Site Map: MAIN / This Page How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news. Isaiah 52:7
Good Mountain Press
On-Line Literary Reviews
Read ART Literary Reviews ^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ Read ARJ Literary Reviews
A Reader's Treasury — Journeys in Discovery
Today readers live in the midst of riches, which they neither value nor exploit, failing to realise that the application of attention is the magical act which transforms print and paper into bread and wine. And now, patient reader, read on!
— Robert Cecil in his Introduction to The King's SonA Reader's Treasury — Journeys in Discovery
Chapter 1: Evolution of Consciousness
Chapter 2: Quantum Reality
Chapter 3: Psychotherapy
Chapter 4: Spiritual Science
Chapter 5: Reading for Enjoyment
Chapter 6: Writing
Discover Freedom on the Half Shell
What are the oysters talking about? Click Here to find out.
Subscribe to our Monthly Digest now. Not sure you want to subscribe without reading it first? Good, we've accommodated you by placing a recent Digest on-line. Click Here. Want to read Bobby's FIQ — Famous and Interesting Quotes? Click Here Author's Comment:Read Bobby's Essay:
Art Is The Process of DestructionWhat Readers Have to Say about A Reader's Treasury: December 5, 2000: from Scottsdale, Arizona: I really enjoy your newsletter and web site...thanks! — Janet Tubbs, Children's Resource Center
December 1, 2000: from Norway: "I think you're doing a wonderful job with your reviews and posts - it's a great contribution to the online community and to culture in general." — Tarjei Straume
To Keep Up-to-date on Latest Reviews, Subscribe to our Good Mountain Press Monthly Digest now. To Return Here from that page, Click your BACK button when Ready. Not sure you want to subscribe without reading it first? No problem — we've accommodated you by placing a recent Digest on-line. Click Here.
Dear Readers:[an error occurred while processing this directive]Before I began writing reviews of books when I finished reading them back in 1987, I had about 860 books in my library that I had read before then, most of them read during the period of 1976 through 1986. These books comprise my early journeys of discovery into a variety of fields which I have summarized by the chapter headings of the book listed below. These are the same as the chapter headings of A Reader's Journal — Journeys into Understanding, my first book of reviews and essays into understanding.
Yes, most of the reviews I wrote became essays into understanding the books I read. I didn't write them with the purpose of publishing them — I wrote them as a prod to myself to probe the depths of the book, to "come to terms with the author" as Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren had urged readers to do in their classic book, How To Read A Book, which you will find reviewed under the Chapter Heading "WRITING" below.
I hesitated to even begin the task of writing 860 reviews. The very idea was daunting! Why if I attempted such a thing, I couldn't do anything else! When I expressed the idea to my wife, Del, she said, "Well, if you write one review a day, you will be done in about three years." I laughed at her temerity to suggest such a thing, but her words got me to thinking and planning: if I wrote two or three reviews a month, the project could be fitted into my other writing projects. This new webpage is one of the outcomes of that thinking and planning. It will contain the lastest reviews that are added to A Reader's Treasury as they are completed. As such it will be an on-going work in progress. The titles will mostly be added in alphabetic order by Author's last name as I go down the shelfways of my library. So if you return to look for new additions after a couple of weeks, look to the bottom of each chapter for the new additions.
These reviews will be often short ones because I read these books over twenty years or more ago. Some of the shorter ones I may re-read when I come across them to review. Illusions by Richard Bach, reviewed below, was such a book. What I hope to give you is a thumbnail of my own journeys of discovery that led me to where I began reading the books that grace the inside of A Reader's Journal.
One final note: Since these are reviews I've written recently of books I read about 20 to 30 years ago, they are special because they typically include many the things I thought important to me at the time when I read them. As I wrote a recent review of "Learning How to Learn", it occurred to me that the things I thought were important in this book back then were things that I have since assimilated into who I am today. These reviews provide a fourth dimensional mirror of me — the "me" I was some 25 years ago. That "me" was reading and studying material selected by the process of "remembering the future" in order to create the "me" I am today as I type these words. As one external sign which confirms my insight, my wife and partner of thirty years, Del, scribbled a note at one point as she was copy-editing the "Learning How to Learn" review, "Just like you!" Hope you enjoy these reviews, and while reading it may you "remember a future-you" who will much later find that these insights have become a part of you. If any review alone doesn't do it for you, then locate a copy of the book itself to read.
