A Little Book on Love (Little Books on Big Questions)

This wise guide to love by Jacob Needleman is compact excellence; displaying a freedom and flow of language and idea. He moves forward from the present vernacular and modern mind-set and back to the classics and ancients with ease, all the while engendering a sense of deep exploration and gradual, seemingly simple common-sense Ah-ha's. My ex-Christian Reformed (ex-girl) friend thought it all resembled basic biblical principles, and therefore just turned off. It just shows you the danger of new wine in old bottles syndrome by know-it-all skimmers. True, the book doesn't do much more than inspire us to realize that we need to do A NEXT CONSCIOUS STEP of inner work on ourselves. However, for anyone who doesn't read further from Needleman bibliographic recommendations will never have a clue about the EXACTING nature of the FURHTER STEPS in the journey past the RELATIONSHIP CROSSROADS of LOVE (which would be way too difficult for most moderns to extract using their backgrgound to find Bible-base correlates & language). Just trying to "be a better more loving person" is the most common thinking of self deception today. Nobody that I've met in general society even has a working definition of Love that even approaches M.Scott Peck's definition (Road Less Travelled). And thats another book that I loan out a lot. Also, in a longer also exhilarating exploratory manner is Needleman's "Money & the Meaning of Life." A little more difficult is his book on "Time and the Soul."

When I read the review of the Ohio person, I thought the person was a nut. But it got my curiosity up, so I bought the book. Wow, am I glad I did! I was afraid it would be too "religious" and I'm not a religious person, but it just uses different teachings to show, "Hey look - they all tell you this!" What they tell you is good horse-sense stuff that really works. I was having problems in my relationship, but now things are turning around for us. Just make sure your "significant other" reads the book too! This is a wonderful book, no kidding. But the Ohio person is still probably a "nut" - one you should listen to in this case!

There are plenty of brilliant people in the world today, but if someone speaks of "wise men" we immediately think of ancient history. They seem to have somehow dissappeared after three of them followed the Christmas star. Don't believe it. As long as Jacob Needleman is alive, there are wise men in the world today. Needleman is the Einstein of practical wisdom - this book is ample proof. If you want more proof, try some of his other books, such as Time and the Soul. Both of these have utility beyond anything in self-help books, which are too shallow and superficial. In contrast, this is the most important book on love to appear this century. Is your love life a mess? For far less money than therapy, this book will show you a clear vision behind it and path to resolving it. In fact, Needleman understands some very important points modern psychology has missed. And the book is for a universal audience with any background or belief system. Needleman gives the indisputable answer to the question of whether or not love can be, or made to be, of life-long endurance. Now that this book exists, the question need never again be raised. Just hand the questioner this book. Be sure to order plenty - by the time you have read the first four chapters, half the names on your Christmas list will be scheduled to receive a copy.

So many books on love seem misdirected because they do not really address the whole question of love within the light of our inner selves. Most books try to deal with love in relation to the outer world, a world that in many ways is in deep trouble. This books goes to the essence of our inner selves and how love is a reflection of our spiritual being. It especially points out that if your inner life, your spiritual dimension is under-nourished, then forming a genuine unselfish, loving, long-term relationship will be difficult, if not impossible. Highly recommended