Notes from the Edge Times [Hardcover]

Daniel Pinchbeck (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 14, 2010

In this unsparing tour of the perils and promises of the current era, visionary author Daniel Pinchbeck helps us understand that we don't need to wait for the dawning of the next age to radically change our perspectives.

In the years since his pioneering work 2012, Daniel Pinchbeck has touched a legion of readers hungry for insight and guidance about new ways of living amid the crises of the current moment.

Notes from the Edge Times collects Pinchbeck's most penetrating recent columns, articles, and essays that amount to an extraordinary mosaic view of the hopes, nightmares, and signs of breakthrough that mark our present era. Pinchbeck examines the current economic collapse (an event he had foreseen by many months), radical political and ecological alternatives, the uses of psychedelics for spiritual insight, the revival of the sexual revolution, unexplained phenomena such as crop circles and the Norway spiral, the imminent (and often-misunderstood) question of 2012, and what it means to be an artist in a time of radical change.

Pinchbeck's virtuosity as a social critic, on full display in these pieces, is his ability to illuminate real and serious questions within unconventional topics that most literary intellects are unwilling to touch, from secret weapons systems to extrasensory abilities to the intelligence of plant life. In Notes from the Edge Times, Pinchbeck does more than critique present- day questions and conflicts; he provides fresh ideas for living more consciously now, and for constructing our own more enlightened futures, even as the world around us faces profound environmental, social, and spiritual challenges

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pinchbeck's newest is a collection of essays about the transitional period in which the world currently finds itself. Looking at environmental issues like climate change, food shortages, and natural disasters, as well as the recent economic collapse, Pinchbeck returns to themes from his last book (2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl), focusing on the need for a new spiritual paradigm and practical structure for human civilization if we are to survive. He cites limited amounts of economic data, most of it at an anecdotal or survey level, and focuses a great deal on paranormal speculation and theories that won't convince skeptics that Pinchbeck is anything but a raving conspiracy theorist. While the author's quiet openness to being wrong is a refreshing trait in extreme believers of any stripe, it won't be enough to assure new readers that Pinchbeck has any answers (or even substantial ideas); rather, readers will likely find Pinchbeck yet another person claiming in his own way that the world is on a one-way course towards imminent self-immolation. Fans of his previous books may find this welcome and refreshing, but those unfamiliar won't find this a book of note.
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About the Author

Author Daniel Pinchbeck has deep personal roots in the New York counterculture of the 1950s and 1960s. His father was an abstract painter, and his mother, Joyce Johnson, was a member of the Beat Generation and dated Jack Kerouac as On the Road hit the bestseller lists in 1957 (chronicled in Johnson’s bestselling book, Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir). Pinchbeck was a founder of the 1990s literary magazine Open City with fellow writers Thomas Beller and Robert Bingham. He has written for many publications, including Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone. In 1994, he was chosen by The New York Times Magazine as one of “Thirty Under Thirty” destined to change our culture.

Pinchbeck lives in New York’s East Village, where he is editorial directory of Reality Sandwich (www.realitysandwich.com). He writes a column, Prophet Motive, for Conscious Enlightment publishing (www.cemagazines.com), which appears in Conscious Choice (Chicago), Conscious Choice (Seattle), Whole Life Times (LA), and Common Ground (SF).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; First Edition edition (October 14, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158542837X
• ISBN-13: 978-1585428373
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in the New York counterculture of the 1970s and '80s. My father, Peter Pinchbeck, was an abstract painter, and my mother, Joyce Johnson, is a writer who participated in the Beat Generation. She was dating Jack Kerouac when On the Road hit the bestseller lists in 1957 (chronicled in her book, Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir). As a journalist, I have written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, etcetera. I am currently the editorial director of the Evolver Project (www.evolver.net).

In my late twenties, I fell into a deep spiritual crisis that led me to the study of shamanism and psychedelic susbtances. My first book, Breaking Open the Head, recounted my initiation into several tribal cultures that use hallucinogens in their rituals. Over time, I became convinced of the legitimacy of the shamanic and mystical worldview held by indigenous peoples around the world. This led me to my most recent book, 2012, a study of prophecy.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 55 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Losing his Edge? October 18, 2010

By R. Elliott Ingersoll

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I worry about Daniel Pinchbeck. After studying and enjoying his first two thought-provoking works, this one strikes me as bitter essays from an isolated person who rather than being "on the edge" is losing his edge.

