Book Description
The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.
Customer Reviews:
Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited".......2007-08-22
After reading the commentary attached to the one star rating given by the young man from Texas, I feel compelled to step forward in defense of this very fine book. With only one exception, every point made in that negative review is simply wrong. Just not factually correct. The reviewer identifies himself as a young man (... "to my young mind"), and since all of his other Amazon reviews are of TV episodes on DVD, video games and rock music CDs I take him at his word. Well, I am an "old man," closing in on my sixty-third birthday, and I came to Mr. Casspriano's book after six decades of life experience, the last three of those decades a zealous practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I say this not to "brag," but simply to qualify myself as a reviewer before beginning.
I'll start where the one star reviewer closed his argument, with his statement that the simplest path reduces to two Socratic concepts: "Admit that you don't know anything" and "know yourself."
The first part is nominally true (the exception). Like Zen Buddhism, a central tenet of the simplest path is working to release the false notion we all hold that we know ourselves, other people, the world around us. But identifying and releasing our attachments to our illusions is a life's work, not some brash "I don't know nothin'!" as the young Texan seems to imply. Under normal circumstances, we go about our daily lives with no idea we are deluded about anything, as Maya (the illusion of the phenomenal world around and even inside us) is so convincing that most of us never even think to question its validity. Casspriano did not invent the notion of human beings being trapped in illusion, as this truth was known to the timeless authors of the Hindu Vedas and is central to all schools of Buddhism (not just Zen). But his scientific/spiritual exploration of the mechanism by which Maya ensnares our minds and can, with effort, be overcome is among the best "plain English" explanations of this process I have read. There is no "inscrutable mystery" in the simplest path (a criticism that has been accurately leveled toward Zen Buddhism, as a lot of Eastern thought truly does come off as "inscrutable" when translated into English and/or the metaphors of Western culture). Casspriano lays out in no-nonsense American English exactly what our brains are doing when they create the illusion we mistake for reality, then shows the reader in the same clear terms how to train his or her brain to break free of illusion and taste reality as-it-is. In just 216 pages, that is no mean feat. After thirty years of Zen practice and numerous kensho experiences (of varying depths and intensities), I can say from personal experience that Casspriano is correct. Enlightenment comes as the fruit of a long, incremental process of retraining the mind to touch reality in a new way, and the process described in the simplest path is the same as that followed in Zen practice, especially Rienzi Zen koan study (I'll have more to say about this in a later paragraph). Casspriano's approach and language is very different from traditional Zen (more "scientific," and no sitting meditation is required), which I think would appeal to Americans and other Westerners seeking to experience "awakening" without necessarily committing themselves to a religion like Buddhism, but the internal mental/spiritual process and final destination are the same.
"Know yourself," on the other hand, is not in this book at all, at least not in the way the young reviewer, or Socrates for that matter, uses the phrase. As in Buddhism, Casspriano takes pains to demonstrate that "self" is as much of an illusion as our misapprehension of the phenomenal world, and is a byproduct of exactly the same mind process that creates outer Maya. A core teaching of Buddhism is that our "self," our personality/ego, is nothing more than an aggregation of outside influences that cluster together in our minds like shiny stones gathered into a pile, and which we mistake not only for something "real," but tragically, for our essential selves. Yet this "pile" has nothing really to do with who we are at all. Buddhism teaches "no-self." Belief in the illusion of a unique and independent "self" is our greatest obstacle to enlightenment. Wasting time and energy getting to "know yourself" in the Western sense is foreign to Eastern thought. Casspriano again does a great job of translating the Buddhist concept of "no-self" into Western scientific/spiritual terminology. He shows the process by which our ego/personality aggregate "piles up," as well as how to take the pile down, stone by stone. Enlightenment is what the pile was covering up, and so it naturally appears as soon as the pile is removed - but oh how we cling to our personal pile of stones! "Self" is what we must trade for enlightenment, what must be surrendered, and Casspriano returns to this truth many times in the simplest path. My point is that the one star reviewer's reduction of the simplest path to "know yourself" has no basis at all in the actual book.
