The Tree of Lies: Becoming Who You Are

Great fun to develope a great lier. Become who you are - there are no guarantees.

Do you enjoy having your dearly held beliefs repeatedly shot down? Yes? Good, read this book. The first part consists of a long list of aphorisms to which the reader is encouraged to rate his/her reactions on a scale of 1-5 (1 being weak, 5 being strong). Good idea but I found that Dr. Hyatt may have unfortunatly missed the boat on this one. The aphorisms in question seem to have been selected to target [a lethargic] yuppy portion of the population (as if these people would even know of the existence of this book!), so what about the rest of us? I have done this exercise several times and the results are always the same: My reactions are neither weak or strong, just down the middle all the way. The rest of the book however is deliciously cynical and thought provoking. It's like a bomb designed to demolish the lies which create our mental maps; Lies imprinted onto our neurons from birth by family, school, church, and state. Many books attempt to undue the constructs created by language using language, and this one does not pull it off as well as some others I've seen, but certainly worth reading just the same.

Hyatt's book Tree of Lies is a fun challenge to the Self in a tongue-in-cheek way. Hyatt gives a slice of American Pie and world history and challenges the beliefs of everyone who lives by simple morals by denouncing them as anything but a lie. The book certainly stands from an aggressive viewpoint to get the reader to shake off the old skin and step into a new one, or none at all, perhaps. Some parts were dry and redundant, however, as a whole I thoroughly enjoyed this book. One of the pleasures that I found most thrilling were the ending appendixes by a few friends of Dr. Hyatt's. Introduced by Robert Anton Wilson, anyone interested in Hyatt's, Wilson's or Leary's work will surely enjoy this one. Become who you are; there are no guarantees.

I really liked this book a lot. In fact, I've read it a number of times. I found it to be very honest and challenging. Basically Hyatt takes apart the morals and mores of society piece by piece leaving a crumbled mass. Of course it also leaves you laughing as well. :-) It will definitely rewire your brain circuitry!