The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark [Paperback]

Sera J. Beak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0787980544 | ISBN-13: 978-0787980542 | Edition: 1

The Red Book is nothing less than a spiritual fire starter -- a combustible cocktail of Hindu Tantra and Zen Buddhism, Rumi and Carl Jung, goddesses and psychics, shaken with cosmic nudges, meaningful subway rides, haircuts, relationships, sex, dreams, and intuition. Author Sera Beak's unique hybrid perspective, hilarious personal anecdotes, and invaluable exercises encourage her readers to live more consciously so they can start making clearer choices across the board, from careers to relationships, politics to pop culture and everything in between. For smart, gutsy, spiritually curious women whose colorful and complicated lives aren’t reflected in most spirituality books, The Red Book is an open invitation to find your true self and start sharing that delicious truth with the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beak, a religious scholar and writer for the San Francisco Chronicle Web site, sfgate.com, presents a brief but potent book focused on invigorating spirituality in the 20- or 30-something American woman. She vividly criticizes the patriarchal interpretation that has dominated most belief systems for centuries, and then quickly moves on to create her own feminist one. Beak encourages her female audience to do so as well, with their own "red book" modeled after hers, which was first given her as a birthday gift by her sister after their grandfather's death. Beak initially rejected the idea of keeping a journal, but soon found herself writing down prayers, recording dreams and in essence keeping a spiritual scrapbook. Avoiding the typical sentimentality, Beak's vision is a modern, femme fatale spirituality. The book lives up to its "unorthodox" subtitle, advocating that young women search for the spiritual in all things, even sex (memorably in a chapter called "Open Up and Say Ahh"). Beak calls herself a "spiritual cowgirl," taking her readers along for the ride. Her writing is probably too brazen for more conservative spiritual readers, but she displays poignant insights throughout. (June 16)
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Review

Beak, a religious scholar and writer for the San Francisco Chronicle Web site, sfgate.com, presents a brief but potent book focused on invigorating spirituality in the 20- or 30-something American woman. She vividly criticizes the patriarchal interpretation that has dominated most belief systems for centuries, and then quickly moves on to create her own feminist one. Beak encourages her female audience to do so as well, with their own "red book" modeled after hers, which was first given her as a birthday gift by her sister after their grandfather's death. Beak initially rejected the idea of keeping a journal, but soon found herself writing down prayers, recording dreams and in essence keeping a spiritual scrapbook. Avoiding the typical sentimentality, Beak's vision is a modern, femme fatale spirituality. The book lives up to its "unorthodox" subtitle, advocating that young women search for the spiritual in all things, even sex (memorably in a chapter called "Open Up and Say Ahh"). Beak calls herself a "spiritual cowgirl," taking her readers along for the ride. Her writing is probably too brazen for more conservative spiritual readers, but she displays poignant insights throughout. (June 16) (Publishers Weekly, February 27, 2006)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (June 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787980544
• ISBN-13: 978-0787980542
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.9 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #67 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Prayer

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

134 of 150 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Like, OMG! Let's cram a zillion forms of spirituality into one li'l book! April 8, 2010

By Eleanor

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I want to like this book very much. The author sounds like someone I'd love to hang out with, grab a cup of tea, and swap spiritual battle stories. I'll bet that, in-person, this Harvard-educated mystic scholar does NOT talk like a valley girl or address people as though they've NEVER heard ANYTHING about spirituality, ever. This book should have been called "Spirituality for women who like chick-lit and have never ever heard of Eastern philosophy." A quote from the chapter about prayer that truly says it all: "The Universe is not your bitch." Wow.

The thing is, I don't know if these women would even be able to grasp the book, given that it touches on so many topics. The recommended reading section in the back says it all - she recommends The Da Vinci Code, the Tao of Pooh and the Upanishads within a few short pages... seriously. These books have nothing in common, and nor do the chapters of the book. Spanning from silent meditation, to cultivating intuition, to Tantric sex, she does a quick job of introducing each topic and before you know it, the chapter's over, long before someone who knows nothing about spirituality can possibly grasp what's going on, or even know enough to be able to look into it further.

For someone like myself, who is somewhat familiar with all of the popular spiritual books, seminars, speakers and current icons, the book is a total rehash, offering very few fresh insights while being incredibly difficult to read, as it feels as though she is speaking in the vernacular of the lowest common denominator in order to appeal to "everywoman".

Furthermore, the book relies on various assumptions, which it does not address at all, such as those underlying the information in the section about how prayer works. How does she know how the Universe responds to prayers? Has she read a lot of Abraham-Hicks or did her ideas originate somewhere else? It seems that she was easily able to cast off the dogma of Catholicism, but picked up new, unexamined beliefs along the way. Either that, or she didn't take the time to explain how she came to all of these conclusions herself. I, for one, would like to know this before I soak up her teachings.

I would love to see her do a deep dive into her favorite spiritual topic and share in a tone that is authentic and not contrived. Perhaps even a memoir of her incredible journey through all things spiritual. Clearly she has a lot of brilliant, insightful things to share. But in my humble opinion, they weren't in this book.

I'm glad so many people enjoyed it, and I certainly don't want to discourage people from checking it out if I'm way off base and it does indeed appeal to such a broad audience, but I do wonder how a book like this could have garnered 100% 5-star ratings across nearly 50 reviews. Let's keep asking better questions about spiritual books!

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Awakening... September 17, 2007

By R. Kelly

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm not going to spend a lot of time reviewing this book because I want to get back to reading it! As many other reviewers, I don't fit the age range the author targets. I'm 45. I wish I had this book years ago as a resource, although I guess it was meant to be at this point in my life. Even if you're not religious, which I am not, this book is fabulous. Witty, insightful, encouraging and a fantastic resource. I looked into just one of her many recommendations (I plan to do much more) and wow. What a difference it's made. I actually think this book is better suited for a slightly more mature audience because maybe we are a bit more open minded than a younger generation. The author is clearly quite precocious which is why she speaks to women her age. Don't let that stop you from reading and rereading her wonderful book. Now, back to The Red Book!

62 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars WHAT A BLAST!!!! August 14, 2006

By Kathy Dannel Vitcak VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Thanks, Sera, for writing this perfect book! Like one of the other reviewers I am a...bit...older than the target market, but I still loved it! At 50 I keep waiting to be grown-up and actually, I hope I DON'T! Yes, I firmly believe that our spirituality should be a FUN, VIBRANT, and ALIVE part of our lives and we should all laugh really, really hard every single day. LOVED the Dalai Lama story, I wish more people on this Earth could have a lighter approach to life. Hey, it should not be so hard and serious. If everyone just laughed a bit more and were kinder to each other...weell, problems solved.

Thanks again and for anyone debating over whether or not to buy this book...quit reading reviews and just buy it!