Customer Reviews

Time and the Soul: Where Has All the Meaningful Time Gone -- and Can We Get It Back?

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is very far from being a conventional time management book. It is much better than that. You will not find 'seven steps to taking control of your time' or anything like that.
Jacob Needleman is a highly regarded philosopher and this is a serious work of philosophy, with strong overtones of Taoist or Zen approaches. Like those, it is a practical guide, but not the sort of easy guide that is most commonly found in the management literature.
It is based on the distinction between the Ego and the Self and argues that our crisis of business and stress is closely related to neglect of the search for the Self. The author's practical advice is built around developing a habit of mind that gives honour to reflection and a degree of detachment.

There is, of course, much more in this short book than that. There are times when one wonders whether the narrative is leading anywhere, followed by flashes of recognition. It is well worth considering if you are open to philosophical and sometimes counter-intuitive guidance. Certainly, it helps to show that the approach to 'time management' of relentlessly increasing your efficiency at filling your day with more things is inevitably counter-productive, and it offers a difficult but practical alternative route to a sane outlook and a sane life.

In Time and the Soul, Needleman collects wisdom over the centuries with the lore of many traditions. The desert story of Kirzai may linger in your soul beyond the time you give to read it.

Time and the Soul is more than a book, it is a deep meditation experience. Dr. Needleman is a wise, authentic guide calling us back to our lost Self and suggesting practical ways to remember who we really are. I keep this book close by and when my spiritual quest feels a bit dry, I return here and find my inspiration renewed. This is the book I most often share with family and friends who are fellow seekers. Today I am ordering five more copies.

If you want to find more joy in your life, read this book. It's short, but gives you a lot of food for thought. It's no quick fix, but it does give you ideas for making your everyday life more satisfying. John Cleese's foreword really says it all: it's NOT a self-help book, it's a Self help book.

The book is by Jacob Needleman. John Cleese only wrote the foreword.

Time And The Soul is a little book that delivers a profound impact. It is not for the feint of heart. Be sure to try the exercise that Dr. Needleman presents. It helped me to see my whole life in a new and wonderful way.

Jacob Needleman has written an unbelievable book. I didn't think anything can surpass The Power Of Now, but this has. He writes in simple prose while contributing a fairy tale story as the metaphorical dialog. There are many times when I had to put the book down and absorb what I had just read. I get chills. He explains and simplifies what I have always felt and now can reveal and let go of. A fascinating book that should be a constant companion .

Time and the Soul is simply one of the most important books I've ever read. I discovered it in an airport bookstore several years ago and consumed it in a single reading over a long flight. Its impact on me was profound - literally changing my life through being reawakened to the knowledge that there was so much more to my existence than the "outer world" concerns that were taking up so much of my time and energy.

Several years then passed until I "discovered" it again on my bookshelf. In the second reading, I gained so much additional insight that I often felt as though I had not actually read (or absorbed) this book's profound content in the first reading. From this second reading, I began a daily practice of Needleman's exercise of "stepping back." This one practice transformed my experience of time and of the quality of my life and led my down the path of developing my own ideas on how to create a life of meaning, which were ultimately published in my own book. Beyond this practice was a deepening of my life - physical, spiritual, emotional - and a true sense of pervading joy.

Today, as I stand on the threshold of 2008, I have just completed my third reading. I can honestly say that, once again, it is as though I have found a new level, a new depth, and an intensity of meaning in this profound work. Jacob Needleman is a true teacher; one whose message, whose insight, and whose gift in communication are unsurpassed in my opinion.

If you read this book using only your mind, you may find it interesting, but without real impact. But if you will open your heart, your spirit, your soul, you can find in this book the answers to your most important questions and a path to true joy and the awakening nourishment of your soul.

Jim Huling author of
Choose Your Life!: A Powerful, Proven Method for Creating the Life You Want

. . . It's not just what Jacob Needleman writes, it's how he writes. I haven't yet finished this soul-searching and soul-discovering book after over a week. I've been underlining and making notes and pondering the so-many brilliant thoughts that appear, seemingly part of the flow, but profound in other directions than the time theme. At my pace, it may be months before I finish. I find myself walking around mumbling to myself, mulling over Needleman's avalanche of ideas and insights, sort of stunned.

How does Jacob Needleman write? Warmly. Simply. Insightfully. Dramatically. Preceptively. At one point he slipped into a parable of time travel, sending himself back to confront his younger self. I've never encountered such subtle, essential concepts so dramatically presented... So much to mull over!

After reading just over a third of this book I ordered most all of his other books. I briefly sampled them and find they're all of the same caliber. I firmly, honestly feel that I'm going to be a better person after assimilating his wisdom.

Sincerely, experience this extraordinary book.

I really tried. But having read it twice, I cannot escape the conclusion that, to me, it is a pretentious book. It tempts us in many places with hints of something deeper. Following his pointers, and doing his exercises, I found a few nice quotables, but otherwise not much. Certainly not the promised bounty.
At least it's short.

The subject matter is important. I wish that the author had actually addressed the subject in a helpful way. As far as I can tell the book is a near waste until page 88. The author indicates that you cannot count on a self help book to point the way. I wonder why he wrote the book then. There is a reoccurring bit about an unfinished fictional story regarding a character going back in time to visit himself. It seems that had this story been actually good, it would have been published as fiction. I'm unclear regarding the point of that story, but it does take up a lot of space in the book. As the subject matter is important and because some there are some vague clues in the book I give it three stars.