (and you should). It's Tolle's presentation that matters. His words are plain and forceful; it's obvious on every page that he *gets* it. More importantly, he doesn't create a "plan of action"; rather, he gives techniques throughout the book that anyone can apply in their own lives, at any moment on any given day: being aware of your breathing; examining an object without naming it; asking who it is who's observing the thoughts and emotions coursing through your brain. A NEW EARTH is a spiritual practice for people averse to spiritual practices.
I've docked this book a bit because...well, I'm partial to meditation. :) Practicing meditation as taught by spiritual masters throughout the ages can greatly accelerate the weakening of the "voice" of the ego. Tolle's made remarks in interviews to the effect that a "spiritual practice" can easily degenerate into egoic excess. He's right. But I'd prefer he address this in the same manner that Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche did in his book CUTTING THROUGH SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM, rather than dispensing with spiritual practice altogether.
If you're new to any type of experiential spiritual tradition, A NEW EARTH is a great "gateway drug" to the richer teachings of the classic contemplative traditions (Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jewish or Christian mysticism).
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