Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

A cracking good read, if not entirely convincing

Customer Rating:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. What it says seems to make sense on an intuitive level. I seem to be alone in not being entirely convinced by his arguements. I think particularly where he tries to relate things to evolutionary theory. An evolutionary process, rather like the biological one, using mechanisms similar to natural selection, certainly occurs. But these two processes are not identical, and I think the two get mixed up in here. However, maybe it's me that's mixed up. The kind of book I would read more than once, if there were not so many other books out there waiting to be read.

The only history of the world you'll need to know...

Customer Rating:

Truly eye opening stuff, if the genesis in the bible deals with the "why" (as is the case with religion) then this is the history behind it. An all encompassing history of the world that'll make you see things in a new light, how sad and messed up humans have become, and what needs to happen to save our race. Very compelling read, though sometimes it dips a little too much into the spiritual side of things and may come across as biased rather than pure research. They should make this compulsory reading at schools instead of nonsense such as creation theory.

A life-changing read

Customer Rating:

This is one of the very best books that I have ever read. Whilst I don't always agree with everything he says, and there is a sense at times that he is selecting the evidence to fit his theories, the overall arguments of the book just feel profoundly right. It is like having something confirmed that you knew was right at some deep, almost unconscious level. The world seems very different afterwards. Fantastic stuff, and hugely readable. A must-read book.

"The Fall" is an important book

Customer Rating:

This is an important book which deserves to be read widely. If we are to overcome the present crisis of civilization, it is vital that we understand its deep causes, and find ways to negate them. The Fall by Steve Taylor is a significant step in that direction. There can be no doubt that humanity has created its own predicament, and that we need look no further than our own behaviour to see how. The big questions, however, are why we continue to act in such foolish and destructive ways, and how can we change those ways in the short time remaining before disaster strikes. Solutions based on expert knowledge in fields such as economics, law and technology do not cut deep enough. The root causes lie in the human psyche, and it is there we must look for answers. The evidence now seems overwhelming that, following the last Ice Age, human society was peaceful, non-acquisitive, egalitarian and closely connected with the Spirit of nature. Then, about 6000 years ago, the majority of humanity switched from what Riane Eisler called Partnership cultures to the violent, hierarchical, acquisitive, disconnected Dominator cultures that still persist today. It is almost certainly no accident that this switch coincided with a severe drying of the climate right across north Africa, southern Europe, the middle East and Asia - a region that Steve Taylor calls Saharasia. He documents this case in meticulous detail, including much evidence from modern indigenous societies that escaped what he terms The Fall. Taylor argues that the survival challenges presented by increasing aridity stimulated intellectual ability and technical creativity. This was accompanied by an enhanced awareness of our own individuality or, in other words, a great explosion of ego consciousness. Less beneficial side-effects included existential loneliness and fear of death, a loss of connection with nature, and the distracting mind-chatter with which we're all too familiar. As we became focused more inwardly, so our outward focus on our community and environment weakened. And as we separated from nature, we lost our ability to empathize with other beings, including other humans. In our efforts to escape the fear of death, we began to acquire goods and seek status. These in turn led to oppression of other peoples, gender inequality, mistreatment of children and nature, and dissociation from our bodies and sexuality. Paradoxically, it also led to war and an increased risk of violent death! The broad outlines of this account were familiar to me, although Taylor included welcome details. Also familiar was the story of the `First Wave' of recovery represented by the rise of spiritual traditions such as Buddhism and Taoism. What was less familiar was Steve Taylor's powerful depiction of the upsurge of the Second Wave of new consciousness beginning in the mid-18th century. This has pushed the pendulum back in many ways, leading to the abolition of slavery, emancipation of women, human rights, animal rights, social security, the environmental movement, and more. It is all too easy to lose sight of the sheer scale of this counter-movement amongst the doom and gloom of the daily news. However, as Taylor recognises, despite its rapid growth, this movement is still too weak to challenge seriously the dominant `fallen' culture, as he calls it. Ultimately, however, Taylor brings a message of hope. He challenges us all to transcend the ego and integrate the intellectual brilliance it has given us with the intense connectedness and aliveness that spiritual practices can bring us. He challenges us to make a difference to the world by transforming ourselves through meditation and the pragmatic activities of service, living lightly and promoting social change. He presents a vision of a possible future in which there is "no war ..., male domination and social inequality, no shame of sex or the body, and no domination of other species and the natural world." In many ways, Steve Taylor's message is similar to my own in The Science of Oneness, although our paths to this point are very different. More recently, however, I find myself asking if there are still deeper causes, and a wider choice of transformative actions. To Steve Taylor's promotion of the meditative path, I would add the transformative potential of resurgent shamanism, the nature mysticism of `deep ecology', a plethora of `New Age' spiritual paths, and myriad new healing therapies. With regard to the last, I'm currently exploring the role of trauma in human affairs, and believe this may be another root cause of our problems. The desiccation 6000 years ago would have caused severe trauma to those ancient peoples. Desperate for food and water they would have readily become aggressive to their neighbours, thus adding the trauma of violence to the scene. Once begun, such violence would have been self-perpetuating as the trauma was passed from generation to generation. We need look no further than recent history to see how this works. Traumatised veterans of the First and Second World Wars, Viet Nam, and now Iraq have in turn traumatised their families and children. Such traumas echo down the generations as we've seen in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and many other trouble spots. And we're busy creating more traumas today, not only through war, but in many other ways as well. I would argue that the prevention and healing of trauma is a vital transformative action. Written in clear, lucid prose, this book is easy to read and Taylor's sources are well referenced for those who want to dig deeper. I strongly recommend it. Malcolm Hollick (Author of The Science of Oneness: A worldview for the twenty-first century)

excellent book	Customer Rating:
This is one of the most outstanding and fascintating books I have ever read. I can see that Eckhart Tolle's book 'the power of now' is based on it.Absolutely fantastic, a must read.