Publisher:
Tellwell Talent

Publication Date:
02/04/2020

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
9780228814719

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
11.99

Get the best author info and savings on services when you subscribe!

IndieReader is the ultimate resource for indie authors! We have years of great content and how-tos, services geared for self-published authors that help you promote your work, and much more. Subscribe today, and you’ll always be ahead of the curve.

THE GODS WONDER TOO: Musings From Out of the Ether

By g. h. butler calabrese

IR_Star-black
IR Rating:
3.0
THE GODS WONDER TOO: Musings From Out of the Ether by g.h. Butler Calabrese is a well-intentioned, broad-minded, and somewhat uneven compendium of wisdom, observation, poetry, aphorisms and acrostics intended to encourage thinking and discussion.

G. H. Butler Calabrese THE GODS WONDER TOO: MUSINGS FROM OUT OF THE ETHER is a series of brief thoughts about science, religion, history, relationships, politics, climate and what it is to be alive now.

In THE GODS WONDER TOO: Musings From Out of the Ether, author g.h. Butler Calabrese has gathered over a thousand ideas and observations in prose, poetry and acrostic form. The briefest of these musings are a few words; the longest, a few paragraphs. While some idea overlap is natural in so extensive a collection, the range of subjects is broad: plutocracy, religion, science, history, youth, age, politics, climate, the Big Bang and relationships.

In the epilogue Butler Calabrese writes, “My only hope is that the reader comes away with . . . an open, broad and inclusive—cosmoScopic—world view,” and a hope that “. . . more than a few civilized arguments will have been engendered by these musings.” Calabrese has made considerable effort to that end. Evaluating the merit of this broad-ranging set of ideas is, in a sense, beside the point. To any given reader some ideas will seem wise, others perhaps less so. The author’s goal is met whether readers assent or dissent to comments like, “‘Progressive’ and ‘religious’ are not adjectives that easily go together.”

In centuries long past, writers ranging from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius to 17th-century author François de La Rochefoucauld have gathered their thoughts in a similar manner to THE GODS WONDER TOO. This book shares an overall metaphysical kinship with the earlier works. During times of sociocultural upheaval, there is a fresh urgency to making sense of our world and our lives. Butler Calabrese appears to be driven by this sense of urgency. Without more information about the author, the ideas–which gain dimensionality from context–occasionally have an oddly alienating quality. This author may have preferred that these musings be understood outside of their own context as a way of letting the ideas stand for themselves. However, sometimes this undermines their resonance. That said, Butler Calabrese’s intentions are stellar, or perhaps to match the author’s preference, “cosmoScopic.” As Butler Calabrese writes, “The familiar saying, ‘agree to disagree’, is nothing less than the hallmark of an open and free democracy.” In this collection, we are provided with just that, a compendium of ideas to agree with, disagree with, as we may.

THE GODS WONDER TOO: Musings From Out of the Ether by g.h. Butler Calabrese is a well-intentioned, broad-minded, and somewhat uneven compendium of wisdom, observation, poetry, aphorisms and acrostics intended to encourage thinking and discussion.

~Ellen Graham for IndieReader

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that IndieReader may make a commission if you use these links to make a purchase. As an Amazon Affiliate, IndieReader may make commission on qualifying purchase.