Readers respond to Neurotheology

Neurotheology was not widely distributed or reviewed. These comments were selected from letters, cards, and calls received from all over the world. Most of them are from educators, managers, and professionals in various fields. Check them out. You’re bound to find someone whose name you recognize or someone from your own background here. Find out why they’re so excited...get your own copy today.

 Our most recent reviews

"Your book has given me peace. I no longer fear death."

"Enclosed please find $100. Please send as many as this will buy and keep the change. So far my wife, mother, sister, two neighbors, a friend from work and I have read your book. We all want a copy so that we can re-read it. You have really done something precious and amazing. The words themselves are beautiful to read. You have written with love, care, and clarity. The information is totally new to me, but it rings true with my life and what I have read in other fields. I appreciate your writing without bias, without an agenda, and without fanaticism because what you have to say is too important for distractions. And yet you are in the work."

"Congratulations on the writing of NEUROTHEOLOGY. It is both thoughtful and clever in its style. I enjoy the creative constructions that you use at many points and feel that you will open up a new level of interdisciplinary dialogue and personal understanding as the result of the vivid and sometimes unusual juxtapositions of contemporary and historical forms of high technology and timeless religious issues."

"In the late 50s, long before it became fashionable in the West, I immersed myself in Eastern philosophies, eventually turning away because instead of a single convincing explanation, as I had hoped, I found a host of squabbling schools with enormous doctrinal differences. Now, in brilliantly, elegantly, and persuasively written prose, you offer a synthesis of all religion and, for good measure, you throw in modern science. What strikes me most is the disarming modesty and refusal of all pretentiousness."

"Fascinating, enlightening, and uplifting. Few profound explanations of our being have made so much sense spiritually and intellectually. I was enthralled by the reach and grasp of your treatise. I have had a fairly heavy involvement with death and dying as I have had so many friends and loved ones succumb to AIDS related illness. Your observations and explanations brought much of what I felt into focus in a way that was both comforting and informative. Thank you for sharing a great work, and one that touches people in a fundamentally important way. I have no doubt that I will use it often as a guide, reference, and inspiration."

"Jack and I just finished reading your book out loud before bed and enjoyed it thoroughly. You are a wonderful wordsmith. You have a way with images and metaphors that make things come alive on the page. Jack’s a MD and majored in physics as an undergrad and he found your science right on target. Thank you for sharing this with us. It certainly has given us lots to think about."

"It was a real pleasure to read. You offer a very refreshing and insightful perspective on the topic that has been gnawing humanity for generations. You also demonstrate that science and religion must not be exclusive and have much more to offer when their philosophies are combined than any one of them alone. Reading your book was especially comforting to me as a young scientist and a "believer", I have never had a philosophical dilemma about reconciling the existence of God with science."

"Excellent! All good wishes."

"His Holiness read your article and found it interesting."

"I have just finished reading Neurotheology and wanted to write and tell you that I found it helpful, not only for my own spiritual path, but also in understanding the patterns in all of us. I am a physician and have worked with dying persons for the past six years at San Diego Hospice. I am arriving at some of the same conclusions you have by my observations and contemplating patterns I am seeing in the dying person. I have studied with Sogyal Rinpoche and studied the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I think it will have meaning for us only if it can adapted to our culture. Perhaps this book is a way of doing that..."

"A delightful and meaningful book. I won’t say it’s become my Bible, but I find repeated readings of solace and value. I’m always surprised that most people have not concept of what lies beyond … but for me it is, as it really is for all of us, the trip of a lifetime and of untold anticipation."

John J. Keady
Consultant
Ernst & Young

"Highly recommended. I have already given away two copies. I found it fun, thought provoking, and good reading."

Laurie Forti
Consulting Engineer

"I want to publish your book. You’ve completely changed my perspectives about death. My mother in law recently had a stroke, and it was timely."

(Jeremy Tarcher had just sold his publishing company to Putnam. They turned his recommendation down and did not publish it.)

"What a surprise. I read it through with growing interest and am now finishing the last chapter. I am totally enthralled and without doubt, it is one of the most fascinating books I have read and I would like to order ten more to send to a few friends. Almost each page is earmarked and scribbled over and your book will certainly serve well for future reference and re-reading. Let me congratulate you on this terrific effort and the marvelous result. Let me assure you it is part of a lifetime well spent. I am flabbergasted by the amount of captivating knowledge and profound insights you have developed."

