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The Tenth Insight : Holding the Vision

The Secret of Shambhala : In Search of the Eleventh Insight

The Celestine Vision : Living the New Spiritual Awareness

The Purpose of Your Life : Finding Your Place in the World Using Synchronicity, Intuition, and Uncommon Sense

God and the Evolving Universe : The Next Step in Personal Evolution

The Celestine Prophecy : A Pocket Guide to the Nine Insights

The Celestine Prophecy : An Experiential Guide

The Celestine Prophecy - An Adventure
by James Redfield

When a book comes along that strikes an immediate like or dislike in its readership you know it's going to be the subject of great debate in any book club.

Well, The Celestine Prophecy most definitely falls into this category. At Amazon.com there were 419 reviews submitted on this one (at my last check) - most ranging from "Loved It!" to "Hated It!" Here is a snapshot of what some readers had to say:

• "not only a fantastic book, it is also essential"
• "the writing is not the best, but the message is what is important"
• "What a mess."
• "if you have not read it then it is extremely important that you do so as soon as possible"
• "if mankind really used such a large amount of spirituallity as Mr. Redfield ficticiously implies-this truly would be a perfect world."
• "has made a huge impact on how I see the world"
• "Anyone who has even scratched the surface of spirituality knows what all of the insights are-and the book seems to be an exercise in tedium."
• "This book is the best thing that has ever happend to me"
• "What I find most interesting about this review section is not that people are incapable of enjoying the book, but that they are so adamant on proving their dislike for it."
• "It is an amazing novel"

Whew! And this is only a very small sample cross section. I read some people saying "run for your life" and similar comments while others say "get it as soon as you can".

We know (or most of us do) the story was originally written as a fiction adventure story - that no publisher would even pick it up so the author self-published and distributed it - that many who read it either passionately love or hate it!

Personally, I read it, enjoyed it for what it was - fiction - and appreciated the author's attempts at this genre. For a first novel you have to admire his determination, or at least I certainly do. I also appreciated the way he wove spirituality consciousness into the plot line.

I found the book as a whole being an enjoyable light read with themes built into the fiction in areas I'm curious about and/or have explored in great detail. Surely there is a market for us with fiction geared to us? (See the New Age Club for a better understanding of what I'm talking about here.)

But I must admit, I'm curious -- out of all the people who read it, how many of them have any experience in the 12-step program? Those of you reading this now who have, whether by being directly involved or indirectly through people you know well, and who have read The Celestine Prophecy will understand why I bring this up here. Perhaps even the author may understand.

It's quite possbile had any of those who reviewed the book indicating it was something more than what it was - a light enjoyable(?) fiction adventure - may not have been so passionately in favor or opposed to it. I'm not sure.

Regardless, I submit this one to our archives as one of our "Controversial Books" to remain in our time capsule here for all time.