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A review by dragonscribe
Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine by Eric Weiner
4.0
I picked up this book after reading Weiner's first one, "The Geography of Bliss." I actually found "Man Seeks God" to be better than his other book, maybe because I identified with it more--or perhaps I just found the subject matter more interesting overall.
In this book, Weiner travels the world like he did in "Bliss," only this time it's God he's searching for, not happiness. He takes a look at eight different religions, finding the parts that resonate within him and the pieces that don't, getting an idea for how individuals study and know their own faiths. As someone without a religion of my own, and who holds a Philosophy degree, the religious journeys of people fascinate me in general. So, following Weiner's journey was a satisfying experience for me, as I was able to go through the second-hand motions of attempting to apply the various belief systems to my own life to see what fit and what didn't.
Weiner is at times irreverent, but that's to be expected--no one's true thoughts are reverent all the time, not even for their own religions, and he looked largely into religions outside the "standard." I was glad that he put all his thoughts in, since the whole experience felt truer that way. The book is also interesting from an educational point of view. Because the religions he dabbles in are a bit far-flung (at least to the average Western World person) or are more mystical/lesser-known offshoots of the "big three," I learned a lot about faiths I might not otherwise have ever come across.
There are a lot of similarities in style between "Bliss" and "Seeks," but that's all to the good. Where I spent the last book getting used to Weiner's voice and style of exploration, this time I was able to focus more on the content because I already knew how it was going to be presented to me. I expect it would work the same way if the books were read in the opposite order, but I definitely consider this to be the better book. Highly recommend if the subjects of religion and faith (and the search for) are of interest.
In this book, Weiner travels the world like he did in "Bliss," only this time it's God he's searching for, not happiness. He takes a look at eight different religions, finding the parts that resonate within him and the pieces that don't, getting an idea for how individuals study and know their own faiths. As someone without a religion of my own, and who holds a Philosophy degree, the religious journeys of people fascinate me in general. So, following Weiner's journey was a satisfying experience for me, as I was able to go through the second-hand motions of attempting to apply the various belief systems to my own life to see what fit and what didn't.
Weiner is at times irreverent, but that's to be expected--no one's true thoughts are reverent all the time, not even for their own religions, and he looked largely into religions outside the "standard." I was glad that he put all his thoughts in, since the whole experience felt truer that way. The book is also interesting from an educational point of view. Because the religions he dabbles in are a bit far-flung (at least to the average Western World person) or are more mystical/lesser-known offshoots of the "big three," I learned a lot about faiths I might not otherwise have ever come across.
There are a lot of similarities in style between "Bliss" and "Seeks," but that's all to the good. Where I spent the last book getting used to Weiner's voice and style of exploration, this time I was able to focus more on the content because I already knew how it was going to be presented to me. I expect it would work the same way if the books were read in the opposite order, but I definitely consider this to be the better book. Highly recommend if the subjects of religion and faith (and the search for) are of interest.