Book Review: The Biology of Belief 10th Anniversary Edition

The biology of belief has been one of those books that cut a mark in human consciousness. Many similar books has been written before and after this book. What makes it unique is that who is writing is an academical research cell biologist.

The part of the book I enjoyed most is the first part where Dr Lipton describes how he came about to his discoveries and how those discoveries had an impact on his life. (One could argue that it could have been the other way round, that his life created the milieu for the events and the aha moments to happen and be registered by his mind, but anyway)

It was refreshing and at the same time fascinating to my scientific mind, to have Dr Lipton describe in terms of atoms, molecules, DNA and receptor proteins in cell membranes, how the environment changes the outcome of the response in the cells.

He eventually builds it up to encompass the idea that we are not a single identity but a community of 50 trillion cells that have found it beneficial to live together. 

From there he takes it up to the next step. The cell does not know the difference between being in a community of cells or being in a Petri dish. The cell will always respond to the environment in which it lives.

This book, 10 years ago, heralded the advent of epigenetics, that is the study of how it is the milieu in which the cells grow that determines if they die or live, if they reproduce or remain dormant, if they specialise in muscle tissues or brain tissues. Dr Lipton calls it the New Biology.

This then brings in the third phase of the book that emotions govern our bodies and its real implications.

So who creates the environment for the cells in the body? The blood. And what’s in the blood? Hormones, that are secreted according to commands coming from the brain. And who controls the brain? Emotions. 

That emotions have an effect on our bodies is something that now, 10 years later, many know or at least have heard about. How many truly believe it as a true biological fact that is another matter. How many medical doctors have really downloaded this fact in their daily practice is a sad story to tell.

We are still conditioned by the belief that we are victims of our genes and that the medical establishment will have a pill to make us feel better. 

The medical establishment is still held under the belief that genes rule the cells, even if there are more than ample studies showing otherwise and Dr Lipton diligently mentions some of them.

We all know that hard core believes are very difficult to change especially if those believes keep many under the control of a few and that those few make buckets of money out of it.

I would recommend this book to all but especially to all science students and a must for medical students. Perhaps one day will see Quantum Healing as mainstream medicine.

(I was given a copy to Review)

Book Review: In the Oneness of Time

In the Oneness of Time, The Education of a Diviner, starts with a series of mostly short episodes from the author’s life. The recounting takes place in no specific order in time but with a fine thread that waves in and out the picture of the grand theme. 

To each and every one of these episodes there is a corresponding explanation in the second half of the book. 

I wonder if it would have been more helpful having the commentary immediately after each episode. But I do understand that doing so would be like coming in and out of dream time, drying away that inherently magical and oneiric quality in the narration. 

I read with avidity yet pausing to let the words sink in to the new meaning that was forming.

I was saying to myself…so this is what happens… this is what it means moving between the worlds…when without warning, consciousness shifts from Tonal to Nagual.

I could at last give a word and explanation to something which I think we inherently posses but slowly by time we suppress. 

There are books that touch your heart in a profound and intimate way and this was such a book.

I won’t say I understood everything that Horden wrote but what I can say for sure he brought peace to a part of me.

Thank you.

To be published in November 2015 by Larson Publications

Book Review: Sound Healing for Beginners

Music has a profound effect on me. It can make or break my day. Literally. So this book captivated my interest.

The book starts by describing what is sound from various points of views. From the point of view of a physician, physicist, psychiatrist to linguist, magickian, healer, shaman and vocalist. They all give different facets of what sound is.

The book bases its foundation on opening our awareness to sound, be in and conscious of sound, expanding our consciousness through sound and reaching far, riding the sound wave we choose to be carried on. Fascinating idea isn’t it?

The authors go further with saying that we are not passive recipients of sound, we can also alter the energy way of that sound by our awareness and that sound is an energetic nutrient. 

Sonic Transmutation is also an interesting concept of changing unwanted noise to wanted noise with huge benefits on health especially if we live in highly noise polluted environments. A concept I am working on.

The authors work a lot with breathing exercises which is the basis of all the exercises which will then be extensively illustrated in the book. Meditation through breathing, humming, toning and mantras reciting are all beautiful exercises to get in touch with the sound energy and slowly be enwrapped by its healing properties.

There is a lot of background of what is shamanism and how shamans have used sound to travel in between the worlds. There is also a detailed description of Brain Wave Rhythms and their effect on our brains.

