This book truly connected with me on multiple levels.

I have always been a firm believer in the concept that the energy within us is the true power. We are composed of countless living cells, each vibrating and collaborating to form who we are.

Sure, we all learned about this in science class, but the question remains: what is our connection with the world and everything in it?

I admit I'm not explaining this very well. The fact is, we draw energy from other living beings, and we can also impart energy to them. This book demonstrates how to do this in a conscious and mindful manner.

I view meditation and even prayer as channels for sharing energies. While some of the content was a bit too esoteric for me to fully embrace, the majority of the book was a real eye-opener.

Many of the steps it presented have stayed with me. I now notice when I'm draining my energy and am able to pull back, which makes me feel more at peace.

However, the one aspect that made me deduct one star was the overly long stories. I understand their purpose in illustrating the concepts in action, but they were just too drawn out. In my humble opinion.

In many ways, The Celestine Prophecy was the book that truly opened the door to the New Age movement in the literary world.

Prior to this book, if one wanted to find a book on spirituality, it usually meant delving into "longhair" books that often used rather ethereal and abstract terms.

Locating any of these kinds of books was no easy feat. It often required traveling to a large bookstore or, by some stroke of luck, stumbling upon a hidden-away shop that specialized in such niche items.

The Celestine Prophecy, however, blew open the publishing door wide by remaining on the bestseller lists for years.

Why did it achieve such remarkable success? Well, it offered an engaging and enjoyable tale that could be read relatively quickly, while at the same time easily explaining a few simple but profound keys.

As we know now, it not only launched a whole series of sequel books and a movie, but it also opened the floodgates for countless other writers and seekers who were starving for more in-depth and accessible spiritual knowledge.

For me, this book held great significance as I worked tirelessly to find the right words to pen my own book.

I had begun writing in 1990, and this influential book showed up in mass in 1993, after Warner Books took Redfield's self-published version to press.

It would take me many more years, and I would face many still closed doors, before my own book, Transformational Healing: Five Surprisingly Simple Keys Designed to Redirect Your Life Toward Wellness, Purpose and Prosperity, would finally see the light of day.

But it is truly thanks to authors like Redfield, who persevered and made it possible for the rest of us to bring our words and ideas to you.

You can learn more about my book by visiting me on the author's website www.PolkaDotBanner.com.

Can just saying it's ugly be enough?

No, I would say it can't be enough. It is truly ridiculous, offensive, and pathetic. In some passages, it is so obvious that it even comes across as comical. By the third or fourth illumination, one already thinks "it can't be that's all there is". By the penultimate one, one is already resigned. At the last one, one says "courage, it's over". I remember my dad reading it during a hospital stay and me telling him "look, it's terrible, don't waste time on it" and him saying "I'm at the second illumination, it's not that bad". A few visits later, around the middle of the book, he told me "you're right, it's a piece of nonsense". :-)
This work seems to lack depth and coherence. It fails to engage the reader on a meaningful level. The descriptions are often simplistic and the plot, if there is one, is not developed in an interesting way. It's as if the author didn't put in enough effort or didn't have a clear vision. While some might find certain parts amusing, overall, it doesn't leave a lasting impression. It's a disappointment, especially considering the potential it might have had.

I read this book as a favor to a friend, and now, unfortunately, I have one less friend.

I really hate to put it in such a harsh way, but seriously, how can I possibly have any respect for a person who deems "this" book as the highest philosophical achievement reached in the past several thousand years?

I can understand and empathize with someone who has had very little exposure to spirituality, logic, or philosophy and might find some interesting insights into life within the pages of this book. However, it's like expecting similar comments and enthusiasm from a person who has never read any kind of book and suddenly picks up "The Pokey Little Puppy" and gets completely enthralled by its exciting plot twists.

In a nutshell, the so-called "greatest insights" in this book were actually learned by most people during their adolescence and have been presented in a more coherent and clear manner by almost every other author who has chosen to write about the same topics.

If you are the kind of person who would give this book 5 stars, then this review probably won't make much sense to you, and I really don't want you to waste your time flipping through a dictionary. But for everyone else, I suggest going to a good Chinese restaurant, spending the same amount of money, and getting better intellectual stimulation by asking for 9 fortune cookies at the end of your meal. Doing this may not necessarily change your life, but at least you will feel full and satisfied.

