by Eckhart Tolle, © 1999 by Eckhart Tolle, New World Library, 191 pp.
A New Classic
"We live in an explosion of spiritual writing. In addition to tons of recent books on Christian inspiration, there are breakthroughs in scholarship, archaeology, and an ocean of writings on meditation, the New Age, and Eastern religions. In the flood of information, it's only natural to wonder—What do I read? What will help me with something I don't already know? What will be forgotten in five years, and what will endure?
"Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now is a superb book already being hailed as a classic. . . "more
from frimmin
1 comment:
Fortunately Tolle got in while it was still possible for someone with no "marketing platform" to be heard. He's great, authentic - the real thing. In contrast, say, to Rick Warren, mega-minister-evangelist and head of one of the largest congregations in the nation, who has accordingly been able to sell millions of copies of The Purpose Driven Life. I'm afraid the only good thing about his book may be the title. His understanding of the Christian tradition is limited, to say the least. Warren equates Christianity's ancient contemplative tradition with the superficialities of self help books. (You wonder what he thinks Jesus was doing in the desert 40 days and nights: thinking-up doctrine??)
Many authentic voices that have come along since, including mine, have been silenced. I spent 25 years working on a book manuscript that will not be read. Its inception, as with Tolle's, was a sudden and unexpected breakthrough experience. I went on to receive an MA in Religious Studies from the U of Chicago, one of the best divinity schools in the US, and a second Masters in Counseling.
I finished the ms in 2004 under great adversity - I suffer from a progressive disease and may not be alive this time next year. Over the past two years, I've learned that what Literary Market Place states is absolutely true. "If you are submitting a nonfiction book proposal without a marketing platform, you are wasting your time." Publishers and agents won't look at it.
Everything is about money today. With people like Madonna and Jane Fonda cashing in on the "spirituality market," bottom-line oriented publishers have no need to take chances on books by unknowns.
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