Book Reviews
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We feature one book per month in this place of prominence. Older reviews can be found by scrolling down the page and clicking on the appropriate writer’s name
Book Review – December 2022 – My Father’s Daughter – Review written by Stephen Kearney
My Father’s Daughter A story of family and belonging by Hannah Pool -review by Stephen Kearney “They’re all going to Bangladeshi families”, asserted my Dublin born neighbour as we gazed down on the mini-estate of social housing under construction from the vantage...
Book Review – November 2022 – Ten Global Trends Every Smart person should Know – Review written by Barry Goddard
THINGS ARE A LOT BETTER THAN THEY ARE MADE OUT TO BE I've spent my whole adult life living under an apocalyptic, pessimistic narrative about the future of the world, which has only intensified in recent years. It seems that humans are hard-wired to take more note of...
Book Review – October 2022 – The Psychology of Psychedelics
PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH Here is a great interview about current psychedelic research, using psilocybin, at John Hopkins University in the US. It is remarkable that it is happening at all, after decades of being demonised. One of the strengths of the academic approach is...
Book Review – September 2022 – Post -Tribal Shamanism
Post-Tribal Shamanism: A New Look at the Old Ways by Kenn Day It is well written and presents a perspective of Shamanism and Shamanistic techniques for the Western world; not part of a traditional tribal community. The book is a good introduction to Kenn's techniques...
Book Review – August 2022 – Flase Alarm
We are in the midst of a climate panic, fuelled by the media and by politicians, rather than by the science. Global warming is real, but it ain't Armageddon. Did you know that there aren't more wildfires and flooding, just more houses in the way? That polar...
Book Review – July 2022 – The Sleeping Beauties
28th May MYSTERIOUS CONDITIONS I deal daily in mysterious conditions – ongoing physical and other soul body conditions that continue to entangle the subject. These invariably have physical symptoms, but do not yield to ordinary medical treatment. In the past many of...
Book review – June 2022 – The Night Watchman
THE BATTLE AGAINST 'TERMINATION' Louise Erdrich writes on Native American themes, and is of Ojibwe descent. She is one of my favourite novelists. She combines the nitty gritty of daily life on the reservation, with a closeness to her characters, endless original...
Stephen Kearney – Book Review December 2021- Normal People
Normal People by Sally Rooney review by Stephen Kearney How do we get to hear about a new publication, film or television series? There’s probably a thousand and one answers but for the most part, at least in my case, the first awareness just seems to appear...
Book Review – May 2022 – On The Run In Siberia
Rane Willerslev was a young anthropologist doing field work in eastern Siberia soon after the collapse of Communism. The people were the Yukhagir, who are few in number, and hunt and live in ways that are still quite traditional. Their main source of income is the...
Book Review – April 2022 – The Medicine Wheel
Barry has created a meditation on meaning, a most interesting discourse on the Medicine Wheel tempered with Jung and other interesting philosophers, matching and mixing and extracting clarity and knowledge. I hear Barry as I read, his voice is clear and direct, there...
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