ESSENTIAL SPIRITUALITY

A no-frills production and the author’s flat voice don’t diminish the value of this audiobook, which was written by a professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology. Besides having a fabulous intellect and well-informed compassion for all belief systems, he covers an amazing amount of ground as he draws out the principles common to a broad range of religious systems. The abstractions are balanced by stories from ancient to modern times, and they give clarity and emotional significance to everything he talks about. The value of the program is even more apparent on the second listening when the authors’ narration becomes even more of a nonissue and you hunker down with the considerable substance of the program. T.W. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 02]