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A review by avalinahsbooks
Ancient Teachings for Modern Times: The Way to a Rich and Deeply Satisfying Life by Peta Morton
3.0
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley
It took me a while to even start the review for this book, because it's so wide-reaching and full of things, it's very hard to come up with where to start. Even the foreword for the book says, "you will not find any new ideas here - it is all old wisdom put together in one place". And that is true - it goes through energies, breathing, meditation, mindfulness and how your thoughts affect your surroundings and life quality, clearing your mind and all sorts of other bits and pieces that help out on your way to spirituality and peace, all through a somewhat new-age point of view. But the book is just so hard to sum up - because as you read, the ideas just glide over your brain, they just flow - so it's very hard to even find anything to say about it.
To outline what the book contains is hard - it's basically "everything new-age you can find out there". There's stuff on letting go and going with the flow, there's brief musings on meditation and breathing, on not worrying and concentrating on the positive. There is also some stuff about sleep and sleep schedules, and how this impacts our brain wave states. And of course, the bulk of the book and the idea that it keeps coming back to is, of course, appreciation and gratefulness.
But there is also a downside to having 'anything and everything' in just one book. It also feels unstructured and like it's got no end goal to all that's being told. There must be something in it that made me struggle through reading it for months. Maybe that's it's so unstructured and sort of meandering, or that it got vaguely preachy by the end, or that it didn't seem to have anything of concrete substance, but rather a lot of platitudes - I don't know. But it felt quite long to me when it actually wasn't. Despite that, I still think it's alright, especially if you're a beginner on these types of books - it did have useful thoughts.
So all I can say is that I mostly liked the book, it had a calming effect on me, although it also felt like a bit of a chore at times. I think it's a good collection of wise thoughts coming from many ancient philosophies and faiths and one that isn't centered on any one particular faith, but rather borrowing from a lot of them. It is presented pretty widely, so nothing delves into too much detail, but a lot of ground is covered. It's a good book to both read in sequence, as well as to just randomly open anywhere and read what you find.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
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It took me a while to even start the review for this book, because it's so wide-reaching and full of things, it's very hard to come up with where to start. Even the foreword for the book says, "you will not find any new ideas here - it is all old wisdom put together in one place". And that is true - it goes through energies, breathing, meditation, mindfulness and how your thoughts affect your surroundings and life quality, clearing your mind and all sorts of other bits and pieces that help out on your way to spirituality and peace, all through a somewhat new-age point of view. But the book is just so hard to sum up - because as you read, the ideas just glide over your brain, they just flow - so it's very hard to even find anything to say about it.
To outline what the book contains is hard - it's basically "everything new-age you can find out there". There's stuff on letting go and going with the flow, there's brief musings on meditation and breathing, on not worrying and concentrating on the positive. There is also some stuff about sleep and sleep schedules, and how this impacts our brain wave states. And of course, the bulk of the book and the idea that it keeps coming back to is, of course, appreciation and gratefulness.
But there is also a downside to having 'anything and everything' in just one book. It also feels unstructured and like it's got no end goal to all that's being told. There must be something in it that made me struggle through reading it for months. Maybe that's it's so unstructured and sort of meandering, or that it got vaguely preachy by the end, or that it didn't seem to have anything of concrete substance, but rather a lot of platitudes - I don't know. But it felt quite long to me when it actually wasn't. Despite that, I still think it's alright, especially if you're a beginner on these types of books - it did have useful thoughts.
So all I can say is that I mostly liked the book, it had a calming effect on me, although it also felt like a bit of a chore at times. I think it's a good collection of wise thoughts coming from many ancient philosophies and faiths and one that isn't centered on any one particular faith, but rather borrowing from a lot of them. It is presented pretty widely, so nothing delves into too much detail, but a lot of ground is covered. It's a good book to both read in sequence, as well as to just randomly open anywhere and read what you find.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
Book Blog | Bookstagram | Bookish Twitter