I am currently reading The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism by Katherine Stewart. I can’t read more than two chapters at a time because they scare me and make me angry at the same time. The chapter on “ Inventing Abortion” is eye opening and explains why the topic is used by these religious fanatics as a political ploy. What really scares me is how they have infiltrated so many parts of our government. These religious zealots want to turn America into a “Christian” nation with control over women and any non white person. All this is being done to obey and satisfy their god.
Curious if anyone has read any books by Paul Selig. I'm reading The Book of Mastery right now and finding it very moving.
I read about half of The Word. It was good but I couldn't get myself to finish it. I liked the exercises.
These posts got lost in recent glitch. Don't have authors.
Wheel of Time - The Eye of the World is the first book (don't start with the prequel).
Why read? Don't take my word for it. This guy is a pretty good reviewer. He makes an airtight case;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVq5izd9sF4
9.8.29. 3:50 PM EST
This series has nothing to do with spirituality etc. but it is my favorite bookseries of all time. I am a total fantasy nut and adored the LoTR movies, however, the Wheel of Time is my nr. 1 when it comes to story of any kind.
I started the journey in the 90s and although the writer, Robert Jordan, sadly passed, it was finished: 14 books of amazing stories, characters and battle between good and evil.
It has great philosophy as well (the world is a wheel with 7 eras that are repeated again and again) and puts women in power in a very interesting way.
I did not like Game of Thrones. The books were too violent for me and I believe the TV show is similar brutal. WoT isn't cute, but it glosses over horror like that which I am grateful for. There is stuff that is horrifying in concept (evil taken form in a cloud which haunts you in a pitch black travel route), but it is not described in a way that makes your skin crawl.
Anyway, if you're into fantasy, want to escape into a different world for a while (totally needed nowadays) or want to prepare for the series on TV (Amazon! Finally!). This is the true successor to Lot R and it's amazing.
9.8.20 7:30 pm EST: @moonbeam OMG yes! This is also my favorite book series of all time. Jordan is a master at combining a mind boggling number of disparate plotlines and characters all into one grand masterful story where everything turns out to be connected. I still marvel at the way he structured the books to mimic the way a wheel would weave each thread (character/plot) into a beautiful tapestry.
BTW, much of the philosophy is based on concepts from eastern religions, like the yin and yang symbol and the serpent eating itself.
@frank, or at least I think that last post was yours;-) yup I know! Jordan picked up a lot during his tour in Vietnam as well. The Wheel has a lot of Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism in its philosophy, which is exactly what makes it so amazing, don't you think? It starts off as the usual fantasy trope (which he intended) and then goes off in a whole new direction.
Hope more people will realize how amazing it is once the TV show is out. Fingers crossed it's better than GoT!
@lenor, great choice. The first 5 books are amazing! around 8 it hits a slight slump, but from 12 to 15 it is riveting once more. Also, if you're more into listening; the books are also put on audio books and the narrators did so very well.
Let us know what you think once you started reading? The more the merrier! There is a large fan community as well. Very loving and inclusive. They have their 'Jordan-con' every year to meet up and discuss the books and such.
This is the link to Daniel Greene listing of why to read WoT since the posts got a bit lost in the glitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVq5izd9sF4