Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat: A Skeptic's Path to Religion

I buy books for a friend in her 90's. She started this book and the swearing and affairs turned her off. From the description it sounded good. I won't buy anymore from this author.

This book touches deeply and lovingly on many of today's spiritual issues. I bought copies of this book for all the people in my life that I care about.

For Nevada Barr, her faith journey started in a church that was close to home, had light shining through a stained glass window and was open at the moment she responded to an inner impulse. As she describes herself..."I was a godless heathen and proud of it. According to the priest as the Epsicopal church, I am still a heathen but no longer godless." The description of her coming from no childhood experience of a church and hearing church members criticized to eventually joining a church is told in a very readable and quite touching. Most of the book is a series of thoughts or anecdotes about judgment,sin, gratitude etc. It is the type of book to read one ot two chapters at a time and to return to at a later time. One thing is for certain; Nevada Barr can flat out write well.

This is not so much a book as a series of related essays about life and the other imponderables related to living. But, what a group of essays it is. This is not a book for the Bible thumpers, Barr is not so sure that she believes in God so much as she is now comfortable with the idea of God. And, she gets to this point, revelation by revelation, hat by hat, not of God but of her. You do not really understand her fiction unless you read this book. It adds such depth to her characters.I enjoyed the book, and I profited from reading it. What more can you say about any book, any work of art? Buy it. Read it yourself and enjoy the presence of an interesting woman.

This autobiography/philosophy is not an in-depth life story, nor is it strictly a religious study. We become familiar with bits and pieces of Nevada Barr's past, but only as they apply to her personal maturing process and evolving spirituality. She presents and discusses religious tenets, but not in the new-age fadlike fashion of _Conversations with God_ by Neale Donald Walsch or _Celestine Prophecy_ by James Redfield. And she's someone famous, someone we already "know" -- but not an author we'd expect to hear such talk from. Therein lies the charm of _Seeking Enlightenment_.In short and easy subject-based chapters, Barr reveals her basic philosophies of life. Readers can decide whether or not they agree with her conclusions. There's no pressure here...except perhaps for the chapter called "Do animals have souls?", which begins with the succinct first paragraph: "Of course they do. Don't be an idiot." (Hear! hear!) I found myself smiling at and re-reading some passages and later hurrying over others. Sometimes the stories sounded so close to the experiences of friends that I made a mental note to share this book with those folks after I'm finished with it. Or better yet, I'll buy and distribute copies as gifts.Some fans will pick this book up because of the author's name and will leave most of it unread when they realize it's not another Anna Pigeon mystery. The more curious ones will continue on with an eye to compare Nevada's background, beliefs, and behaviors with Anna's. They'll nod in satisfaction when some of Anna's history does indeed show up in Nevada's own life. Still others will savor these casual observations enough to sit down and think about their own philosophies. If a busy mystery writer can take the time to contemplate Life, why can't we?

This interesting biography showcases Nevada Barr's quest for knowledge of much that seems untenable and dependent on belief. The author, renowned for her Anna Pigeon mysteries, explains that as she worked through numerous jobs like acting and writing, she grew up as an contemptuous atheist who deep down inside wanted to believe, but needed proof. She read everything she could and entered discussions in her search for empirical evidence for something to believe in greater than her short life.SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT HAT BY HAT is targeted for a limited audience. This obvious labor of love is aimed at the most devout fans of the author or exterior cynics seeking enlightenment of the existence of a greater presence. Those casual fans of the author's mysteries will want to pass to avoid feeling like a pigeon. The writer states her external searches proved futile in terms of concrete confirmation, but when she began to look at the inner essence of Nevada Barr she began to feel a sense of being part of a greater universe than just herself. One hat at a time, Ms. Barr provides a deep, humorous look at how she found her spiritual path that she ironically (in light of her honest admittance that her research into other writings failed to answer her questions) hopes encourages others to do likewise.Harriet Klausner