The Celestine Prophecy (Paperback)

I began to notice coincidences very quickly - first the main character met someone who told him Insight one, but only knew the first Insight. Then, the main character met someone who told him Insight two, but they only knew the first two insights. Then, the main character met someone who told him Insight three, but she only knew the first three insights. Wow!

Another interesting coincidence is that many people encountered by the main character speak in the same patterns - they are verbose, patient, kind and many of them explain their part of understanding of the Insights to the main character with the words: "Think about it...". After the fourth "Think about it" it gets a little weary.

Moving outside the book to the reviews, many people encountered by this person speak in the same patterns. A large majority of those who speak glowingly of the book have frequent spelling or grammar errors. A large majority of the people who hate the book have very little spelling errors and use longer and less-common words. More interesting coincidences.

A previous review said: "The book wasn't meant to have perfect english; if it did that it would be dry and boring." Umm, no. Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History Of Time" and "The Poky Little Puppy" are both written in perfect English. To be written in perfect English does not necessarily mean that it will go over your head or will be dry and boring - at least one hopes so.

Many positive reviews (by coincidence) have said to ignore the writing, though, and focus instead on the underlining message. These messages, as stated by many reviews previous, are simplistic and not original. The movie "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure", to go to an extreme, had perhaps not the best writing, but contained the Insight: "Be excellent to each other". One would hardly take the opposite view, would you?

To close, as this is basically me getting some thoughts of the book off my chest and being review 580+ only the seriously dedicated or bored will read this anyway, thank you for reading this far.

Reading the end of the book was all the more amusing after seeing these reviews and realizing that I was not imagining the author's delusions. HOWEVER, I must say that the book does have some positives. First, the "insights," although old as the wind and sand, are genuine. Any truly spiritual person, not bound by the conventions and restrictions of traditional religion, has probably realized these already. That does not, however, subtract from the appeal of seeing them solidified on paper. Agreed, this "novel" is a literary atrocity, its presentation is overwhelmingly archaic, and its message is profusely pounded into sickening flatness. Regardless, there is truth in the regurgitated notions/ideas/beliefs. "Insight" is something we all need to understand, even if this book is not what promotes the awareness.

I feel that The Celestine Prophecy is a wonderful book for those who are least concerned with fine literature and more concerned with beginning a quest into understanding the greater meaning of our existence. Of course, the book pales horribly when compared to the great ones. But the point is not comparison. The point is to get in-tune.

To those of you who are well-read and consider yourselves avid intellectuals, you might be better off skipping this one in favor of some of the greats. For those of you who feel something stirring deep within that makes you question our current human condition, The Celestine Prophecy may very well open up a new and positive way of seeing yourself and others. The awakening may very well help you on YOUR path. Do you NEED this "novel" to help facilitate this change? You decide. Personally, I found the basic skeleton of the book, the insights, worth embracing.