Knowing How to Know : A Practical Philosophy in the Sufi Tradition

Rating:
Summary: Valuable tools and insight.
Review: There are maybe a handful of writers that I look to, I depend on, to tell me the truth about our human condition. In his latest book, Idries Shah once again strips away the emotional accretions to our understanding of ourselves. He challenges our cultural assumptions, our personal bias. In this collection of Sufi Teaching Stories, narratives and question & answer, he points out that virtually all human organizations work by manipulating our greed. How can we learn to see things clearly? How can we free ourselves from this prison of appearances? Valuable tools and insight are here, and not a trace of dogmatism.

Rating:
Summary: A Gift from Shah
Review: This book discusses the cultural barriers and individual attitudes which inhibit our approach to the truth underlying all religion. It amplifies the ideas presented in other of Shah's work, and there is much new material and insight not readily obtainable elsewhere. Since the work was published postumously, I felt the book was a special gift from Shah and I feel a renewed sense of gratitude and reconnection with the legacy he has left us.

Rating:
Summary: More "Shah" than "Sufi" in this book
Review: This book is a fairly interesting book of New-Age philosophy but has little, if any, relationship with the Sufi tradition. One seeking a "practical" book on this tradition will find a superb primer in Robert Frager's "Heart, Self, and Soul". This is not to say that Shah's work is lacking in all respects; it is entertaining and will have appeal to many. My reservation is that the title, "A practical philosophy in the Sufi Tradition", is misleading. There is a harvest of quality books on traditional Sufism on Amazon.com, so keep looking.