Customer Reviews

The Gift of Gabe

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The Gift of Gabe was a hard book to put down. Gabe is a fascinating older man filled with spirituality, wisdom, gentleness, and humility. Gabe is certainly a teacher we all would benefit from meeting. Gabe discusses some profound wisdom that aligns with the Truth of the Universe. He does it in such an interesting way using great literature and music. You definitely wont regret the time you spend with Gabe in this touching story. The only thing missing was a list at the end consisting of the songs and books discussed.

Main emphasis of this book was using surrender as a key to spiritual growth and embracing Love as the most important aspect of life. Both of these principles I believe to be accurate and vital if we are to work towards peace.

A quote that I loved in the book is:

"The most ridiculous question: Do you believe in God is like one fish asking the other if they believe in water."

Thanks Brian for the opportunity to read your work of art.


Highly recommended.

The book is trying to talk about very enlightened thinking using many examples of works from contemporary culture, especially music from the likes of the Beatles, Sting and Jethro Tull to name a few. However, he never quotes any of the music lyrics within the book, just says they are very profound. He also mentions a number of books and poems, again, not letting us read what he is referring to. We are left to go find these references ourselves if we want to know what the heck he is talking about. Very frustrating--I tried to do this for the first chapter or so and gave up. Additionally, this was written for about a sixth grade reading level. Boring. Don't bother.

An excellent journey through the poetry of Blake and Gibran and song lyrics of popular songs (mostly Beatles/John Lennon/Paul McCartney/George/Ringo in a way since he did help write Yellow Submarine). This spiritual soul searching guide to awareness through Eastern thought is played out through a chance meeting with an "old man in the woods".

Gabe gives the author many things to think about, and hands him a book (usually a deep thought-provoking one by Carl Jung, Richard Bucke, Einstein, David Bohm, Krishnamurti or Joseph Campbell) every time he visits. Through Gabe's intellectual improvisations we come to understand that the songs we thought of as 'pop gems' are really also hiding spiritually awakening/thought provoking messages and philosophical concepts played out in music/lyrics.

Gabe also recommends songs by Jimi Hendrix (who he sees as someone who actually was going through a deep awareness experience), Nektar, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and the Police (especially Sting). Eventually a friendship grows as Gabe shares more of his own 'personal philosphy' on consciousness and our enculturation (see The Crack in the Cosmic Egg by Joseph Chilton Pearce) process. Through it all simple appetite pleasures: blueberry pie, donuts, pizza or strawberries dipped in chocolate segue into deep discussions between the author and Gabe regarding everything about our human condition and our own spiritual awareness in the 20th century.

I wished that the discussions would have went further and gone a little deeper into the material - including the exact lyrics and book sections - but copyright issues probably created problems here. Some of the poetry that Gabe shares is from past students and friends and is not as well written as the Blake material, but still it fits in perfectly with the story.

My only complaint is I wanted this to last longer and go more into the lyrics. According to an interview at the website this is part 1 of a trilogy, the next book will go into even more Beatles tunes such as Penny Lane among others - we'll have to wait for that... and would hope that book and the third spend more time on the concepts in context with the actual song lyrics (if possible).

This genuine thought-provoking (and conversation stimulating) book deserves a place on any shelf, especially for Beatles or Jimi Hendrix fans who are also interested in going further with the message(s) in the songs, messages that even The Beatles were not aware of when they wrote them!

Brian Joseph has created a compelling myth that will challenge music lovers and spiritual seekers to take a new look at song lyrics. If you believe that poetry is the most economical language for expressing spiritual truths, you will enjoy reading this book.

This book is an annotated bibliography and discography for the soul! A very interesting read, filled with Gnostic wisdom and nuggets of insight. The book is actually an embedded bibliography, following a series of meetings (actual?) with a mystic teacher that comes in the guise of an old man living in a cabin in the woods. Parts read a bit like Richard Bach, but the concepts are deeper, IMO. The author references materials from important works on philosophy, psychology, religion and mythology from the past 100 years or so. Most are highly regarded, but many have remained on the fringe of popular thought. He also uses lyrics from rock music to make the concepts clear. There is so much in this book, and so many ways to read it over and over again.

I don't typically read fiction, but I couldn't put this book down until I read it all. Compelling story of values and awakening. Brian's love of Beatle songs was also a plus for me.

The Gift of Gabe
Reviewed by Ann G

Recommended to me at a time when I was questioning my own spiritual values, all I could say was, "Wow", when I finished. The concepts really resonated with me. I couldn't believe that there might be other people out who were thinking about some of the same concepts I was. I had the feeling I was no longer alone and was so uplifted upon reading it, I still refer to it today. I have gifted it three times over. Oh yes, if you are also a music lover, you will definitely enjoy the modern references to some of today's most well known poets and songwriters. The Gift of Gabe was an easily readable story about an adult awakening to the spiritual side of himself. The book simply illustrates some complex metaphysical concepts. If you enjoyed the Celestine Prophecy, this is a book definitely worth reading.