Read and Enjoy, in Freedom and Light,
Bobby Matherne, November 12, 2000
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ Quantum Reality ~^~^~^~^~^~^^~^~^~
Author (Last Name, First) Full Title of Book Reviewed Berger, Ralph Psyclosis — The Circularity of Experience Eddington, Sir Arthur The Philosophy of Physical Science — Lectures given to Trinity College, Cambridge, Easter Term 1938 Friedman, Norman Bridging Science and Spirit — Common Elements in David Bohm’s Physics, The Perennial Philosophy and Seth Pagels, Heinz The Cosmic Code — Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature Jones, Roger S. Physics as Metaphor — A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Human Side of Science
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ Spiritual Science ~^~^~^~^~^~^^~^~^~
Author (Last Name, First) Full Title of Book Reviewed Ansari, Djaleddin etal. Visits to Sufi Centres — Some Recent Research Papers on Sufis and Sufism Adler, Mortimer The Angels and Us Barbour, Ian G. Myths, Models, and Paradigms Hammitzsch, Horst Zen in the Art of the Tea Ceremony Roberts, Jane The "Unknown Reality" Volume 1, A Seth Book Roberts, Jane The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events, A Seth Book Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de: Wisdom of the Sands Schucman, Helen A Course in Miracles — Volume 1: Text Schucman, Helen A Course in Miracles — Volume 2: Workbook Khan, Hazrat Inayat The Art of Personality Volume 3 of the Sufi Message Khan, Hazrat Inayat The Alchemy of Happiness Volume 6 of the Sufi Message Idries Shah Learning How to Learn — Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ Reading for Enjoyment ~^~^~^~^~^~^^~^~^~
Author (Last Name, First) Full Title of Book Reviewed Adams, Douglas and Lloyd, John The Meaning of Liff Adams, Douglas The Hitcherhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Adams, Douglas Life, the Universe, and Everything Adams, Douglas Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency [also: The Long Dark Tea-time Soul] Allen, Steve How to Make a Speech Amis, Martin Time's Arrow Asimov, Isaac I, Robot and Foundation Auel, Jean M. The Valley of Horses Auel, Jean M. The Mammoth Hunters Bach, Richard Jonathan Livingston Seagull — A Novel Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Sonnets from the Portuguese Hoffenstein, Samuel The Complete Poetry of Samuel Hoffenstein Matherne, Bobby Zorkoff Rays, A Short Story Webster, Eric How to Win the Business Battle
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ Writing ~^~^~^~^~^~^^~^~^~
Author (Last Name, First) Full Title of Book Reviewed Adler, Mortimer and Van Doren, Charles How To Read A Book Adler, Mortimer How to Speak, How to Listen Elbow, Peter Writing Without Teachers Goldberg, Natalie Writing Down the Bones — Freeing the Writer Within Joubert, Joseph The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert — Edited and Translated by Paul Auster
~^~
Any questions about this review, Contact: Bobby Matherne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These books are all about going on. All the way. To our common destination. To which none of us wants to go ignorant and alone. Hence, into the dark, we write. Nancy Mairs in Voice Lessons
Click Left Photo for List of All ARJ2 Reviews Click Right Bookcover for Next Review in List Did you Enjoy this Webpage?
Subscribe to the Good Mountain Press Digest: Click Here!
CLICK ON FLAGS TO OPEN OUR FIRST-AID KIT.
Do you feel like you're swimming against a strong current in your life? Are you fearful? Are you seeing red? Very angry? Anxious? Feel down or upset by everyday occurrences? Plagued by chronic discomforts like migraine headaches? Have seasickness on cruises? Have butterflies when you get up to speak? Learn to use this simple 21st Century memory technique. Remove these unwanted physical body states, and even more, without surgery, drugs, or psychotherapy, and best of all: without charge to you.
Simply CLICK AND OPEN the
FIRST-AID KIT.