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| A New Earth | 
 enlarge | Author: Eckhart Tolle
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (UK)
Category: Book
Buy Used: $15.70
Used (12) from $15.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  1164 reviews
Sales Rank: 800206
Format: Import
Media: Paperback
Edition: Export e.
Pages: 313
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0141027592
EAN: 9780141027593
ASIN: 0141027592
Publication Date: October 31, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Different cover, same book! Minor reading wear.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1159 more reviews...
 Buddhism repackaged April 14, 2008
1166 out of 1393 found this review helpful
This is an interesting book to review because I can tune in and see what is happening to people who read it and get a close up look at the author using his philosophy to answer questions. While I applaud Oprah for this novel approach to bettering the human race, I take issue with both this author and his book.
I read Tolle's first book and found it to be a boring rehash of Buddhism. Because Oprah was so high on his second I figured I'd give him another try and join the book club. I thought it would be interesting to see a book "in action" and discuss it with others. I even sent a copy to my sister who could use a bit of computer recreation since she now lives in a very small town. This book is better than the first in that it is a better compilation of Buddhist thought. However, it rambles constantly, draws conclusions from encounters that are not necessarily justified and the attitude of its author (who sees himself as enlightened and continuously "conscious" and egoless), is laughable. Tolle's vanity is nothing short of astounding. Buddhism isn't a pill, it is a practice and awakening has many layers. In spite of this, Tolle has tons of people saying that they have awakened. On one hand adherents claim to be valiantly battling their ego's while on the other they flaunt their "awakening", telling others who claim to be in serious pain to simply read page such and such or tell their "pain body," to effectively shut up and go away. Yikes!!! While it is true that you can't blame the messenger for what people do with the messenger (Jesus protect me from your followers!) Tolle adopts a similar attitude toward others on the streaming video. His dead pan delivery of jargon in response to questions does not impress me as enlightened or egoless. It might behoove him to remember that those Zen stories he includes in the book were once used by master to deliver highly specific teachings that met the needs of particular students. He has turned awakening into a race....to what I am not sure, but I do know that enlightenment is not a competitive event. A few months from now there are going to be a lot of people with one hell of a philosophical hangover caused by all those subconscious drives they never bothered to examine and thought they'd left in a dumpster somewhere.
I keep waiting for the day when someone writes a version of Buddhism for the working mom. I think that person should herself be a mother with at least one ADHD child. She should be clinically depressed and have a couch potato for a husband. If she manages to help the child grow into someone with a good marriage and a real profession, I'll buy all of her books. Unfortunately what we keep getting are philosophies created by self-satisfied, introverted, childless, hermits like Tolle. There is nothing wrong with an introverted, childless, hermit being self-satisfied. What is wrong is suggesting that his way of being represents THE path to enlightenment for everyone. I would say that all he has found in Buddhism is a treatment for his (self acknowledged) form of depression and suicidal thoughts. I am glad he is well and happy and wish him the best....but I won't buy anymore of his books because they are just Buddhism repackaged and linked to an attitude I am not fond of.
 Simple but Not Easy April 2, 2008
359 out of 392 found this review helpful
This book really speaks to me. My mind is so busy that sometimes I absentmindedly arrive at a place and then ask myself what I wanted to do here. Within a few moments my mind goes through a number of different thoughts forgetting about the reason that directed me to a certain place. And this is why this book is so helpful. Eckhart Tolle provides simple solution to people like me. The solution is simple but in no way it is easy! The solution is getting rid of the noise in the head and focusing on the present moment and the one single activity that you are undertaking in this moment.
In a way this book is -- to a certain degree -- a rehash of the author's previous work titled "The Power of Now." However, if you have already read The Power of Now I still suggest getting "A New Earth" as there is still a great amount of new material. In a way in both books Tolle deals with the same subject matter, but in my opinion he is doing a much better job explaining the subject in this book. The author's soft-spoken manner permeates the whole work and makes it an easy and relaxed reading.
A big part of the book is devoted to identifying the many faces of (and dealing with) the "EGO" ("the voice in the head that pretends to be you") which is the culprit of our mental suffering that author calls "The Pain-Body" ("the emotions that are the body's reaction to what the voice in the head is saying"). Tolle suggests ways for breaking free of the Pain-Body and finding who you really are.
Unhappiness and negativity are everywhere around us. Surprisingly they are felt more deeply in the affluent western world, as we are more deeply identified with forms and trapped in our egos. The joy of being, the only true happiness, cannot come to us from anywhere, we can only experience it from the formless dimension within us after we allow the diminishment of the ego.
This book is not to be read like a novel. I suggest reading it slowly - just a few pages at a time, and practicing the author's suggestions. In the realm of spirituality no-one of us will probably have the same experience, but I dare say that the deeper you get into it the more powerful the experience will be. The secret is getting to the awareness outside of thinking, to the awareness of true being. Get the book and try it out. It might also speak to you.
