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This beautifully illustrated guide explores the connections between people, faith, and landscape and features plans, reconstructions, and stunning photography of little-known holy sites. Beginning with the magnificent cathedrals, mosques, and temples of the world's great religions and concluding with earthworks, and holy mountains, wells, and rivers, it traces the wisdom these spots embody and explores the ways in which we gain spiritual insights from them today. The examination of sites of pilgrimage, sacred stones, and places of isolation and meditation-from the Chapel of the Nativity of Christ in Jerusalem to Mount Tai Shan, the most revered of China's five sacred mountains-make this an essential reference work for anyone fascinated by ancient traditions and religions.
Rather than a true atlas, this is a beautifully illustrated survey of 63 sites of religious and spiritual significance divided into six topics: "Places of Worship;" "Sites of Pilgrimage;" "Kings, Saints and Sages;" "Places of Isolation and Meditation;" "Sacred Stones: Stone Circles and Megaliths;" and "Sacred Land and Water." Having written several books on similar topics, Douglas provides an informative overview and narrative for each location intended for the general reader. As expected, the selection of sites is subjective, and the author himself notes that "there are...many places not featured here that would easily qualify as sacred sites to many people, many cultures, many faiths." However, nearly one-fourth of all sites that Douglas has chosen are in the British Isles, six out of eight in the "Sacred Stones" section alone. Jerusalem appears in three sections. Conversely, all ancient Egyptian and Mexican sites are ignored, along with Machu Picchu in Peru. Overall, the emphasis seems to be on locations sacred to current living religions. BOTTOM LINE This atlas is directly comparable to James Harpur's Atlas of Sacred Places: Meeting Points of Heaven and Earth (Holt, 1994) and the books in Brad Olsen's "Sacred Places" series. Although it is certainly eye-catching, Colin Wilson's Atlas of Holy Places & Sacred Sites (DK, 1996) is more comprehensive, providing regional coverage, a gazetteer, bibliography, and more.-Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Sys., Ft. Pierce, FL
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Shellina Rush
reviewed Atlas of Sacred and Spiritual Sites: People, Faith and Landscape on December 20, 2018 Atlas of Sacred and Spiritual Sites: People, Faith and Landscape
The blurb on the back of this book suggests it's 'a scholarly yet highly readable study of the place of the goddess in past and present belief systems and mythologies'. As a convinced agnostic and casual student of history and myth, I thought it would be a useful book to augment my knowledge of these subjects. I was, unfortunately, disappointed.
The book is mainly an annotated list of references to other works with the occasional piece of narrative inserted to reduce the boredom: a trick that doesn't work, by the way. Scholarly, it no doubt is. But highly readable it most certainly ain't! It came across to me as a series of pieces by writers desperate to illustrate how well-read they are. It, perhaps, doesn't help that there are various references and asides in untranslated Latin and some Scandinavian language I'm unable to identify, since I speak none of that collection of tongues.
Perhaps the book is intended as an introductory text for university students studying mythology; I could envisage it having a place in such course material. But, for the general reader, it appears dense, uninformative in those areas of most interest, self-congratulatory, obtuse and often plain boring.
I found myself skipping the frequent, not to say, innumerable, references in a vain attempt to find some meat. I rarely discovered anything more than the leavings of a dog-chavelled bone. In fact, I learned almost nothing, discovered very little that I didn't already know from former reading around the subject.
I suspect you'll deduce from the foregoing that I was unimpressed. You will be correct, Watson. I cannot, in all honesty, recommend the book.
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Add Atlas of Sacred and Spiritual Sites: People, Faith and Landscape, This beautifully illustrated guide explores the connections between people, faith, and landscape and features plans, reconstructions, and stunning photography of little-known holy sites. Beginning with the magnificent cathedrals, mosques, and temples of t, Atlas of Sacred and Spiritual Sites: People, Faith and Landscape to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add Atlas of Sacred and Spiritual Sites: People, Faith and Landscape, This beautifully illustrated guide explores the connections between people, faith, and landscape and features plans, reconstructions, and stunning photography of little-known holy sites. Beginning with the magnificent cathedrals, mosques, and temples of t, Atlas of Sacred and Spiritual Sites: People, Faith and Landscape to your collection on WonderClub |
