8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Wait! Stop! Don't! (caution ... SPOILER ALERT), September 28, 2010
This review is from: 13 B'aktun: Mayan Visions of 2012 and Beyond (Paperback)
Fortunately this book was short and cheap, so it didn't waste much of my time and money.
The title leads you to believe this book is about 2012. It's not.
Here's the sum total of 2012 coverage on the second to the last page:
"Thus, I will leave this book unconcluded and I ask you to finish the last chapter. Oh, but if you want to know what will happen in 2012, you can find it in this chapter. It's written as we Maya speak, in code."
That was so lame. Fortunately, by the time I reached the end of the book, my expectations were so low that the above didn't disturb me. I found nothing "in code" ... or I found everything ... or I found whatever I wanted to read into his words.
I could find no discernable style--the text drifts from story telling to non-fiction to science to conjecture to opinion to creation myths--usually without transitions. Insets are sprinkled randomly throughout the text, often with little or no visible association to surrounding text. There are way too many excerpts from other documents, and much utter nonsense and incoherent ramblings. By page 38, I became weary of all of the above and slogged through the rest of the book hoping for new information. Alas, there was none.
Here are some gems for you to consider:
pg 43 inset:
"Humans do not share the same fate except for before birth and after death in the bosom of the mother and of the tomb"
>>>Huh? What am I supposed to get out of that? That each of us has a different fate? Wow. No new information there.
pg 46:
"I told him that seemingly, the Makers and Creators decide that's how it is in their desire to experiment with human life where perhaps, for better or for worse, there are supermen or super-animals sleeping."
>>>Huh? I'm not even going to attempt that one.
pg 47:
"People's highest decisions are the product of simple reflex reactions to stimuli."
>>>Um. No. I beg to differ.
Pg 48:
"Let's imagine what human irresponsibility would not do with such power in its hands."
>>>I think I was able to unscramble that sentence when I read the book but I don't feel like doing it now. Maybe you can.
Pg 93:
"Even though it isn't this work's purpose to delve into the study of numbers, we're going to use a table about positional values as an example of how to create a larger number by placing numerals in a vertical sequence with the largest units on top:
8x 160,000 = 1,280,000
4x 8,000 = 32,000
2x 4,000 = 8000
0x 20 = 0
2x 1 = 2"
>>>Huh? You gotta be kidding. I could not figure out why the above insert was included, nor what I was supposed to get out of it. Is he telling me that numbers can be arranged so that the largest is on top? Furthermore, I never did figure out what "this work's purpose" was.
Pg 126:
"People now can't argue that they don't know where they come from, where they are, or where they are going; that they're unaware of their own reality, that they don't understand the purpose of their existence on earth ... We all know it because of that universal law that's imprinted on the mind when it comes into the world. Each one knows the role that he or she is to play, without any excuse, without pretext, without any advantage, without excuses."
>>>Bull****. Do you know your purpose on earth? If you do, I'm happy for you but many don't (like myself). Can you access that universal law imprinted on your mind? If so, is that a good thing? Is there a reason "excuse" occurs twice in the last sentence? Maybe excuse x 2 = 8,000.
Pg 126 ... drum-roll please ... this is it ... the big message to be sent to humanity:
"the time has arrived when the trajectories of time and space will cross"
>>>Wow. How lame is that? Is that like crossing the Ghostbuster streams? It kinda sounds cool but it can be interpreted any way you want. For all I know the trajectories of time and space could be constantly crossing. Gimme a break.
The book slowly turns into a rant about humans destroying the Earth, and lamentations about the plight of the Maya. While I don't disagree with his rants, the air-waves and ether-waves are already saturated with such a message. Once again, no new information here.
The best way for me to describe how this book is put together is I imagine a desk full of pieces of paper, handwritten notes, pages torn from books, etc. Baskets overflowing and drawers stuffed. Finally, cleaning day arrives. All the papers are stuffed into a folder and mailed off to be translated/published.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ancient and modern threads, October 28, 2010
This review is from: 13 B'aktun: Mayan Visions of 2012 and Beyond (Paperback)
What an amazing adventure to read GPG's book first in Spanish, and then in English with Robert Sitler's translation.
I come from a culture that insists on constant and instant gratification, that can handle information only in small sound bites, and whose materialism and shallowness are literally rewiring our brains in a de-evolutionary way. Not to mention our planet.
Rather than read GPG's book as a consumer looking for pop culture to devour, I approached this book looking for philosophical insights and macro-connections. They are here. This is a metaphysical journey that we take alongside the protagonist and his son. As they talk of the universe as a humble floor mat (pop), I think of how closely this metaphor approximates the idea of space/time wherein these dimensions are interwoven together as the fabric of the cosmos. As they speak of multiple creation stories, I find myself reflecting on the fact that Christianity's creation story makes knowledge the fall of humankind, while the Popol Vuh encourages us to evolve in the very direction of knowledge. As the protagonist describes quadripartition, I realize that I have no clue about the four directions as I thought I once did.
In order to "get at 2012," we have to understand why the many groups that made and continue to make up the Maya are scholars of time. This book helps you see the tremendous importance of cyclical time; something that goes against the very grain of what it means to be "Western." As GPG writes: ". . . Western culture does not understand Mayan civilization's interests and motivations, since it classifies them from within its own canons and models of thought" (65). Bravo. Sitler's translations does an excellent job, in fact, of retaining key terms in their original languages so that we may attempt to participate in a different lexical canon as we read.
This work is a hybrid text prepared on a loom of both ancient and modern threads. You will read from the Chilam Balam as well as from Einstein. You will read narrative, poetry, and essay; sometimes all woven together like the pop. My favorite poem in this book is by Xochipillipilzin about the wind. I shared it with my neighbor and we can't get it out of our heads. It reminds me of the many poems that make up the Tao Te Ching.
If you are an active reader who enjoys reading, pausing, reflecting, and writing a lot in the margins, then you will fall in love with this slim tome. Additionally, I would recommend this book to those who are interested in 2012 because Mr. Gonzalez is Q'anjob'al Maya and therefore, as Sitler puts it so well, his book "breaks with this new pattern of non-Mayan dominance in writings about 2012 . . . " (xi).
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
