Rating: 
Summary: Ethnographic hogwash conveys existential inspiration
Review: I am deeply appreciative of the other reviewers who have taken issue with the enormous ethnographic inaccuries of this work. The book attempts to enshroud itself in the enigma of "is it truth or is it fiction?" As with the work of Carlos Casteneda, the state of agnosis regarding historical veracity requires the reader to take a leap of faith. Are the "Real People" she walks with across Australia, in fact, real?Many readers would like to insist that they are, simply because some of the concepts presented in the book are wonderfully inspiring. The Real People can heal a broken bone in a day, find food and water in the most desolate outback desert, and -- most astoundingly -- communicate via telepathy. These aboriginal people see themselves as the only ones who have not become "mutants," the rest of us humans, who have lost touch with their fundamental powers and tried to rely on logic and technology, letting the left brain lead us to the brink of devastation. I am inspired by the ideas of rapid, energetic healing, by telepathy, longevity, and by the ability to live comfortably outdoors as a hunter/gatherer. In fact, I would love to believe that ancestral peoples had that ability and that somewhere in our future we all might develop such abilities. My own "leap of faith" even asserts that as the powers of the mind continue to be discovered and explored, some or all of these experiences may be within reach of the human condition. For that reason, I appreciate this book. It reminds me of ideals and values that are somewhat foreign to my daily experience, yet ones which resonate deeply with my innermost being. What truly disappoints me about this work, however, is that it is false ethnography that is being circulated around the globe in many languages, communicating misinformation about an ancient people who deserve to be represented truthfully. It also disturbs me that, after reading this book, the misinformation that now misguides my curiosity about the Aborigenes will probably get in the way of my appetite to explore the less glamorous realities of their way of life. Alas. The bottom line for this book: It is ethnographic hogwash that, nonetheless, conveys a deep source of existential inspiration. Even though the stories are historically false, they do point to possibilities for a better way for each and all of us. Like the Book of Mormon, you could base a whole religion on this book, simply because the spiritual content speaks directly to the heart. The weight of the existential truth convinces people that it must also be factual truth -- an easy conflation made by millions of people every day. To the author I offer a hearty "thanks" and also a big "shame on you."
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic
Review: This is a fantastic book, it is one of the books that lets you reconsider all the superficial things one tends to worry about. I wanna share some of the quotes I particulary liked in the book.
How would one put a coin in a telephone, dial a number and call someone?? We use mental telepathy...
According to the Aborigines, there are no misfits, or accidents, just mysteries not yet revealed by man.
Everything exists for a certain purpose.
We don't celebrate getting older, we celebrate getting wiser and better. All in all this book helps you to learn so much more about the culture of this indigenous people than you could ever do through any other book..... I recommend it highly and hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did!!
Rating: 
Summary: New Age Trash
Review: "Mutant Message Down Under" describes the secuestration of a medical worker, who apparently bears an uncanny resemblance to Ms. Morgan, by a tribe of Australian aborigines that are unknown to, and whose existence is apparently unsuspected by, the Australian government. They train her in tribal lore, advise her of a message for the rest of us on the outside, and send her back to twentieth century reality. Ms. Morgan states that this is a work of fiction, but makes it clear that she is casting it in a fictional format to protect the identity of the aboriginal tribe that chose her to transmit this sublime message, and that in fact this is a true story. In creating a book of this sort Ms. Morgan has managed to satisfy several audiences. One audience she pleased is lunatic fringe New Agers who prefer this sort of airy fairy, feel good way of getting in touch with ourselves and Mother Earth, and which unfortunately poses as a serious form of spirituality. An important subgroup within this species is comprised of those individuals that like stories about UFO abductions; Ms. Morgan should be congratulated on coming up with a new and interesting variation on this rather well-worn theme. Other readers no doubt found satisfaction that her main character was a middle-aged woman, which is a rare species to find as a protagonist on a mission from God in most extant literature. It was no doubt this factor that gave the book appeal to Oprah Winfrey, who included it on her list of recommended reads - that and the fact that although it is a whole 224 pages long, the print is large and there aren't too many long words. Unfortunately for Ms. Morgan, it also attracted attention from Aboriginal groups in Australia, along with a number of anthropologists that have worked with Native Australians, and it was clear that whatever Ms. Morgan thought she was describing, she had no idea whatsoever what Aboriginal life was like; in fact, the book is a rehash of derivative literature on Aboriginal life, leavened with some Native American spirituality where the details weren't too clear, maybe spiced with a piquant touch of Bushman lore from Southern Africa, and heavily interlarded with a healthy dose of Ms. Morgan's imagination. That Ms. Morgan should attempt something like this is not too surprising; Carlos Castaneda managed to do the same thing, only he did it much better; in fact, he fooled an entire generation. James Redfield also did something similar with the "Celestine Prophecy". The difference between Ms. Morgan on the one hand, and Mr. Castaneda and his Yaquis or Mr. Redfield and his Incas on the other, is that these others were dealing with ethnic groups that largely didn't read English and didn't pay much attention to what is said about them; among Australian Aborigines, however, there is an organized, articulate group that are committed to maintaining their property rights and are very concerned with the image projected about them to the rest of the world. Ms. Morgan has apparently gone on record for "apologizing" the the Aborigines, although her apology has not kept her from writing a second book on this same idiocy. If she really feels apologetic she should consider funding some of her considerable profits for this book to support Aboriginal rights in Australia. It's the least she owes them for exploiting their culture and folkways to pander to the audience for half-baked spirituality. As is so often the case with this sort of thing, the devil is in the details, and if you're interested in pursuing those details that make this story come apart at the seams you can search for "Dumbartung" on your computer to be taken to an Aboriginal website that has a great amount of detail on the subject. As for Aboriginal spirituality, if you're really interested in the subject you're better off reading James Cowan's books. As arguably the oldest continuous culture in the world, I believe that the Aborigines have a lot to teach us about spiritual matters. It's a shame that the most readily available way it is being served up these days is in a sideshow caricature like this.