As to the book being "gimmicky": Yes, the words "The Simplest Path" recur frequently throughout the book, but not in reference to the book itself (at least that's not how I took it), but rather to the system of understanding the mind and working toward "awakening" Casspriano is describing - and it is a complete system that deserves to be considered as a whole, on its own. At times the repetition does have a feel of "branding" in the commercial sense, so I understand where the reviewer may have taken his impression. But the simplest path, while resonant with Zen Buddhism (and apparently, according to Casspriano, with the Toltec philosophy espoused by Carlos Castaneda, of which I have no personal knowledge, so I'll have to take the author's word for that) is far enough different that it needs its own "name" to set it apart from other schools of similar but not identical thought. The reviewer's criticism is like saying that every use of the term "Zen" in a book called "Zen Buddhism" should be taken as a reference to the book, and not to the larger practice of Zen Buddhism as a spiritual discipline that the book is describing. Casspriano's point in repeatedly linking The Simplest Path, Zen Buddhism and Toltec Shamanism throughout the book, at least as I understood it, is to highlight these three spiritual practices as related reliable paths through a dark forest of illusion, a forest in which many apparent (and more popular) paths, including most (all?) religious beliefs, actively vie to mislead travelers toward deeper ensnarement in the dream, rather than leading them toward "awakening."
I want to say a word about koan study in Rienzi Zen and how it relates to the simplest path. Koans are those quirky Zen sayings and stories like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "what was your original face before you (or your parents) were born?" that have no rational answer, and which Zen students turn and turn in their minds like the tumblers of a combination lock until their imprisoned psyches "explode" in a "super-rational" experience of reality beyond the illusion ("irrational" would be the wrong term, as that implies "nonsense"). That "super-rational" vision of reality is called "kensho." I have experienced it myself, more than once in my lifetime. I have come to think of Casspriano's "Key Questions" in the second half of the simplest path, especially the later seven of the ten, as "cultural koans" designed to trigger "collective kensho" for the whole human race at once. Like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", unflinching consideration of the value of human life, of how our beliefs about the future shape the present, of the true origin and destiny of life on Earth, etc., especially as seen through the lens of Casspriano's "Key Question Technique," reveals that none of these questions have rational answers, yet all require our active and immediate response. Successful resolution of these larger riddles that impact everyone will require us all to eventually "explode" into reality, together, in a "super-rational" way. We'll have to break through the illusion and wake up together, as one (which has been the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is a sect, since around 200 BCE). That is the "Planetary Awakening" addressed in this book, and I believe Casspriano's "Key Questions" are a concrete step in that direction. I'm glad I spent my fifteen dollars.
This is my "old man" take on the simplest path, having encountered it after 30 years of Zen Buddhist practice (I'm not veering off my chosen path here, just bowing respectfully in passing toward Casspriano's). From a Buddhist perspective, the simplest path is true Dharma, though I do not get the impression from reading his book that Vincent Casspriano is himself a Buddhist or a follower of any religion. That to my mind makes his book all the more interesting.
True, but gimmicky.......2007-08-09
Casspriano's book is scientifically and philosophically sound as best as my young mind can tell, but I don't recommend this book. Its scattered with numerous pages of advertising about how his "program" works and how it compares to other religions and spiritual movements. Why must this author physically write out "The Simplest Path" in reference to his book every other page, and talk about his second volume? Perhaps because he's not out for pure truth, but for our money.
All this book comes down to after you strip away the nonsense is two things. First, admit that you don't truly know anything. Second, know yourself. Do those two things (they essentially both mean to question EVERYTHING), and you'll have Casspriano's "Planetary Awakening," with 15 bucks still in your pocket. And you'll be following the fundamental truths already said by Socrates.. so do yourself a favor and pick up Plato's "Apology" and read up on the Socratic dialogue on how to live a good life. And don't stop there, because you can't be sure he's right.
And I have 10 bucks that says these other couple of reviews were written by the book publisher. In any case, ignore the hype.
A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15
This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.
Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10
This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.
While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.
If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.
A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13
I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.
I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:
From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":
"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"
Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.
If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."
And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.
One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.
Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.
From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":
"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."
And later in the same chapter:
"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."
For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":
"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."
Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.
The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.
Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.
This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":
"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:
· World oil supplies are running out.
· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.
· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.
· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.
· Time is running out..."
Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.