(Actual footage of me reading this book*)


Recently, when I was staying with some relatives down south, I found myself in a bit of a pickle. I had stupidly left the stack of paperbacks I'd planned to bring on the kitchen table at home. As a result, the only book available to me was this one. Now, I have to be honest. If you like crap, then this book is really really good. However, I'm sorry if this book is really important to any of you. I truly am. It's just that it's simply not my thing. We all have our own tastes and preferences when it comes to reading. Some people might love this book, while others might not. And that's okay. To each their own.

I discovered this item on my parents' shelves a long time ago. It was situated beside the martyr missionary tales and beneath the shelf of James Dobson/Focus on the Family parenting manuals. To put it simply, it didn't really blend in with their collection. However, I read it regardless, as I had a voracious appetite for reading and would devour anything I could get my hands on as a child. The book was fairly easy to read, yet it was rather silly. I feel a sense of embarrassment for those who took it seriously. But then I came across it again on Goodreads and made the decision to go ahead and mark it as read. It's interesting how a book that seemed so out of place in my parents' collection could resurface in my life years later and prompt me to reflect on my childhood reading habits and the various books that have crossed my path.

This book endeavors to inspire a spiritual awakening that is not necessarily tied to traditional religion.

The storyline is rather flimsy and implausible, and the dialogue is not particularly well-crafted. However, these elements are merely devices used to present the pillars of this New Age philosophy.

There is no real plot to speak of, nor is there any sense of tension. It is evident from the outset that the Nine Insights will be revealed one by one, in a predictable order and at a foreseeable pace. Moreover, they are not rigorously defined or defended.

In a sense, they cannot be defined precisely because they represent non-propositional knowledge. This means that they are things that one must discover, learn, and experience for oneself, rather than something that can be simply gleaned from a book.

At least the author is on the right track when recommending that vegetables taste better when you grow them yourself.

The Insights, when paraphrased, are as follows:

The First Insight encourages us to figure out what we are searching for and to notice coincidences.

The Second Insight emphasizes the importance of connecting energy so that coincidences occur more frequently and to think about time from a millennial perspective.

The Third Insight urges us to be aware of beauty, consume home-grown vegetables, and see auras around all living things.

The Fourth Insight helps us understand that humans compete for energy in "control dramas" that we learn from our parents.

The Fifth Insight advocates for a sensual "mystical awareness," appreciating beauty to receive energy, and feeling love to give energy. It also warns that controlling others disconnects us from our own source of energy and claims that this insight will put an end to human conflict.

The Sixth Insight prompts us to examine our family "control dramas" on a spectrum ranging from aggressive to passive, recognize the ambiguity in determining right and wrong, transcend our drama, and become aware of our own spiritual mission.

The Seventh Insight posits that love leads to high energy, while stress results in low energy. It advises us to push away frequent feelings of fear but to take occasional negativity seriously once the majority of it has been overcome.

The Eighth Insight suggests treating others well as we help each other evolve, talking to the right people to obtain the answers we seek, avoiding addiction to other people, especially their opposite-sex energy, and being able to receive opposite-sex energy directly from the universe. It also warns that addiction to obtaining energy from others will hinder our growth and emphasizes the importance of telling children the truth and not creating control dramas for them.

The Ninth Insight envisions a future where we choose to have fewer people and more old-growth forests, enabling everyone to live in a forest. It also predicts that we will engage in less labor and more philosophy, and that evolved groups will become invisible to less evolved groups and walk into heaven.

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield is a truly captivating spiritual adventure.

It forces us to deeply reflect and reevaluate our understanding of life and ourselves. It compels us to pose questions that we might never have considered before.

If you're seeking a typical adventure filled with gunfire, heart-pounding chases, and miraculous escapes, this isn't the book for you, despite the presence of such scenes. Instead, it's an adventure of the mind. It will transport you from the mountains of Peru to the dawn of creation, through evolution, around time and space, and back to the very ground beneath your feet, making you question everything under the sun and beyond.

The specialty of this book lies in its ability to offer a perspective on both the macro and micro levels simultaneously. It discusses a total of "Nine Insights" or what I prefer to call theories. These take you on a journey from one insight to the next, explaining and questioning the existence of evolution, both universal and personal, in that order.

It's difficult to categorize this as either pure fiction or philosophy. From a philosophical perspective, it's an outstanding piece of literature that everyone should read. However, from a fictional standpoint, it has a below-average story line and flow of events. Fortunately for us, Redfield intended this to be seen from a philosophical perspective, igniting the mind's thirst for soul searching.

I have completed reading this book, and it truly amazed me. There were an abundance of elements within its pages that had a profound connection to my life.

I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to pick up this book and give it a read. I have made up my mind to fully embrace and follow the insights it has provided.

