In Search of Stones: A Pilgrimage of Faith, Reason, and Discovery [Paperback]

M. Scott Peck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996

The author of In Heaven As on Earth uses the occasion of a visit to the monoliths of Stonehenge to reflect on the spiritual, psychological, and philosophical truths that have shaped his life and formed his soul. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Inspirational writer Peck takes an inward-looking excursion among the stone monoliths of England.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Peck, author of the phenomenal best seller The Road Less Travelled (1978) and a number of other respected books on personal growth, continues his journey with a thoroughly readable account of a vacation trip he and his wife took through Great Britain in search of megalithic stone monuments built by Neolithic people several thousand years ago. Peck and his wife are archaeology enthusiasts, and their quest for prehistoric standing stones takes them to many small towns and interesting out-of-the-way places. Against this backdrop, Peck interweaves philosophical musings and personal wisdom on a variety of subjects, including peace, parenthood, aging, religion, art, money, and death. He speaks openly and candidly of his own shortcomings as well as his triumphs, successes, and outlook on life. His search for ancient stone monuments leads to a deeper quest?an exploration of the mind and of one's own humanity. Peck masterfully integrates travel, archaeology, history, philosophy, and autobiography to provide useful insights into many of life's basic issues. This thoughtful work would be a valuable addition for all public libraries and is sure to be popular with those who are already familiar with Peck's writings.
- ?Elizabeth Salt, Otterbein Coll. Lib., Westerville, Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books (Adult Trd Pap); Reprint edition (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078688164X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786881642
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,255,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

M. Scott Peck's publishing history reflects his own evolution as a serious and widely acclaimed writer, thinker, psychiatrist, and spiritual guide. Since his groundbreaking bestseller, The Road Less Traveled, was first published in 1978, his insatiable intellectual curiosity has taken him in various new directions with virtually each new book: the subject of healing human evil in People of the Lie (1982), where he first briefly discussed exorcism and possession; the creative experience of community in The Different Drum (1987); the role of civility in personal relationships and society in A World Waiting to Be Born (1993); an examination of the complexities of life and the paradoxical nature of belief in Further Along the Road Less Traveled (1993); and an exploration of the medical, ethical, and spiritual issues of euthanasia in Denial of the Soul (1999); as well as a novel, a children's book, and other works. A graduate of both Harvard University and Case Western Reserve, Dr. Peck served in the Army Medical Corps before maintaining a private practice in psychiatry. For the last twenty years, he has devoted much of his time and financial resources to the work of the Foundation for Community Encouragement, a nonprofit organization that he helped found in 1984. Dr. Peck lives in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A road less traveled?, May 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: In Search of Stones: A Pilgrimage of Faith, Reason, and Discovery (Hardcover)

This book is well worth reading, but only to broaden a perspective on past books this Author has written. Although, wrapped in a 3 week trip to Scotland, this is really an auto-biography. The Author's life both fascinating and full of sadness. I have read The Road Less Traveled, People of the Lie and several other books Dr. Peck has written. Piercing books of the human condition.

In my view there is a contrast and ambiguity to his personel life and the main tenets and themes of The Road Less Traveled. It makes one want to re-visit those themes, from a broadened perspective of the Author's own paradigm.

Without question the man is brilliant with pen in hand. Provocative and probing in life's more serious problems.

One difficult observation, is the anger beneath the surface directed towards the man's closest relationships. The relationships seem loving on the surface, but the actions portray a darker side. The serial infidelities, his wife has had to endure. The resentment of his parents. The estrangement of his children. In addition to his own physical self destructive habits of alcohol, and tobacco. Unfortunately, one could take the totality, and conclude, the man really doesn't care for himself or others close to him.

I will continue to buy Peck's books and presently have "Golf and the Spirit" purchased and ready to begin reading.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not quite up to par with his other works, June 5, 2005

By 

Jean K. - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Search of Stones: A Pilgrimage of Faith, Reason, and Discovery (Paperback)

I think Dr. Peck is quite a smart man with many interesting, relevant things to say. That said, I also think that if I met him in person I might not like him very much. Just a hunch. Does this have anything to do with the book? Yeah, of course. Because this is his PERSONAL book. It's not like "The Road Less Traveled," where he is mainly focusing in on case histories and using them as a starting point to Illustrate Great Truths About the World, this is the book where he launches his Understanding About the Universe from his personal life. Since they came non-stop, I found his egotism and uncaring attitude to those around him a bit aggravating. As I struggled through the book--I struggled through because in spite of his faults still Dr. Peck had some true gems to offer--I felt like I was encaged in a closet with my least-favorite uncle, being preached at all the time by a man who can't manage his personal life.

The main fault I find with him is that he offers his personal observations as Fact. And if anyone doesn't agree with what he says, well, let God protect them, because he has some mean things to say. He may even call them Evil or Possessed.

