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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deep!, August 2, 2011
This review is from: Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden (Hardcover)
In the beginning, Paradise Lust seems a light-hearted jaunt through a set of biographies and portraitures of men who have sought to locate the Garden of Eden (literally!) on today's map of the world. Wilesky-Lanford's cast of characters is a motley crew - and she clearly enjoys exposing the little insanities that drive each of them to the quest. But these tales, together, tell a much deeper story: the Garden of Eden, she says, "has always been located both in the original past and in the idealized future" (92). Taking Darwin's Origin of Species as her starting point, Wilensky-Lanford cleverly manages to both pit literal Christianity against evolution and allow them to co-exist: "Those who looked for Eden . . . would have to answer at least two questions: not only where was Eden, but, more important, what was Eden?" (xviii). The nuances of the many Edens she finds are delightful and insightful and move the book from a read for idle curiosity to a self-reflective history of our origins. One Eden is the silent revolution from hunting and gathering to farming - "the moment where humans began to control their environment, instead of being controlled by it. What bigger transition could there be? All of human history depends on that first person who realized: I can do this myself . . . ." (240). Another Eden is simply a new take on an old Babylonian myth. But "if the story of the Fall wasn't original, how could it be sacred?" And of course, Eve's role in why we left the Garden of Eden is always on trial. In one history, Wilensky-Lanford discovers that God "wanted Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge" because the serpent - aka the welfare-state - "wanted to keep Eve . . . barefoot and pregnant, forever." (171) The many meanings and stories that make up Paradise Lust are at times too loosely connected and for this, Wilensky-Lanford relies on the reader to hold multiple threads at once. But from Ohio to Mongolia to Florida to Iraq and Tahiti, her analysis of what was Eden leaves even those of us who didn't go to Sunday school eager to learn more about our origins and our world today. As Wilesnky-Lanford concludes, "That's the essential paradox of the search. Eden has to be erased in order for it to be Eden. A paradise isn't paradise until it's lost." (253).
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lust Worthy, September 25, 2011
This review is from: Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden (Hardcover)
Paradise Lust delivers a delightful journey alongside searchers who are alternatively brave, deluded, brilliant and foolish in their quests to find the literal Garden of Eden. This adventure story spans the globe and two centuries, from Boston University in the late 19th century to China to present-day Iraq to the North Pole. The book is meticulously researched, with more than 200 sources and, even more impressively, it walks a narrow path of objectivity - contending with religious history and texts - without a wobble. Wilensky-Lanford also treats her subject with warmth and wit, presenting portraits that can be superbly charming or humorously quixotic. In chronicling the searchers, Paradise Lust sheds light on how myths are created: what recipes they follow and under what conditions they are prepared and served. Eden's may be a singular story in human history because of its subject, but we can see in how it is told and retold and shaped by hands of nearly every race, era and intention that its form is familiar. Myths seem to bind us in our collective yearning to pierce the mysteries of life just as they are a dangerously effective social currency in the hands of unscrupulous leaders. One of the most thought-provoking and satisfying chapters of the book examines what might be called the secularist hunt for the Garden by Dr. Juris Zarins, a historian who in 1987 earnestly explained the biblical story in terms of satellite photos, climate science and some penetrating observations on the dramatic transition of the Neolithic Revolution - the development of agriculture and the first human settlements. Readers interested in the history of technology and the origins of civilization will be engrossed. This particular search neither confirms nor refutes the words of the Bible, instead it potentially enriches them with even deeper and perhaps more universal meaning. As a whole, Paradise Lust demonstrates how the search for Eden is itself a fascinating and highly reflective cultural artifact. It seems we search for Eden for very human reasons, if sometimes in inhumane or irrational ways. The intentions embedded in these journeys vary from extending colonialism to bestowing religious legitimacy to plain old hunting for fortune and glory. In chronicling these searches, Paradise Lust applies a refreshing rigor and engaging style that they, as treasures of human history, richly deserve.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting, August 14, 2011
This review is from: Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden (Hardcover)
Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden by Brook Wilensky-Lanford Grove Press, 2011 257 pages Non-fiction 4/5 stars Source: Received a free e-galley via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Where is the Garden of Eden? Is it a metaphorical place, located in the mind of believers? Is it a real literal place that can be located using the ever expanding bounds of technology? Is it at the North Pole, in Iraq, in the United States? Brook Wilensky-Lanford set himself the task of exploring theories that have been propounded throughout the years in this book Paradise Lust. The impetus for the book came from the discovery that his grandfather had searched for the Garden of Eden and an interest in the often fraught modern American relationships between science and religion. He begins in the late nineteenth century and traces the path to more modern times with theories that pick and choose freely from the biblical literature and previous theories. The men, and it's mostly men, who have undertaken this cast have been eccentric at times and there's a lot of information to convey, which Wilensky-Lanford does splendidly. Wilensky-Lanford also does a good job of explaining the complicated theories and the beliefs that underpin them. He also treated the cast of characters with great respect and even a touch of humor. The writing style is easy and each chapter is pretty well-contained. Besides following these religiously motivated quests, Wilensky-Lanford touches on imperialism, science, scholarship, archaeology, geology, history and art, among other topics, creating a book with widespread appeal. This was something I knew little about but because of how Wilensky-Lanford skillfully tied everything together, I ended up very entertained and much more learned about the Garden of Eden.
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