Now that's a meme worth feeding.
amazon.com
Bryan Sykes follows up The Seven Daughters of Eve with the equally challenging and well-written Adam's Curse. This time, instead of following humanity's heritage back to the first women, Sykes looks forward to a possible future without men. The seeds of the book's topics were sown when Sykes met a pre-eminent pharmaceutical company chairman who shared his surname. Using the Y chromosome, which is passed nearly unchanged from father to son, the author found that he shared a distant ancestor with the other Sykes. Along the way, he discovered that the Y chromosome was worth examining more closely. The first third of Adam's Curse is devoted to a clear and comprehensive lesson about genetics, the second narrates several fascinating stories of tracing ancestry via the Y chromosome, and the last chapters explore the history of male humanity and its future. Some readers will eagerly skim until they reach Chapter 21, where Sykes gets to the heart of the matter--why and how the Y chromosome has created a world where men overwhelmingly own the wealth and power, commit the crimes, and fight the wars. He uses the structural puniness of the Y chromosome to demonstrate that men are as unnecessary biologically as they are dominant socially. Sykes' provocative and quite personal book is likely to be unpopular among science readers who prefer their biology divorced from sociology, but his points taken in context will be difficult to refute. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
The inside story of the Y chromosome's fatal flaw, as told by one of the world's leading geneticists.
Male reproductive fragility has been the subject of much highly publicized recent research. Is it possible, asked the New York Times, that men face extinction? Bryan Sykes examines the validity of these shocking reports, focusing on the defining characteristic of men: the Y chromosome in their DNA. Guiding his readers through chapters like "The Blood of Vikings" and "Ribbons of Life," Sykes masterfully blends natural history with scientific fact, elucidating the biology of sexual reproduction, modern genetics, and evolutionary biology. He reveals that, while the Y chromosome makes man's existence possible, it also carries within it the seeds of his destruction. Timely and fascinating, this major work covers a wealth of controversial topics, including whether there is a genetic cause for male greed, aggression, and promiscuity; the possible existence of a male homosexual gene; and what, if anything, can be done to save men from a slow, but certain, extinction.
Customer Reviews:
So true!.......2007-06-27
After reading this book, I have a whole new view of the male of our species. So many things about males became clear. The aggression, the laziness, the superior attitude which is so misplaced. Ladies! A must read!
Disappointing.......2007-04-20
OK, I loved Sykes' book "The Seven Daughters of Eve." So I wanted to read this one as well. Very disappointing. For one thing, I couldn't care less about the mating and reproductive habits of insects. For another, while I understand his wish to clarify things scientifically, I thought some of his opinions about women and homosexuality were pretty outlandish. There were a few interesting things in the book. The parts about Ghengis Khan would be one example.
But my biggest issue with the book is that Sykes seems to have gotten way too full of himself and way too focused on "being a writer." Please! Do I really care what the weather was like or what the library looked like when he got idea XYZ? What made the other book so engaging was that he was just telling about the excitement of the discovery process and some of the possibilities for these women who many of us are descended from.
The demise of males.......2007-01-10
An excellent, well-written book on the genetic consequences of sex. Written in such a way that the basic genetic ideas are easily grasped by persons with no prior knowledge of DNA and the way it operates. A fascinating glimpse of the consequences of a genetic mechanism for sex determination and a time-frame for the loss of the Y chromosome and the end of males for all time. Essential freading!
Very readable...great mix of geneology, genetics, and folklore.......2006-09-14
The author does a nice job of mixing science, history, story telling, and predictions. I don't think this is aimed at the scientific crowd, that should explain some of the negative reviews. This book gives the layperson an introduction to some of the genetic knowledge that has been learned in the last 30 years, as well as many misconceptions held by scientists before that time. There is quite a bit of biology here too, comparing human reproduction with the rest of nature. I was fascinated by some of the ways in which gender is determined in turtles (tempurature of the beach), or a fish that changes its gender when its male partner dies, or some animals that have evolved into not needing male/female separation at all! The end of the book has some interesting ideas on how long until Y chromozome decay might make men extinct, or ways we might evolve to avoid this. Overall, a great read.
Mada-bout the bo Y.......2006-07-17
The punchline is that the Y chromosome is doomed - but this applies to pretty much all mammals - so what's the news? We occupy the same playing field don't we?
Before the punchline Sykes explores why the Y chromosome in humans may be especially at risk. Point the finger at the rabid dispersion of gender bending chemicals into the environment such as pthalates from plastics and oestrogen type chemicals including vast amounts of contraceptive hormones that leak into sewage and don't break down affecting fish and perhaps us? Sperm counts are going down apparently, but this is not necessarily associated with the punchline, which is on the basis of the Y chromosome not undergoing chiasma formation with the X - leading to an accumulation of mutant mistakes.
