Customer comments on this Youngstown Ohio Book
 Difficult but profound book
There's no doubt that this is a difficult book to read. However, I think books such as this should be required reading for everyone in our western culture, which places no emphasis on introspection. This book may help one to think more about his/her seemingly insignificant actions, and how one's behavior and activities effect others (others within a circle of family and friends, as well as strangers who may live halfway around the world).
frustratingly captivating
This book was recommended to me by a friend b/c he said it changed his outlook on life. After reading it I have a lot of feelings about it. Overall i think the book is a must read for any open minded person. Derrick Jensen touches on so many truths w/i both the lives and minds of most, if not all, americans. I felt Jensen's saddness on almost every page, but the great part is that it wasn't a pittying sadness, it was an honest sadness. Anyone who is truelly honest with themselves will get a lot out of this book. However, for the skeptic and the 'intelligent' person, Jensen will seem crazy, and many times, he goes out of the way to paint a picture as if he is crazy.
Many times, through frustration and anger, Jensen will attempt to describe what he is feeling. Sometimes it comes out clear, sometimes its on the tip of his tongue. Half the time i knew exactly what he wanted to say, but i felt that he wasn't quite ready to share this information with us. He wasn't far enough along his journey and hasn't quite figured out his feelings on certain matters. Personally, i didn't care. I enjoyed watching him spirtualy grow on paper, it reminds us of our humanity.
If you were a layman psychologist, or ignorant, you could blame every crazy idea that Jenson has that isn't agreeable with you, on his abusive history or his 'abnormal' passions. Jenson lets his feelings get ahead of him in a few instances and lists religion as a whole as one of the evil's of society, when clearly it is mans use of religion that is the evil. However, i can't really fault the man for not being 100% well thought out. No one is, and he obviously is speaking through many emotions, one of them being anger.
People looking for a perfect book that has no flaws best wait another millenia for one to show up, but for right now, this book is a delectable supplement.
One of the most profound books you'll ever read!
By exploring his traumatic experience of childhood sexual abuse as a metaphor for the damage being inflicted on the planet, Jensen interweaves ecofeminist theory with eco-anarchism, a fusion of Susan Griffin, Chellis Glendinning and Starhawk with a heavy dose of John Zerzan. Though the subject matter of the book is grim (global warming, deforestation, femicide, ecocide, rape), it is ultimately a book about restoration, the restoration that comes from struggle, commitment and love. Reading this book will make you cry, will make you angry, will make you act. It will remind you that for every bird that disappears, a part of our humanity also disappears. To heal ourselves, we must heal the earth.
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