Other recommended readings:
Power of Now
The Secret
Can We Live 150 Year?
 Awawened Master? The Meek Equals Egoless? May 18, 2008
179 out of 247 found this review helpful
The book is 316 pages, & has 10 chapters with 2-11 parts in each. This book is better than the first in that it gives more details on Buddhist beliefs.
However, the authors vanity & EGO are sometimes shocking. He jumps to conclusions from experiences that don't appear "egoless." He has made the pursuit of being "awakened or enlightened" into a western style competitive race. Chapter 5 was drivel pyschbabble & even had histoical mistakes. Ex: The pre-Christian cultures he mentioned on page 156 revered females? If that was true, why did they sell their own women into slavery?
Also, the ideas the author presents are not original & his tone is a bit patronizing & contradictory. When he states that you should not dwell on the future, but stay in the present. But, a moment later he states that you must focus on a vision or goal that you are striving to reach. One could simply read the works of the authors he listed on page 131. Life is far more complex & transitory than he seems to indicate.
"Dukkha, or suffering is part of life." Mindful practice is all we can truly focus on. It is not an escape from the stresses we all have in our daily lives. On page 273, he states "the decision arrives ready made. It comes through awareness, not through thinking." I can't speak for others, but one often will have to think to be fully aware. I found pages 234-7 to be the wisest examples in the book. Then again, I learned these things from episodes of the 1970's show "Kung Fu." Lastly, I recommend folks read Daniel Goleman's "EQ," for both ego & emotional information. While "mindfullness" is well covered in the Dalai Lama's "The Art Of Happiness."
 A very odd book by a very odd man February 1, 2008
178 out of 247 found this review helpful
What I find simultaneously most fascinating and infuriating about Tolle is his failure to grasp the fundamental contradiction of his book, as well as the New Age movement as a whole: that you cannot discount the role that the mind itself plays in life, even when (maybe especially when) you're claiming to have found a new and exalted level of consciousness or supposed inner meaning. There is no escape from the conscious and especially the subconscious mind; it is always active, and in fact may be heavily influencing Tolle's own sense of his inner being, even when he himself doesn't think so! Also, Tolle's explication of his concept of The Now is absurdly simplistic and out of sync with the realities of modern geopolitical living. Consider that he once replied thusly to an interviewer's question about how he (Tolle) would've handled 9/11 and the response to same: "I don't know what I would do, because I can only know what is right in an actual situation which demands a response. It's very hard when you look at hypotheticals." Ah yes, but the whole concept of preparedness and contingency planning is based on hypotheticals and the ability to step out of Tolle's beloved "Now" so that one can gain the benefit of experiential learning (i.e. the past) and planning for the worst (i.e. the future). So what is Tolle going to do when an emergency blindsides him and he suddenly realizes that--in his perpetual state of Now-ness--he didn't plan for it? It's absurd. This book is manna for the masses--telling people what they want to hear--and as one who has intensively studied the New Age movement, I urge you to pass on it. [...]
Some good points made, but not a keeper for me March 1, 2008
174 out of 237 found this review helpful
I have mixed feelings about "A New Earth". While I thought some very good points were made, I didn't find it easy to read because the style of writing is so dense. Many of the ideas that Tolle presents are not original (e.g. how we interpret people or events is a result of our own thoughts or egos, we must strive to live in the present moment), but they are still well made and thought-provoking.
Some parts of the book do get hard to follow. While Tolle acknowledges this, he also tells us that if we find the book incomprehensible and meaningless, it means that we have not begun the process of awakening - i.e. any fault is with the reader, which strikes me as a cop out. Tolle also implies that his view is the only correct way of viewing the world, with sentences like: "If you don't become speechless when looking out into space on a clear night, you are not really looking, not aware of the totality of what is there."
My main criticism of this book is that I didn't find it of much help in a practical sense. Tolle talks a lot about how you can effect change in yourself by bringing awareness to situations. This has not been my personal experience - while I agree it's the first step, I think sometimes we need a little more "how-to" guidance if we are to make real change. Often when I was reading this book I'd think: "wow, that's such a great point he's just made", but then it would get kind of lost as the book moved on. And ultimately it comes across as being a bit selfish. This idea that your spouse may leave you and your friends may drift away when you achieve spiritual growth, but that's all for the good.
To get the most out of "A New Earth", you probably want to read it slowly and let each chapter sit with you for a while before moving onto the next. Even better, have someone to discuss it with as you go and help you to explore the apparent contradictions e.g. when Tolle says on one hand that you don't want to dwell on the future but stay in the present, and then on the other hand he says that you must have a goal or vision that you are working towards. There is definitely a lot of interesting material in here, but I have found other books to be more accessible and useful.
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