Overall the book is good at answering from the secular selfish gene point of view such obvious questions as "Why does sex exist? Why are there two sexes?". Sykes believes in William Hamilton's theories popularised by Dawkins that the gene is the ultimate unit of selection.
Despite the "triumph" of this idea according to Sykes, scientists still debate about whether it is the gene, the individual or the species that is selected. There is in fact evidence for all three. In this book, one sort of also realises that chromosomes too can be units of selection. American evolutionists generally don't like the gene centric approach. The war between mitochondrial DNA and the Y as described in this book seems to be somewhat hollow.
I don't agree that agriculture per se led to a diminution of the status of women and the establishment of a patriarchal set of civilisations epitomised by the masculinisation of the figures of the divine as men seemed to realise that they had an upper hand in procreation.
The most interesting observations of this book is facts about how the Y chromosome spreads and how it can help trace your line of decent - and how this may contradict the line of decent through the female line.
Better still is the evidence suggesting strong assymetry in the natal balance of the sexes in some families leaving aside the obvious cultural bias (in some countries) of sons over daughters. In short, certain families have skewed tendencies to have too many boys or girls which does not add up statistically. But is the explanation presented correct? There is here food for thought.
This book is fascinating though weak in places. I'm not too worried about the punchline and not sure if it is true but I have been somewhat enlightened by reading this book in that it clarifies points raised in books like the Selfish Gene. I feel the truth overall is not as clear cut as the book tries to show and therefore am not going to end up story telling about why exactly there are two sexes. There is plenty here to have conversations with for sure.
Does the gay gene exist? Is it to do with your older brothers training the mother's pregnant body to attack your masculinity if you are a younger brother? There is now some evidence for this just out.
A good read, attacking men, unfairly at times, but a good read none the less.
Book Description
A perceptive examination of the on-going debate over the influence of genetics in our lives.
Customer Reviews:
Nothing new.......2004-02-22
This book has nothing that I was looking for...
It's not very well fundamented on scientific studies, nor it is a thourough study of what Nature (genes) and Nurture (environment, education) can influence you.
It's just a fun reading for a weekend, nothing more.
The author just finalizes by saying that it's not anyone's fault that they are what they are... and they can't blame their parents for their inherited genes or by the education they had, because parents allways hope for the best...
Nothing new...
Delivers.......1999-05-07
Excellent look at the question of "Nature Versus Nurture In Human Behavior", assuming you like getting facts and percentages from good quantitative studies, and you'd also like to know why the studies were good, and you don't want any speculative unified theories. It rambles off the point from time to time, though I found it rambles fairly engagingly myself. My favorite item in the book is about schizophrenia in identical twins. If one identical twin has it, the chances the other has it are around 1 in 3. When one with and one without the disease are looked at with magnetic resonance imaging it can be seen that their brains are significantly different in structure and function.
Average customer rating:
- Your Genetic Destiny
- An excellent and informative guide to the latest findings
- Your Genetic Destiny
- Your Genetic Destiny - A Personal Review
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Your Genetic Destiny: Know Your Genes, Secure Your Health, Save Your Life
Aubrey Milunsky , and
Aubrey Milunksy
Manufacturer: Perseus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Genetics
| Basic Science
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Genetic
| Disorders & Diseases
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0738206849 |
Book Description
By a leading medical geneticist, an invaluable guide to the complexities of inherited disease and what you can do to protect you and your family from them.
Much in the news, inherited disease and genetic testing are complex and confusing issues that leave most asking: "So, what can I do with this promising information?" A powerfully helpful and authoritative guide, Your Genetic Destiny has the answers. From what tests to have taken, what the results mean, and when further genetic counseling is in order; from what foods to avoid to which medications to take and what other medical options are available, world-renowned geneticist Aubrey Milunsky demonstrates how knowledge of our genetic makeup can save our lives. Covering heart disease, hypertension, cancer, diabetes, mental illness, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, longevity, and infertility, Your Genetic Destiny is the most comprehensive, compassionate, and informed guide available for all concerned about the risks of inherited disease.
