Reading the end of the book was all the more amusing after seeing these reviews and realizing that I was not imagining the author's delusions. HOWEVER, I must say that the book does have some positives. First, the "insights," although old as the wind and sand, are genuine. Any truly spiritual person, not bound by the conventions and restrictions of traditional religion, has probably realized these already. That does not, however, subtract from the appeal of seeing them solidified on paper. Agreed, this "novel" is a literary atrocity, its presentation is overwhelmingly archaic, and its message is profusely pounded into sickening flatness. Regardless, there is truth in the regurgitated notions/ideas/beliefs. "Insight" is something we all need to understand, even if this book is not what promotes the awareness.

I feel that The Celestine Prophecy is a wonderful book for those who are least concerned with fine literature and more concerned with beginning a quest into understanding the greater meaning of our existence. Of course, the book pales horribly when compared to the great ones. But the point is not comparison. The point is to get in-tune.

To those of you who are well-read and consider yourselves avid intellectuals, you might be better off skipping this one in favor of some of the greats. For those of you who feel something stirring deep within that makes you question our current human condition, The Celestine Prophecy may very well open up a new and positive way of seeing yourself and others. The awakening may very well help you on YOUR path. Do you NEED this "novel" to help facilitate this change? You decide. Personally, I found the basic skeleton of the book, the insights, worth embracing.


Some good concepts   April 21, 2001
 258 out of 274 found this review helpful

To be fair the book had some good concepts. I personally got more out of Converstations With God and Encounter With A Prophet. But this book was certainly not bad.


Belongs in Everyone's Humor Collection   March 1, 2003
 113 out of 196 found this review helpful

As far as unintentinal hoots go, this is by far my favorite. The blurb writer above describes Jesse Conti's delivery perfectly: " He reads in hushed, anticipatory tones, almost whispering the secrets of the prophesies." What could be richer? He appears to naively believe that he is imparting some sort of actual wisdom, or is unravelling the mysteries of The Dead Sea Scrolls. All he is doing, in reality is sounding incredibly inept.

There is no wisdom to be imparted here, soul fans! Not even the slightest intimation of an original concept. Regurgitated 60s mantra music, from the newly annointed guru of pop spiritualism. Redfield makes Richard Bach look positively profound, by comparison.

If you want to find true spirituality between the bindings of a book, pick up the Bible, The Koran, The Bagghavad Ghita, The Upanishads, Siddhartha, Kalhil Gibran, C.S. Lewis, etc. If you want a good belly-laugh, order this tape.

BEK


A Spiritual Journey   January 30, 2000
 59 out of 66 found this review helpful

Many of you have heard about this book, but may be wondering... what exactly is the Celestine Prophecy? Some type of church or new age mumbo - jumbo? This book tells a story of an American, who is adventuring in the rain forests of Peru, and discovers a set of nine manuscripts. These manuscripts, referred to as "insights", offer ways of discovering a new sense of life. The story is told in 9 chapters, as our American adventurer discovers more information and interprets the meaning of these hidden "truths" (insights).

The first two insights reveal how mankind is currently undergoing a new spiritual awakening and touches on how coincidences in each of our lives may be more than mere coincidences after all.

The next three insights reveal that many of us may see the world we live in, as a material universe, when in fact our universe is one filled with dynamic energy. The book goes on to explain how this energy is the cause of most verbal/physical confrontations between humans as well as how to understand the power struggles that occur in most relationships ( son-father / daughter-mother / husband-wife / boyfriend/ girlfriend, etc. ). There is a great section on how each of us can learn to avoid the people in our lives who are continually manipulating or "draining" our own personal energy and how each of us can find a good source of constant positive energy!

The last four insights help you to begin discovering what your our own personal, spiritual "mission" in life may be and how each of us can contribute to the world around us. There is a great section about becoming personally aware of our own energy manipulations towards other people, and how overcoming these manipulations as well as allowing "coincidences" in our lives to take place will help guide us in fulfilling our own personal "missions" in life.

Why has this book been so life changing, and praised by millions of people worldwide? Because, in a way, it is getting each of us in touch with something we knew already, but didn't realize we knew. You begin to recognize your own half - conscious ability to follow hunches, taking advantage of coincidental opportunities that arise. Most importantly, without preaching anything religious at all, this book fills a spiritual void most people have had, by helping each of us determine what our own spiritual mission in life is. The Celestine Prophecy is not really about making a change in your personal philosophy, as it is about simply shifting our approach to life and how we sense the lives of those around us. Truly, as the back cover claims, "a book that comes along once in a lifetime, to change lives forever". Overall, an extremely important book, with something for everyone. A truly priceless addition to your personal library...( well, not really priceless... Amazon.com has it for only about 10 bucks, and it ships in 24 hours! )


Interesting patterns   September 11, 2001
 56 out of 62 found this review helpful

The Celestine Prophecy book is certainly an interesting book. I read it cover to cover, not skimming, and made mental note of each of the author's Insights. The first Insight, basically, is that coincidences are meaningful, and are happening more often, especially to those aware of and open to them.

I began to notice coincidences very quickly - first the main character met someone who told him Insight one, but only knew the first Insight. Then, the main character met someone who told him Insight two, but they only knew the first two insights. Then, the main character met someone who told him Insight three, but she only knew the first three insights. Wow!

Another interesting coincidence is that many people encountered by the main character speak in the same patterns - they are verbose, patient, kind and many of them explain their part of understanding of the Insights to the main character with the words: "Think about it...". After the fourth "Think about it" it gets a little weary.

Moving outside the book to the reviews, many people encountered by this person speak in the same patterns. A large majority of those who speak glowingly of the book have frequent spelling or grammar errors. A large majority of the people who hate the book have very little spelling errors and use longer and less-common words. More interesting coincidences.

A previous review said: "The book wasn't meant to have perfect english; if it did that it would be dry and boring." Umm, no. Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History Of Time" and "The Poky Little Puppy" are both written in perfect English. To be written in perfect English does not necessarily mean that it will go over your head or will be dry and boring - at least one hopes so.

Many positive reviews (by coincidence) have said to ignore the writing, though, and focus instead on the underlining message. These messages, as stated by many reviews previous, are simplistic and not original. The movie "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure", to go to an extreme, had perhaps not the best writing, but contained the Insight: "Be excellent to each other". One would hardly take the opposite view, would you?

To close, as this is basically me getting some thoughts of the book off my chest and being review 580+ only the seriously dedicated or bored will read this anyway, thank you for reading this far.