"Hearty thanks for the book; you’ve robbed me of two nights sleep on my vacation as I was completely wrapped up in it. In a word, it’s an extraordinary book; the premise stretches the mind, it’s interesting and thought triggering. Many of the thoughts are in complete agreement with my own experiences. Others make your ears prick up, and make you think about it later, and even long after the lesson. Finally, I’d like to give the book to some of my closest associates. Do you have an address, I’d like five copies."

Klaus Kocher
Mathematician
Zurich, Switzerland

I’ve had your book on my desk for only an hour and there are ten friends on my list for copies. I love it. Can I be your agent for Saudi Arabia?"

"We come from virtual eternity, we create virtual time, and we’ll return to virtual eternity. Fun and uplifting."

"It was quite interesting to read your book as we do not stop and think about the things you touch upon during our hub-bub business routines. Congratulations and thank you."

"I really enjoyed it. It’s beautifully written; an impressive achievement"

Devora Tulcensky
Ph.D. Candidate in Psychology
Harvard University

"I have finished the book and it is great. Can you send me three more ASAP so I can distribute it to my friends?"

"Your book Neurotheology is a seminal work. Its subjects cover much of my own lifetime’s search for understanding about our human predicament. All the premises you provide are either factually grounded or seem to be quite acceptable. Your conclusions are truly astounding, but believable. For me, you have taken a very broad look at our human existence and then integrated knowledge from diverse fields into a coherent picture of what might really be. Also, your book was enjoyable to read. Your writing style is conversational and you always prove your points in an amusing and complete way. I certainly plan to recommend to all my friends to buy the book. This includes people in the fields of religion, medicine, psychology, and sociology."

"I really enjoyed reading your book, Neurotheology. I can read pages at random and receive tremendous insights. Neurotheology is similar to the Bible, the Koran, and other religious texts in that a cover-to-cover reading is not necessary to benefit from it. It’s great to see a Harvard MBA with such spiritual insights. I hope your book gets wide distribution."

"I have indeed found it thought provoking. The book is very well written and you raise many points that make a great deal of sense to me. I have put it on the list of recommended books for my class."

"Congratulations on the book and on dealing with a subject that somehow always manages to defy description. Much of what you relate in the book happens to correspond exactly to many of my thoughts in moments of quite contemplation. You have seized the opportunity to put it all down on paper."

"I enjoyed reading your book. It’s a very intense book. So far, I am totally uplifted by it. Great philosophy."

"This book is in the same category as Fukuyama’s book The End of History and the Last Man. Both are a reflection on our ongoing evolution. Mankind is not static, but dynamic and growing."

"The whole thing is very readable, a light treatment of heavy material! Your references and detailed knowledge are dazzling. I learned much from your work. I have a daughter and some friends who could gain much from it."

"As usual, you strike with something un-usual!"

"I enjoyed reading your book Neurotheology immensely. It shows the dedicated, hard working, intellectual, positive obsession that brought it into being. Well written and well thought out. A real winner!"

"Read it in one sitting and learned a lot. Profound, reassuring, and uplifting."

"I found it most interesting. I was impressed with the scope and depth of your knowledge of the many subjects covered in the book, and I found the underlying thesis fascinating."

"I thoroughly enjoyed your premise and your comprehensive arguments. You have ranged far and wide over diverse scientific and theological views and have woven them together in a very convincing and readable manner. It is a difficult task to bring together traditional religious beliefs and a scientific view of life and death without demeaning one view or the other."

William E. Jastromb
President
Smart Mind Publishing

William P. Kuehn
President
William Kuehn Associates

"A thoughtful and provocative book".

"Great concept!"

"A remarkable synthesis of ideas and philosophies!"

"A great read. Should ride the wave of boomers’ hunger and thirsting for meaning in the cosmic void."

"Enjoyed it, as expected. Food for thought."

"You hear the tune of many musicians, all different! Writing style is excellent. Bravo!"

"Enjoyed your book. Lots of depth to an issue that is more important as we get older."

"I like what I read a lot – vivid, thought provoking."

"Could I get a second copy to give to one of my clients who is definitely interested?"

"I like the idea of breaking down the barriers between different intellectual disciplines."

"I think you write in a superb style."

"More engaging than I expected. I passed it on to a friend who is a convert to Buddhism."

"You captured the essence of my thoughts. Very interesting and worthwhile."

"Profound, fun, spiritual...This is the most interesting book I have read, certainly in the last ten years or probably longer."

Andrew Smith
Scotland