Customer Reviews:
Your Genetic Destiny.......2001-12-03
Written in concise yet vibrant language by an eminent geneticist, this volume offers a broad approach for the general public interested in useful and practical genetic information and advice. Many clinicians may also find it to be a useful resource in their busy clinical work. A brief introduction to genetic principles leads into succinct, informative reviews of genetic aspects and risks of a host of medical conditions, such as obesity, cancer, mood disorders, Attention Deficit Disorder, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and longevity. The concluding chapters on "Avoidance and Prevention of Genetic Disorders" will appeal to those who wish to be genetically informed when making decisions about their own their lives or life styles.
An excellent and informative guide to the latest findings.......2001-10-14
This informed family health guide discusses the health implications of genetic disorders in a family history, drawing on the latest research and findings to discuss genetic predispositions to common ailments, tests available for identification, and when to seek genetic counseling. Your Genetic Destiny is an excellent and informative guide to the latest findings about how genetics influence health.
Your Genetic Destiny.......2001-08-12
"Your Genetic Destiny," by Dr. Aubrey Milunsky, is a book for those concerned about their own genetic health and the health of children that they might have. Dr. Milunsky is an international expert on human genetics and genetic counseling and it shows in this authoritative and interesting book. Dr. Milunsky explains the inheritance patterns of genetic traits and then talks about what to look for in your own family tree in order to be aware of future health problems. He covers the complete gamut of genetic diseases, including mental illness, heart disease, obesity, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. He makes complex subjects easy to understand and presents the readers with the choices available today. I think that this book is not just for those contemplating having children, but for the general reader as well. We are beginning the century of human genetics and we all should be aware of the issues. As a geneticist (the author of a genetics textbook in its seventh edition), this is exactly the book that I would have written for the general public. In fact, after reading Dr. Milunsky's book, I have put my own plans for a similar book on the shelf-permanently. I highly recommend this readable, authoritative book to all.
Your Genetic Destiny - A Personal Review.......2001-07-14
It must be a rare experience to encounter a book with many messages each having the potential to save many lives. Your Genetic Destiny: Know Your Genes, Secure Your Health, and Save Your Life is precisely such a book. Written in non-technical language without the reader needing a background in medicine or biology, Dr. Milunsky clearly spells out what each person should know about their family history and what actions and DNA or other genetic tests are now appropriate and even necessary. This is especially important given the many recent advances in human genetics.
Every family has concerns about the hereditary aspects of common illnesses covered in this book including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, Alzheimer's disease and aging. Ethnic-related diseases for which there are so many DNA tests available now, are also discussed. Important information is provided about the avoidance and prevention of mental retardation, birth defects, and many different genetic disorders. Most important are clear recommendations about who should seek genetic counseling.
Dr. Milunsky states that "the purpose of this book is to empower and encourage you to know your genes" so that you can secure your own health and life and that of your loved ones. He has fully accomplished his goals in this authoritative book that should be read by every family.
Book Description
An up-to-date, informative, and personal discussion of sickle-cell anemia, this guide provides information on medically proven methods of treatment along with patient vignettes. Written primarily for African Americans, who comprise the majority of the victims of sickle-cell anemia, this handbook for patients and those who live or work with them examines the complex issues that surround this genetic disease. Advice on dealing with the physical suffering, inability to work, quality of life issues, and premature death that affect sickle-cell patients is offered in layman's terms to aid patients and caregivers in making informed decisions.
Customer Reviews:
Confidently recommended as a solid and informational primer.......2003-02-09
Collaboratively written by Allan F. Platt, Jr. (Program Coordinator and Physican Assistant at the George Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, Grady Health System, Atlanta, Georgia) and Alan Sacerdote (Chief of Adult Endocrinoloty, Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center and Clinical Profesor of Medicine at SUNY Health Science Center, Brooklyn, New York), Hope And Destiny: A Patient's And Parent's Guide To Sickle Cell Disease And Sickle Cell Trait is a guide written especially for non-specialist general readers of all ages who must cope with sickle cell anemia, either in themselves or in their family and offspring. Individual chapters cover the causes of sickle cell disease; current tretment options; genetic counseling; age-based developmental issues; pain assessment and management; as well as new treatments and research. Hope And Destiny is confidently recommended as a solid and informational primer.
