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shadysands's review
As an avid Mindfulness 'cheerleeder' I was intrigued to here the sceptical argument, and I actually agree with a lot of the points made in the book. It allowed me to look more critically at the practice as a whole. As a mental health worker I always suggest that a psychosocial model is used utilising many things ASWELL as Mindfulness as I do think connection to community is also important- acknowledging moving away from individualistic society. Was interesting to hear the political points, and I also agree the fundaments of Buddhism have been watered down.
However, I still feel that if it helps people to manage and is accessible to more people there is no harm in practising it. It took a few chapters for the disclosure of 'I'm not commenting on the efficacy of this in therapy'. But the whole book was slating it, when I know many people who benefit from it, alongside studies that suggest this- and thus why can't this be utilised in the wider feild of wellbeing.
Still, I do think the points are very valid. The reason I stopped reading was less in the disagreement, but more the repetition of points that just made it abit boring for me personally to follow. I also found it so pessimistic, which I understand is to be expected in a critical argument, but personally was not in a mindset to continue with it.
Also, if listening on an audiobook on spotify the authors AI sounding tone didn't help- so maybe that's a unique reason for switching off.
However, I still feel that if it helps people to manage and is accessible to more people there is no harm in practising it. It took a few chapters for the disclosure of 'I'm not commenting on the efficacy of this in therapy'. But the whole book was slating it, when I know many people who benefit from it, alongside studies that suggest this- and thus why can't this be utilised in the wider feild of wellbeing.
Still, I do think the points are very valid. The reason I stopped reading was less in the disagreement, but more the repetition of points that just made it abit boring for me personally to follow. I also found it so pessimistic, which I understand is to be expected in a critical argument, but personally was not in a mindset to continue with it.
Also, if listening on an audiobook on spotify the authors AI sounding tone didn't help- so maybe that's a unique reason for switching off.
elinorb's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.5
Overall I found this book interesting and enjoyable to read. The narrator did a great job. It encouraged me to think more critically about mindfulness and the business surrounding it, and this is definitely something I would read more about. However, the book was over-long and at times very repetitive. I felt it could have easily been half the length without losing any major points.
yates9's review
3.0
The general thesis is valid, that commercial forces have watered down the spiritual conponent of mindfulness so that we end up with a shallow practice that can miss the point of what is really “going on”.
There are many problems with this reasoning as well. The Catholic church has a long history of political impact that includes some very likely healthy mechanisms like confession. But surely depending on where we look at it we would rather keep confession without the Spanish Inquisition. Instead the author seems to indicate that the original buddhist was somehow political in a good way. But politics is always more messy than that…
There is an appeal to marxist stereotypes in that they are translated to a context that does not involve the same capital as means of production. And the author seems to believe this route is automatically better than being ethically blindfolded into meditation states.
I think it would have been much more effective if the author explained what the added depth that can be gained from an integrated approach to meditation rather than political critique. Political thinking is rarely rational and it is not common for people to join together to make the world better. The author suggests buddhist thinking could do this but does not give evidence of how this would work.
There are many problems with this reasoning as well. The Catholic church has a long history of political impact that includes some very likely healthy mechanisms like confession. But surely depending on where we look at it we would rather keep confession without the Spanish Inquisition. Instead the author seems to indicate that the original buddhist was somehow political in a good way. But politics is always more messy than that…
There is an appeal to marxist stereotypes in that they are translated to a context that does not involve the same capital as means of production. And the author seems to believe this route is automatically better than being ethically blindfolded into meditation states.
I think it would have been much more effective if the author explained what the added depth that can be gained from an integrated approach to meditation rather than political critique. Political thinking is rarely rational and it is not common for people to join together to make the world better. The author suggests buddhist thinking could do this but does not give evidence of how this would work.