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Mutant Message Down Under

Mutant Message Down Under

List Price: $18.00
Your Price: $12.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Plaigarism and bandwagonning galore
Review: I was immediately struck by the similarities between this book and two others I have read recently. The first is "The Celestine Prophecy" by James Redfield which is a fictionalised account of how the writer became caught up in a hunt for an ancient manuscript in Peru. On the way he met corrupt officials, shady government agents, benign monks and various enlightened natives. Obviously, he picked up a lot of New Age baloney at the same time. Plotwise, very similar to MMDU. The second book is "Amazon Beaming" and concerns a bearded photographer chasing aboriginal natives in Brazil. He loses all his possesions and treks for weeks through the jungle gaining insights and so on. By the way, the natives are telepathic. Is this all sounding familiar? I would say that MMDU is the mutant child of these two books at least. Also, since neither of its parents were very good, MMDU is downright dismal...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Thought provoking reality check
Review: This book was recomended to me by my mother and I am so glad she did. I truly enjoyed this book. The author takes you through the outback, a untamecd jouney of the spirit. I stronlgy suggest anyone who wants a short book that makes you question your place in the world.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Little wisdom in this far-fetched yarn
Review: While Morgan's message -- wisdom has been preserved in native tribes uncontaminated by civilization -- is compelling in spiritually ailing America, I could neither swallow it as true nor did I find it inspiring. The first chapter, explaining how her adventure began, intrigued me. But after that, chapters fell into a sing-song pattern of the days events and the lesson learned, followed by several paragraphs lamenting how resistant modern culture would be to adopting this lesson.

I would have been more impressed if Morgan had acknowledged the difficulties applying the lessons learned from a few dozen natives eking out an existence on hundreds of square miles of desert to residents numbering in the billions living on an increasingly overcrowded Earth. A clue as to why such back-to-nature pabulum has won so few converts is revealed in the closing chapter. When Morgan returned to civilization, she couldn't wait to get a bath and rid herself of the affects of her native excursion.

For a fascinating and authentic account of native tribes, a much better choice would be "Kabloona" by Gontran De Poncins. This story of his time with the Eskimos reveals what compromises humans make to exist in such a marginal environment while finding respect and admiration for his subjects.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A comment by an Australian
Review: This book shows a paucity of understanding of Australian aboriginal customs and culture. It is a naive, personalized and vain misinterpretation of something that is far too complex for the author to ever come to terms with. As such, it is of little value, other than perhaps, providing evidence of how mixed-up, lonely Westerners in the late 20th century are becoming lost and gullible. In itself, it could well be used as the basis for humor!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: INSPIRATIONAL AND ENLIGHTENING
Review: Marlo Morgan has been blessed to have had this fantastic opportunity. The simple spirituality that she experienced is what the "rest of the world" needs to find to make our home the best that it can be. Do away with the materialism and egotistical nature of mankind, bring back the honesty and simplicity that was so evident is her journey. I would love to have this experience. Doing without is not the hardship in life that much of society believes it to be. I was loaned this book and it touched me so greatly that I am buying a copy to keep on my shelf so that I can go back to it for reassurance that the whole world isn't crazy - like I do with all good books. As a modern culture we have lost the true meaning that our higher power meant for us to have - LOVE!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: absolutely astonishing
Review: marlo's experience, should this be even partially true, is the most electrifying piece i've ever read. It is spiritual, historical, magic, reflective, challenging to the core of the nature of human kind. Can't say enough about it. a must read. bkormann@aol.com ]

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The most important book for all mankind!
Review: I just couldn't stop reading and it was a great experience. I do single handed sailing myself, and I think I've experienced something similar, when i realised how little you actually need to be happy. But living totally honest and whith a totally honest and open mind is very difficult. I try to be true to my inner self and think your book has helped me with that.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: interesting ideas, story is questionable
Review: I read this book two or three years ago in the self-published version. In that edition, she was definitely trying to present her story as FACT. There was no mention that the work was fiction--my understanding is that that was added to the book jacket of the later hardcover edition, presumably to protect the author (and the publisher) from the many, many claims that she was lying. I found it difficult to believe that her story was true, even without knowing much about the outback. It seemed unlikely that an aboriginal person who had never lived in white civilization could deliver a message that sounded exactly as if it came out of the mouth of a $400-per-seminar California New Age guru. I for one think it DOES matter if the story is fact or fiction, especially if she is going to present it as fact. If you can read the novel and not care about whether or not she is using the aborigines to preach her own message, this book does have a lot of interesting and thought-provoking ideas. But I found that difficult to do. When an author manipulates a real culture--especially one that it is currently fighting to maintain its existence and integrity--to present her own ideas, you have to wonder about her motivation. It's also an indication of a profound lack of respect for your reader, if you ask me.

Read it, but be careful about taking it as gospel (literally).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: I was very surprised when reading all the reviews on this book. This book had a wonderful affect on myself and my husband when we read it. Whether it is fact or fiction, is not important to us, how the story impacted our life, is. To me, this book really makes one look at their life and correct the course we are taking. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I thought it was good until I read the other reviews
Review: I was just about to purchase this book when I saw the lively debate raging in the review section. I read this book about three years ago in Italy. It was an Italian translation, so I must admit I cannot really comment about the writing style since Italian is not my native language and it may have been the Italian translator (not the author) who was at fault for the bad prose. I have given it a 5 because I am now rather perplexed as to how I should view this work. I admit that after having read it I was delighted. The message was very inspirational and made me rethink my own life. However, when I think that Ms. Morgan may be grossly misinterpreting Aboriginal culture for her own greedy needs, it quite honestly disgusts me. I was deeply disturbed by comments from people who know Aboriginees and Australians, claiming that her work is a pack of lies. If this is the truth, you should not only NOT buy her book, but you should spread the word. Until I get authentification that Ms. Morgan's story is indeed a fiction developed for her own greedy needs, I will leave my rating as a five. Before we make a movie out of this story, I hope that Hollywood (for once its history) will seek to rectify all erroneous information contained within the book.


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