There are many interesting themes but nothing really new. Where he could have spent time trying to verify the phenomena he covered in his 2012 book, he just leaps into new speculations. While there is plenty to check out (e.g. the action of electromagnetic fields on the mind/brain unit) he bypasses recent developments (repetitive Magnetic Transcranial Stimulation) and settles for speculation ("electromagnetic or acoustic energy waves can alter individual's hardware system and manipulate data stored in their psyche" p. 64).

Most problematic for me is his tendency to bifurcate large issues. Numerous times he makes statements like "the fall of capitalism and the crisis of the biosphere could induce mass despair and misery, or they could impel the creative adaptation and conscious evolution of the human species" (p. 129). Well, there is a whole gray area between those extremes including what we are doing now - limping along in denial.

Another thing that bothered me was I recall Pinchbeck mentioning a wife or "partner" and having a child in his 2012 book (pp. 62 and 73 in 2012 respectively). In this book he mentions "separation from my last partner" (p.35) and there is no mention of his child (or any other). This is a fatal flaw in utopian and dystopian art/literature whether the rantings of Ayn Rand or the Martix movies - children rarely can be fit into the two-dimensional scenarios that utopias and dystopias rely on. Pinchbeck seems to miss children and their place in the world as well (though to be fair he makes some stunning observations about the mental experience of the child in the last essay in this book).

Reflecting on what he shares about his relationships and his aspirations about humanity I find a huge gap between his ideas and what he shares about his life. On the one hand he speculates that 2012 may be a "tipping point" where a new consciousness grips humanity and we all work out our issues. On the other hand it appears that he can't even keep a nuclear family together. I don't mean this to be ad hominem but it does make me wonder. If he can't find a way to keep a family together what evidence would he offer that billions of human beings (many illiterate and fueled with ethic hatred) are all of a sudden going to recognize the common boat we're all in and start working together?

Finally there is a sad and touching essay about the death of his father that ends the book. Perhaps the reader should start with that as in it he offers some psychological clues to how he sees himself. He reports that his father was a recluse artist who worked feverishly yet never achieved acceptance in the commercial world. He describes his mother and father meeting at a party (p.177) much the same way he (Pinchbeck) and his last partner met at a similar party (p. 62 in 2012). He draws many parallels between himself and his father in particular their shared sense of isolation and idealism.

I hope that he can end the resemblence there and bring himself more into the mainstream. Perhaps that is just my twisted belief in happy endings but I hope he finds a way to overcome his alienation. He is an important social commentator capable of deeper work than "Notes from Edge Times."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Daniel Pinchbeck comes down to earth. December 10, 2010

By Carl Frank

Format:Hardcover

Folks looking to Daniel Pinchbeck to provide them with further power plant-fueled spiritual insight or interesting commentary on strange phenomena may be disappointed. This book is for people who have moved beyond "Can you help me sort myself out?" and "What the heck is going on?" and are now asking "What can we do?" As is the case with many artists and writers, Pinchbeck moves at a pace that may be inconsistent with many members of his/her audience and as such they get left behind. Moving beyond contemplation and toward action, this book asks (and answers) many extremely difficult questions facing our world today and does so without degenerating into mystical concepts that so often follow this type of information. "Notes...." is a cold bucket of water in the face and offers real-world, practical, doable solutions that anyone, not just the "enlightened", can try out for themselves. The suggestion here is that in order to transform the deteriorating, toxic world of human affairs as it currently exists, we must not challenge it or seek to destroy it through confrontational means, we must simply abandon it and start building a better one alongside of it. As we lemmings blindly follow the herd and race to our death, Daniel Pinchbeck has seen the cliff and is standing off to one side, calling out to anyone near enough to hear him: "Hey! Over here!"

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Essays December 11, 2010

By Scott

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a collection of essays culled from the author's website over several years' time. That being the case, a hardcover edition feels like overkill. That said, it delivers what it promises. I appreciate the multiple references to Buckminster Fuller, whose work is increasing relevant in this 'touch-and-go' world.

As always, I've added several obscure writers/thinkers to my reading list. Can't wait to see what 2013 looks like!