I have experimented some of the exercises whilst reading the book and some of them had profound effect on me. They are not exercises that can be mastered in a couple of session. 

This book is more of a textbook for exercising consciously with sound every day, becoming a conscious sound rider until slowly we can learn to shift both the sounds we hear and those we make in a transformative healing energy.

Published by Llewellyn Publications on the 8th August 2015.

Book Review: Closed Eyes

They say do not judge the book by its cover. By hey that cover is so suggestive…

The rest of the book? 

Well, it doesn’t go round things. Jerry Bomhan writes them as they are. Harsh, brutal, erotic and raw.

You have a woman samurai and a young damsel in distress. Fill in the gaps by reading this fast paced, full of details story.

If you like short stories that way, then grab it fast. I couldn’t unglue it from my hands.

Book Review: Gluck, Her Biography by Diana Souhami

I was invited by Netgalley to review this book. 

To say the truth I had no idea who this person was and I had my doubts I would enjoy the biography, they are not my usual cup of tea.

Yet it was a book I read with dedication. A book that not only described to me, as wikipedia does, Gluck’s lifetime, but what was more important it described the emotions that motivated Gluck’s life. Why she came to call herself so? Why did she paint that painting? Why did she move in that house? Why the choice of that colour?

This book showed me through its pages the humanness of this artist. The unaccepted child of a rich family where all had pre-established roles that had to be played and she couldn’t find one that worked out for her. 

The love and hate relationship with her mother and brother that must have fuelled many tensions and acrimony. The struggling lesbian in a society that she never felt her own yet she could not completely cut herself off.

The constant hiding of love towards the loved one and always coming second in place after the husband. The wanting more but can’t have it because there was no role for her in the society she lived in.

Through this book, Gluck came alive with conflicts many of us, GLBT in the closet, are very familiar with. 

I felt sorry for her because she must have gone through tremendous sufferings, dilemmas and there was no friend or organisation she could go to, to talk her heart out, to feel part of a group. To help her feel less different. I felt sorry she could not heal those inner personal conflicts that made her suffer so much in her life.

All this and more has been, with careful detail and much respect described in this book.

A worthwhile compassionate read.

Book Review: Journey to Civilization

I think the author of this book tried something very arduous and complex. He tried to narrate from the moment the Big Bang happened to when humans appeared on Earth. Now one can only fathom all the scientific study that it entails, the intelligence to comprehend it all, the bird-eye's view for synthesis and the capacity to divulge such complex matter in layman's language.

Well in my humble opinion I think he has done quite a good job about it. Mind you it is still a science book, it can become “boring” at times but it has zest in the prose that picks you up now and again to urge one's curiosity to read further.

One thing, I would recommend to read this book on a colour rendering electronic reader or computer. There are quite some stunning photos, obviously in colour, that if you read them on an ink rendering e-reader would just pass unnoticed. And more importantly, the colour in the photos, diagrams or graphs are needed to understand fully the accompanying text.

You will find that the book is full of hypertext. In fact more than 25% of the book is made up of Appendices to help smoothing the reading experience of the “more scientific stuff”.

So if all science books could be written in this way, then general science could be more digestible and easily accessible to many.

The book is also available as a paperback.

Well done!

Journey to Civilization The Science of How we got here

Published by Collins Foundation Press as paperback and e-book 

Book Review: Intuition and Your Sun Sign

I presume a lot of research, dedication and intuition has been used to write this book. It has quite a unique take on astrology which at times I could follow.

The author calls the planets, meridians, energy channels similar in concept to the Chinese meridians in acupuncture. For each Sun sign, all the planets, the seven traditional and the three modern ones are investigated and accordingly modulated to the primitive energy of Sun sign.

Now the idea is a very original one but I could not follow it through. I am not an expert in Astrology but neither I am a complete newbie. At times I could follow the reasoning of the meridian similar to the interpretation of the planet in a particular sign but it only worked now and then.

I took quite a long time to finish this book. I tried to understand the logic several times and I read the book out of stubborn, dutiful curiosity and gratitude for the free review copy.

Maybe one day I shall reread it and have that ah-ah moment but for now this book left me completely baffled.

Intuition and your Sun Sign: Practical Methods to Unlock your Potential

Published by Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd on 1st June 2014