I sincerely hope that you will do the same. This book has the potential to help us draw nearer to nature, to God, and to one another.

For those who believe that God created everything surrounding us, we can utilize that energy to grow closer to God.

To be honest, I really loved this book. It has left a lasting impression on me and has the power to transform the lives of those who read it.

This is, by far, one of the worst written books I have ever had the misfortune to read.

The plot is pathetic and completely predictable, leaving no room for any excitement or surprise. The characters are pasty, bland, and one-dimensional, lacking any depth or complexity. The dialogue is cheap and unconvincing, further detracting from the overall quality of the book.

It truly feels like a waste of dead tree pulp. The writing is poor, and it is extremely boring to get through each page. Each chapter is essentially a repetitive insight lesson plan, with the lesson being presented and then recapitulated later in the chapter.

Even the use of the first person character "I" is irritating, as it seems to be a blatant attempt to transfer some sort of false sense of connection to the reader's subconsciousness. The author appears to be trying to trick the reader into falling for his new age spiritual trap.

This is confirmed and supremely irritating in the 8th insight, where the reader is supposed to give money away to those who aid in the discovery of said insights. Can we say cult, class? Checks in the mail, Redfield.

What would occur if someone had the intention to demolish a precious manuscript that essentially relays a load of balderdash in the same zany and nonsensical fashion as Italo Calvino might pen if he were repeatedly whacked on the head? What would transpire if someone took the most exasperating aspects of the New Age movement, combined them with a few abilities of the X-men minus anything remotely interesting, and then concluded the book in what I'm fairly certain was plagiarized from those 80s Choose Your Own Adventure books?

In case you were pondering, the answer is The Celestine Prophecy!

They really should have simply titled this book "Things Joe Already Knew or Thinks Are Impossible and Silly". I could pen a dissertation on the numerous things that Redfield gets awry, but for the present, I'll content myself with a few crucial points. Let's commence with the Fourth Insight:

"To acquire energy, we tend to manipulate or coerce others into giving us attention and thereby energy. When we successfully domineer others in this manner, we feel more potent, but they are left enfeebled and often retaliate. Competition for scarce human energy is the cause of all conflict among people."

Wrong. Utterly wrong. Nope. (hits buzzer) Ponder upon what he's asserting. Humans indeed possess energy, but we don't STEAL PSYCHIC energy from one another. I formerly had this manager who endeavored to pull that domineering crap on me, yet I didn't accuse her of influencing my mind waves. And what on earth is amiss with fighting back? Sometimes it's necessary; it's called being human. I yearn to bestow upon Redfield one of those "Hang in there, kitty!" motivational posters. For goodness' sake, man. The world will always revolve around power. What the devil is human energy? By that, do you imply...Prozac?

From there, we progress to other insights, such as the one that informs us that the death dimension and our own will ultimately merge (I couldn't fabricate this if I tried) and that humans will transform into something like that one guy in the Star Trek Next Generation episode where the guy super-evolves into golden light and simply zooms out of the Enterprise's roof.

Based solely on this book, I surmise that Redfield was bullied extensively in his youth, turned to Buddhism, became a pacifist, and hey, great. Fine. But then...went berserk. The ending literally becomes the equivalent of a My Little Pony cartoon. It's My Little Pony masquerading as Indiana Jones. I was primed for adventure. If not Indy, then at least something akin to Cyndi Lauper in "Vibes". I didn't even obtain that! Screw this book! No stars for you!

Not the book I typically gravitate towards. However, I found myself lost in Morocco and happened to stumble into a bookstore. To my dismay, this was the only English book they had.

It seems as if the author took all the subpar writing from The Da Vinci Code, combined it with the one-dimensional characters from Twilight, and then ripped off numerous concepts from Eastern Mysticism, The Secret, and The Alchemist. Voila - a crappy book was born. I winced so much that I was actually worried my face would remain contorted. Subsequently, I mourned the loss of three hours of my life that could have been better spent doing something more enjoyable, such as waxing my bikini line.

What truly frustrates me is that the concepts within this book held promise and were interesting. But in my opinion, these ideas became casualties in the face of mediocre writing, painfully dull exposition, and an unbelievable (in a negative sense) storyline.

And to fabricate a swashbuckling adventure in the backcountry of Peru? It's as if the writer didn't have enough faith in the concepts to let them speak for themselves. Instead, he had to package them into the cliched formula for creating a blockbuster (one part explosion, two parts mystery, add romance, add a strange guy who may be good but could also be evil, add tragedy, add a happy ending).

Lame. I give one star for the concepts and one star for being the only English book in a Moroccan bookstore.