This book is a delicious journey. Every paragraph is full of insight and original thinking.

A much needed treatise in an age where beauty has been exploited; sexualized, commercialized, and objectified. If you are wishing to reconnect with the sacredness of beauty - your own, others', and that of the world around you - then delve into this sincere attempt to honor that which is a true gift to humanity.

Stunning. It is so beautiful that it almost evokes an occasional tear. It is a book for life. One that you should read parts of as you journey on this earth.

A book to linger over. And I did, more mornings than not, for a year. O'Donohue sees everything from a different perspective- a more true, hidden, mystical perspective that I hope leeches into me every time I open the book.
The 'Music of Beauty' and 'Color of Beauty' were memorable but clearly were written by a poet/author peering into these areas rather than looking out from. Some of the facts about color weren't accurate so they had a misplaced mysticism that flared up my skepticism and outed O'Donohue's romanticism. So, four stars for that reason.
I am always sad to finish a book by this author. It feels like a good friend just moved away.

“Courage is amazing because it can tap into the heart of fear, taking that frightened energy and turning it towards initiative, creativity, action and hope. When courage comes alive, imprisoning walls become frontiers of new possibility, difficulty becomes invitation and the heart comes into a new rhythm of trust and sureness. There are secret sources of courage inside every human heart; yet courage needs to be awakened in us. The encounter with the Beautiful can bring such awakening. Courage is a spark that can become the flame of hope, lighting new and exciting pathways in what seemed to be dead, dark landscapes.”

A very Irish and very lovely account of the divine call of beauty in our lives. Lots to chew on here.

There are a lot of beautiful nuggets in this book, but overall I wished the format was more cohesive rather than a series of short reflections organized by theme.

This book really makes you think. The chapters on the beauty in death made me look at life a little differently.

::stares into the middle distance as I close the last page::

I don't know if I'll be able to come up with words for some time to describe the impact of this book. I have been reading it for two years. Not because it's hard to read, but because it is hearty and dense with insight that begs you to chew on it for a time and let it enter you. I've treated it as a devotional - it is poetry, it is philosophy, it is wisdom. It answered questions I've had some time about the place of beauty in our theology and in our everyday lives. O'Donohue points us to Beauty Itself and encourages our questions, and inspires our contemplation. The message at the heart of the book is that our divine calling is to awaken to beauty - within us and around us.

I intend to turn right around and start this book all over again as I am surely a different person when I began this book because of this book.

I discovered the writing of John O'Donohue through the poetry and writings of David Whyte. They were best friends and greatly influenced each other's writing and personal lives. This is the fourth book by John I have read and I'm always stirred spiritually by the way he expounds on the topics he writes about. This book in particular is a wake-up call for compassion, serenity and hope for troubled souls who are struggling to stay centered and grounded in our dark world. The chapters on Imagination and God is Beauty were particularly moving to read and have caused me to reconsider the Celtic origins of my heritage. There is an aura of The Sacred in some of the writings in this book, difficult to ignore and certainly worth pondering. John had a unique call on his life and gave so much of his soul and spirit to our world. I am grateful for his writings and the voice he left behind for us in them.

Everything about this book is simply.....beautiful.
Beautiful prose, beautiful ideas, beautiful reminders, beautiful insights.

It is a wonderful series of thoughts on what is beautiful in our life...I found it so valuable to contemplate all that is beautiful that I didn’t want to finish reading!

This book has been on my Goodreads Currently Reading list for approximately the last 14 years. At least it seems that long.

Not that I haven't tried. I started reading the opening pages. I tried the last chapter. I tried dipping in randomly. I tried perusing the chapter headings for something that might be more specific to my interests.

Beauty is truth, truth, beauty. Despite a compelling interest in these my later years in Keats' Ode, no attempt to get into this book has worked. I read a few paragraphs and put it back onto my reading table.

Can one make sense of a Beethoven sonata by doing a brain scan and a tissue dissection of the amygdala of the listener? Then describing it in endless long sentences of technical jargon, words marching on and on across the page?

Can one repeatedly talk about the value of silence while droning on without a pause to allow even the briefest interlude?

I picked up this book having heard of the poetic writing of John O'Donohue. I suppose I expected a lyrical, evocative, perhaps even beautifully illustrated treatment of such a poignant, powerful concept as Beauty.

Not in this book, neither in its conception nor in its execution.

Turn here if you're looking for a scholarly review of what others have written about it. Accompanied by some descriptions of the benefits of spiritual development.

It's a wonderful testament to the inadequacy of words to express the ineffable.