The Path: A New Look At Reality [Hardcover]

Richard Matheson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0312870574 | ISBN-13: 978-0312870577 | Edition: First Edition

Richard Matheson's bestselling novel, What Dreams May Come, the basis for the hit movie starring Robin Williams, touched numerous readers with its convincing portrait of life after death, based on years of research and personal reflection. Like that earlier book, The Path is a work of inspirational fiction that comes straight from Matheson's own deeply held beliefs about spirituality and true nature of existence. The story of one man's encounter with an enigmatic stranger who imparts to him ten lessons about the true realityof the soul; The Path is not so much a novel as a philosophical dialogue about life and the afterlife.

Everyone who read What Dreams May Come and wants to know more about Matheson's personal philosophy should take a walk along . . . The Path.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wondrous and moving."--James Redfield, author of The Celestine Prophecy on What Dreams May Come

"It is thought expanding. Thought expanding. Thought creating."--Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God on What Dreams May Come

About the Author

Richard Matheson is The New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend, Hell House, Somewhere in Time, The Incredible Shrinking Man, A Stir of Echoes, The Beardless Warriors, The Path, Seven Steps to Midnight, Now You See It . . . , and What Dreams May Come. A Grand Master of Horror and past winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, he has also won the Edgar, the Hugo, the Spur, and the Writer's Guild awards.

He lives in Calabasas, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (June 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312870574
• ISBN-13: 978-0312870577
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,181,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Matheson was born in 1926. He began publishing SF with his short story 'Born of Man and Woman' in 1950. I Am Legend was published in 1954 and subsequently filmed as The Omega Man (in 1971), starring Charlton Heston, and I Am Legend (in 2007), starring Will Smith. Matheson wrote the script for the film The Incredible Shrinking Man, an adaptation of his second SF novel The Shrinking Man. The film won a Hugo award in 1958. He wrote many screenplays as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone. He continued to write short stories and novels, some of which formed the basis for film scripts, including Duel, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1971. A film of his novel What Dreams May Come was released in 1998, starring Robin Williams. Stephen King has cited Richard Matheson as a creative influence on his work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book!, June 18, 1999

By 

C. DeRose (Plainfield, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Path: A New Look At Reality (Hardcover)

I picked up this book because I saw that it was the same author as What Dreams May Come and I was NOT dissapointed. I really enjoyed the fact that the book was easy reading (unlike alot of others of this type) and that it covered some deep material. I don't know if all of it is true, but it makes me believe in Heaven more than ever before. It paints a more realistic view of what happens after our body dies. I will look for this author more often.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for all Beliefs, January 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Path: A New Look At Reality (Hardcover)

No matter what your religious or spiritual belief system is based on, as long as you have an open mind and a willingness to consider new thoughts, you will enjoy this book. I just happened to see it on a bookshelf and the words on the front convinced me to buy it. It took me a few days to get into it, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. You can look at this book as a textbook for spirituality, or simply as something to ruminate about later.

It is easy to read, and focuses on the life of a soul. The author sets the story in novel format and explains his ideas (or those he has collected) from the point of a very confused man who meets an interesting stranger on his daily jogs through the woods near his home. As the story progresses, and he talks to the stranger more, he learns more and more about life and what is important, as well as what is to come. The man is hesitant at first about believing the stranger's ideas, but the more he talks with him, the more he looks forward to the next day and his next "lesson."

You too will look forward to the next lesson and as you are reading you will discover that you are exercising your mind as well as your busy page-turning fingers.

Take it for what you will. Just take it, read it, and enjoy it on any level you choose!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A book of sermons, September 25, 2001

By 

Richard D. Shewman "rshewman" (Erie, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Path: A New Look At Reality (Hardcover)

First of all, I like much of the work of Richard Matheson. He is a good storyteller. sometimes he is brilliant. This is not a work of brilliant storytelling. It is not even a work of fiction, other than the contrivance of using a series of walks through the park as the setting for various sermons the author wants to deliver through his characters. As noted by other reviewers, the author's goal is to present the teachings of H. Percival on the nature of the human person and the afterlife.

I have nothing against Percival and his thought. However, you can download it for free from the Internet. If Matheson admires the thought of Percival, that is his right. However,it is disappointing that such a great storyteller as Matheson did not present the sermons he wanted to tell within the context of a real story. The philosophy that undergirds What Dreams May Come is the same philosophy that is presented here. At least in the other work he offers it in the context of a real story. The end result is much more compelling than The Path.