Rating:
Summary: Marlo Morgan Lied to Tell The Truth
Review: About ten years ago I read and was profoundly moved by this book. I didn't know then that it was all a big hoax and that Marlo Morgan never went walkabout with aborigines. I usually hate stories that lie to me, but this book is different. Having gotten over my feeling of being snookered, I find its messages too deep to ignore. Even if Marlo Morgan never left American soil, she still tells a vitally important and universal story: the coded tale of her own unconscious psychology.
For reasons of her own immaturity she couldn't find a more straightforward way to tell her tale, so she created the platform of a fictionalized drama to express the different unintegrated parts of herself - which is what all great fiction writers do (and what everyone does when they dream). Marlo Morgan just went the extra step, one generally considered "unethical," and pretended her fiction was true. Perhaps she even believed it. But she's not the first: how do we think the Bible and the world's other creation stories got written down? The line between fiction and nonfiction is always cloudy, especially with stories with the deepest messages.
Here, I feel, is Marlo Morgan's message, stripped of its cheesy, New Age veneer and boiled down to its essence: our world is radically and profoundly in trouble, we're destroying our ecosystems at an amazingly fast past, our souls and perhaps our species are soon to be going down the tubes alongside the creatures whose demises we are effecting, and our priorities in life are all out of whack. We don't listen to our deeper emotional messages, we ignore the obvious in our quest to assuage our infantile desires, and we bury our souls in addictions of a thousand different varieties. We create terrible and unnecessary complexities which will invariably haunt future generations, we shut our eyes to the suffering of others - especially that which we ourselves cause - and we go on and on mindlessly procreating in our insatiable thirst for sex and romance and comfort.
The problem is, Morgan herself cannot put the strength of her character behind her message because it's too honest and painful for her to handle - it rubs too much against the grain of her external personality. After all, she's a mother, a societally-accepted doctor, an ex-beauty queen, and most importantly an idealizer of her own limited parents, to whom she dedicates her book. And because she idealizes them she could never own her Real, True Self, and instead had to project it onto an idealized "other" - whom she titles, not coincidentally, the "Real People."
Her detractors note that in reality she knew very little about Australian Aborigines and mostly just constructed her "Real People" from her wistful knowledge of Native Americans tribes and her own New Age-oriented imagination. I bet they're right. But as for her detractors (not all of whom are so accurate themselves, as they often misquote and misrepresent her!), one wonders how much of their hatred of her is due, as they claim, to her utter mis-portrayal of Aborigines, and how much, as I instinctively suspect is more likely the case, is due to their unconscious terror of her deeper message. The weak always hate the strong. They love nothing more than putting the strong to death, and unless they are on a truly growing path will never admit their true motives... Too bad Marlo Morgan made it so easy for them.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This book is based on fabrication and falsehood. Do not believe one word written by the author. This is the most culturally insensitive book I have read. It does a grave injustice to the native people of Australia. This is a self-serving book used to propagate a New Age philosophical agenda unconcerned with the culture it purports to exemplify.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Out-there, But Still A Great Story
Review: 50 year old Marlo Morgan is on a job trip to Australia, when one day she is invited to a special ceremony. This ceremony is with the Aborigines, Australia's native peoples. She dresses up, expecting a meal and some form of award, but little did she know that this was not just any ceremony. It was a ceremony to prove herself worthy of going on a 3-month trip across Australia with these unfamiliar faces. Only one, a young man who picked her up for the ceremony, can speak English. He becomes her well-needed translator. Despite her protests, she is dragged along with them wearing only a wrap-cloth given to her when she arrived. Shoeless and in much pain, she soon discovers that in order to live through this journey, she must learn the Aborigines' trade. She must learn to talk like them, walk like them, eat like them, clean like them, and care for herself like them. Miss Morgan comes close to death, or seemingly close to death, quite a few times throughout this journey, but it helps her grow and understand more each time. She flashes back to before the journey when she was sitting in a Psychic Cafe in Australia, waiting for a friend. That friend never shows up and a young man comes out to inform her that she is on this trip because there is someone here that she needs to meet. This message appears to her at the end of her walk with the Aborigines' also, but this time she acts upon it. Although she insists that this story is completely true, I only believe some aspects to it. There are a few things that are quite out there, but we'll never know the real truth. This was a great story, and I reccommend it to anyone who does not take offense to other people's cultures and who is willing to learn and listen to the Message in this book.
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