And he has a way of rationalizing everything he does himself while being extremely harsh on other people. I especially found his diatribe on his wife's depression very, very annoying. He makes it sound as though this woman intentionally chose to be depressed and ruin his life thereby. (Oh, did I mention that Dr. Peck is very big on Choice? Not that I'm one for lazy, irresponsible people, but Dr. Peck is just over the edge. In his book on exorcism, he says that a girl was possessed because she was sexually abused and then chose to repress that memory--because she chose not to see the truth, that she'd been raped horribly, she was possessed by Ultimate Evil.) I can cite a few possible reasons for her depression; one, Dr. Peck continually having extra-marital affairs, and not owning up to the wrong he did, and even using the book to justify his actions; two, Ms. Peck having grown up in another country, Singapore, and being of non-white descent, suffering cultural shock and living in a sometimes racist country; three, the fact her husband didn't have much to do with their children... I mean, those things seem possible, don't they? I'm not saying I KNOW the Why's, even if those things are true there are bound to be many other factors--I'm just saying, I don't understand how he can be so glib and judgmental. He has, as he states himself, led a pretty sheltered, easy life as a WASP born into a very rich family. Now people with such backgrounds have their pains and vicissitudes too, I know, but if I were him I would pause a moment before judging people not like him so quickly and with such an uncaring attitude, people who haven't had all the advantages he has had.

Ah, Peck has a reason for everything. Why does he smoke? Well, this Prophet of Integration will tell you that it's because of a myriad of reasons; his biological makeup, his childhood, his job, blah blah blah. Why did he become an adulterer for so many years? Well, his biological makeup, together with his childhood, and blah blah blah... This is a psychiatrist who has many interesting insights to offer about other people, often quick to criticize; truly, we all have planks in our eyes when it comes to looking at ourself.

He becomes angry at his children at one point, at how distant and angry they are. I felt sorry for him, but he just kept on justifying himself, how he hadn't exactly been the best of parents but that was because blah blah blah... Maybe, Peck, that has something to do with why they're angry. If you never say Sorry, people are bound to be angry sometimes. Sometimes the best thing to do is shut up about how right you are and just say 'forgive me.'

And his views on racism? Quite glib. Barely mentions it, in fact. Interesting, since his wife is Asian and his children are half non-white. In one of his books, he brings up the case of an African-American woman who feels weighed down with responsibility for representing her race. He tells us that a man in her community-group thing wrote her a note saying "Don't worry so much about it, that's my job. --God." And then he and Dr. Peck hugged the woman. He then joyfully about how they did the right thing and how glad he is that the woman will now have a more balanced view of things. I'm sure the woman was over-joyed. It's true that now and then we need to take a lighter view on things, and smile now and then, but racism IS a real problem. That glib approach to such a huge, damaging issue was just not thoughtful and irresponsible. Like many of his other opinions, it was too pat and self-centered. Racism is, for many of us, an on-going, never ending issue that we have to confront all our lives. It is a BIG issue. You don't just learn to deal with discrimination by tossing your head and smiling a big smile.

I just don't feel like reading anything more by Peck. If I need Insight and Relevations, I'll go to another writer. I just can't swallow any more hypocritical preaching by a man who sees the world from such a self-centered, smugly assured view. I don't need any more of this pontification. Despite all his assurances that he has "overcome" mainstream and that he's quite "above" culture, he isn't. Maybe he ain't standard American-white-male-fare, not quite, but he has his cultural prejudices and biases. His continual hyping of himself as a guru above the culture he was born into is simply not true and it's just so arrogant. It's also damaging, because by that image, he's selling his personal opinions and observations as Fact and Spiritual Truth, irreproachable by anyone.

And oh, I know that Peck ain't gonna read this review or anything, but I'm sure that if he'd have lots of rebuttals ready about how much my dislike of his work or him has to do with my original sin, my lazyness, my genetic makeup, my childhood hurts, my smoking or non-smoking habits, my intellectual deficits and political beliefs. He'll probably say that I've recognized the inherent truthfulness in his words and my unconscious is reacting to hide myself from this damaging truth (wake up, Peck, Freud and penis-envy are out, dead, irrelevant.) Maybe he'll even say that I'm Evil because of it.

Yeah, whatever.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book is Educational, Self Revealing and Thoughtful, February 7, 2001

By 

Niki Collins-queen, Author "author" (Forsyth, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Search of Stones: A Pilgrimage of Faith, Reason, and Discovery (Hardcover)

"In Search of Stones" is a book to be enjoyed and savored on many levels. First the book is educational. We accompany Dr. Peck and his wife Lily on a three-week trip through the countryside of Wales, England and Scotland in search of the ancient megalith stones erected by prehistoric people between 4,000 and 1,500 BC. But their obsession with stones also acts as a catalyst for Dr. Pecks exploration of topics such as religion, romance, despair, addiction and peace. We learn about George Fox the 17thC Englishman who founded "The Religious Society of Friends" known today as the Quakers. Fox not only inspired thousands to "see the light of Christ" in each other but also to match his bravery in the face of imprisonment, beatings, illness and hardship. Their silent group meetings could only be broken by anyone who was "moved" to speak by their Inner Light. Secondly the book is autobiographical. We learn about Dr. Peck's fears and shortcomings. Although I was saddened to learn about his sexual infidelities, regular recreational use of marijuana, nicotine addiction and about a "strong habituation to alcohol" I also appreciated his honesty. It took courage to shatter his public image of saintly self-control. In revealing the pain and shame of his own inner space Dr. Peck gives us permission to explore our own unconscious mind. Thirdly, the book is thought provoking and inspirational. Dr. Peck discusses the three prevailing beliefs about good and evil: the denial of evil, the denial of goodness, and the acceptance of good and evil. He endorses the latter and believes that evil was defeated when Jesus died on the cross. Redemption is the simple mop-up operation of what remains. Although I believe evil is another mask of God to teach us unconditional love I appreciate his sharing his thoughts, thereby giving us an opportunity to discover where we stand. Dr. Peck believes integrity is more important than inner peace; apathy, not hate, is the opposite of love; life is full of paradox and that salvation is an ongoing process.