Customer Reviews

Holism and Evolution: the Original Source of the Holistic Approach To Life

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This concept of holism created by Jan Christiaan Smuts is a wonderful contribution to our understanding of life and the natural universe. As testimony to his work, the holistic approach to life permeates many parts of our society today in ways which help us live peaceful and fulfilling lives.

If there is any one problem with the original work it is that the text was quite difficult to read. This edition by Sanford Holst is absolutely excellent. He uses a very light touch to take uncommonly lengthy sentences and extensive paragraphs (some of them two pages long!) and separate them into two or three. The result is 100% of the original text...in a much more readable and flowing form. I have both editions, but I re-read this one.

By the way, the summaries in this book were written by Mr. Smuts in the original work.

All in all, I definitely recommend this edition to anyone who is interested in the holistic approach to life.

Holism and Evolution by Jan Christiaan Smuts, originally published in 1926, is one of the great and authentic visionary classics of the 20th century, and I highly recommend to anyone interested in the subject of holism, evolution, and integral philosophy. This book is not only one of the harbingers of today's holistic and integral movements but also continues to provide us with deep insights and powerful inspirations.

However, this edition with Sanford Holst's editing is an insult to the original author and an insult to the intelligence of the readers. Holst adds subheadings and summaries that are utterly unnecessary while changing some words to make them "understandable" to the contemporary readers, which is insulting to the intelligence and linguistic knowledge of the readers.

Therefore, my recommendation is to read the original book sold by Amazon.com, but not this edition by Sanford Holst, if the reader wants to enjoy an experience of reading a book by one of the truly great minds, without a contamination by the hubris of a mediocre mind.

I read this book as part of a course on holistic health but found that whilst it is clearly a highly venerated work its language was actually quite hard to follow. I have not had the benefit of reading the original work so cannot compare but this was very hard work, which was extremely disappointing.

As it is a self-published book/edition (by Holst) it contains some annoyances with the main one being that the index is extremely light and unhelpful. Also from an academic point of view there are no references. As the book is based on a work completed nearly 100 years ago its insights are visionary and inspiring but for a more informative approach I would recommend examining other works in the relevant areas that are more up-to-date - probably quantum physics is a good place to start!

It is a book of philosophical concepts that embrace science at an extremely superficial level by today's standards.