Average customer rating:
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Bittersweet Destiny: The Stormy Evolution of Human Behavior
Del Thiessen
Manufacturer: Transaction Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Child Psychology
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
| Development
| Psychology
Developmental Psychology
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
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| Books
Social Psychology & Interactions
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
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General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
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General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
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Genetics
| Evolution
| Science
| Subjects
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General
| Behavioral Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 156000245X |
Average customer rating:
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Childhood and destiny;: The triadic principle in genetic education
Joachim Flescher
Manufacturer: International Universities Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
| Adolescent Psychology
| Applied Psychology
| By Topic
| Child Psychology
| Clinical Psychology
| Cognitive
| Counseling
| Creativity & Genius
| Developmental Psychology
| Education & Training
| Ethnopsychology
| Experimental Psychology
| Forensic Psychology
| General
| History
| Hypnosis
| Industrial Psychology
| Logotherapy
| Medicine & Psychology
| Mental Illness
| Movements
| Neuropsychology
| Occupational & Organizational
| Pathologies
| Personality
| Philosophy of Psychology
| Physical Illness & Psychiatry
| Physiological Aspects
| Psychiatry
| Psychoanalysis
| Psychobiology
| Psychopharmacology
| Psychosomatic Medicine
| Psychotherapy, TA & NLP
| Reference
| Research
| Sexuality
| Social Psychology & Interactions
| Statistics
| Suicide
| Testing & Measurement
ASIN: B0006CYG2A |
Average customer rating:
- Cut the nonsense
- An invaluable, benchmark publication.
- Recommended reading for students of genetics & society.
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Controlling Our Destinies: Historical, Philosophical, Ethical and Theological Perspectives on the Human Genome Project (Studies in Science & the Humanities ... for Science, Technology & Values : Vol V)
Phillip R., Ed. Sloan
Manufacturer: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Ethics & Morality
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
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Physical
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
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Sociobiology
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
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General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
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General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
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Genetics
| Evolution
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
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Natural History
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Genetics
| Evolution
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Genetics
| Basic Sciences
| Medical
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0268008183 |
Customer Reviews:
Cut the nonsense.......2002-06-18
Rather than say that the human genome project raises "challenging issues" or "unique problems", let's tell it like it is: The human genome project is going to destroy mankind. The same scientists that brought us weaponized anthrax (and some loony scientist is running loose right now with it), biological warfare (who are these scientists and how do they sleep at night?) cannot guarantee us any safeguards on the way that the genome project info will be used. They don't care. they are too busy patenting their findings so they can become billionaires. This is the beginning of the end and it is already too late to keep people from breeding humans like cattle and altering them so that they can become anything from ferocious soldiers to passiver, non-complaining worker bees. Thank, Mr. Wizard.
An invaluable, benchmark publication........2000-06-06
The Human Genome Project will complete mapping the human genetic structure in just another four or five years and constitutes the single largest project ever undertaken in the life sciences. It will help to pinpoint the genetic basis of virtually any human trait or frailty. It offers the possibility for medical interventions for virtually all diseases and disabilities related to genetic processes. Controlling Our Destinies: Historical, Philosophical, Ethical, And Theological Perspectives On The Human Genome Project surveys and analyses the complex, far-reaching issues and values surrounding the Human Genome Project including new forms of positive "eugenics", and the challenge of the project for theological perspectives on human life. Controlling Our Destinies is an interdisciplinary assemblage of humanistic scholars that will prove an invaluable, benchmark publication for both humanists and scientists for discussions of the religious, ethical, and moral considerations attendant to such a radical advance in human control over human biology.
Recommended reading for students of genetics & society........2000-05-04
The Human Genome Project seeks to pinpoint the genetic basis of virtually any human trait, but it also offers ethical and theological issues which will change human perspective and meaning. Contributors discuss the project's background, issues, and impact with an eye to revealing the many underlying social changes which will occur as a result of the project.
Books:
- The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning
- The Strategy Paradox: Why committing to success leads to failure (and what to do about it)
- The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story
- The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story
- The Taming Of Chance (Ideas in Context)
- The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story . . .with Wings
- The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story . . .with Wings
- The Wisdom of James Allen : Including As a Man Thinketh, The Path to Prosperity, The Mastery of Destiny, The Way of Peace, and Entering the Kingdom (Radiant Life)
- Theoretical Neuroscience: Computational and Mathematical Modeling of Neural Systems
- What Makes Flamingos Pink?: A Colorful Collection of Q & A's for the Unquenchably Curious
Books Index
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