Customer Reviews

Dating the Greek Gods : Empowering Spiritual Messages on Sex and Love, Creativity and Wisdom

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I picked up "Dating the Greek Gods" in a bookstore recently, and was intrigued enough to feel compelled to buy it. I found it a rather ingenious, enjoyable and creative book that has opened up my self-awareness immensely, putting me in touch with concepts I had never thought about, and aspects of my personality I never imagined existed. It IS very different, and a crash course in Greek mythology to boot. I'm definitely improved for having read it.

If this sounds appealing to you, do yourself a favor and buy the book. Do not be put off by some of the ridiculous, prejudiced reviews by other Amazon reviewers. They are looking at an orange and criticising it for not being an apple. These reviewers don't seem to have any interest in stimulating their self-knowledge, so why would they even choose to read "Dating the Greek Gods" in the first place??? It would be like me reading a book about car repair and blasting it because it contained only automotive information.

Like most self-help books, you get out of it what you put in. And this book can be challenging both personally and publicly on what it asks you to put in. It's about shaking yourself up a bit and finding what really makes you tick, and about tending to the untended parts of your personality and soul. The author doesn't presume to have discovered the ultimate truth or the cure-all panacea. But he does have a unique outlook that will allow you to see yourself in a different light.

Wait, haven't I seen this book before? Oh wait, that's right, Brad Gooch's last book, also with his face plastered on the front with the same smug smile. I read this in a bookstore just so I could seethe. Gooch covers familiar territory here, analyzing his past relationships in the context of some bizarro Greek spirituality theoretical framework that makes about as much sense as......well, nothing.

More important though are the political and cultural implications of Gooch's various publishing projects. He seems to be completely preoccupied with aligning himself with the gay male "culture of the surface" -- idealizing a particular physique, affluence, hegemonic masculinity, and gender performance that are so completely problematic and out of place in these alleged "empowering" gay relationship books. Gooch does a tremendous disservice to the very community he is allegedly trying to serve. There is a burning question underlying all of this: what, exactly, qualifies Mr. Gooch to write these books in the first place?