Reading this book feels like I am sitting opposite a
relative I haven’t met for a long time and trapped in a circle of conversation
that I try so hard to understand. At some point, I nod my head in agreement. At
others, I can’t really digest the concept and keep throwing my glance at the
door, looking for an escape.
I am a mood reader; I need to be in a reading mood/situation to get started, but once I’m in, it depends on the book to keep me there. Unfortunately, I have to admit that it takes me so long and so many tries to finish this book.
Personally, it feels like I am given a long preach, complicated mixtures of words and their meanings that I didn’t realize I needed because it doesn’t really impact how I live my life or my own philosophy.
The author is undoubtedly knowledgeable, but there are many bold claims that I’m not sure how he gets the conclusion, and there are many doubts about things that I didn’t know needed to be doubted. We are talking about the physical world that doesn’t cause our existence, the color of blue, whether the trees make sounds, which comes first, physical brain or consciousness, or how we cannot know reality─at all! And more. Who determines these claims, and which concepts are wrong or right?
The way the book flows is also a bit all over the place for me. The author mentioned it near the end of the book about similar feedback, and yes, I feel the same. I also find the fictional dialogues with real people cringe and questionable.
To sum it all up, the book is not for me. I struggled but finished it, but I can’t say I learned much from it. However, I respect the author for putting something he believes in with so much effort. Maybe I am not enlightened, and perhaps this is just not my cup of tea, so don’t take my word for it. I would take some good reasoning out of it, just like how I adapt to other philosophies, beliefs, or theories, and leave the rest.
3 out of 5 stars
