The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of A New Era |  | Author: Steve Taylor
Publisher: O Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 188687
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 1905047207
Dewey Decimal Number: 909
EAN: 9781905047208
ASIN: 1905047207
Publication Date: September 8, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Fall is a major work that overturns mainstream current thinking on the nature of civilization and human nature. It draws on the increasing evidence accumulated over recent decades that prehistoric humanity was peaceful and egalitarian, rather than war-like and crude. It is not natural for human beings to kill each other, for men to oppress women, for individuals to accumulate massive wealth and power, or to abuse nature. The worldwide myths of a Golden Age or an original paradise have a factual, archaeological basis.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
 A wonderful book May 26, 2006
Simon (Sydney, Australia)
104 out of 106 found this review helpful
I bought this book after reading Eckhart Tolle's endorsement: "A fascinating and important book on the origin, development and the imminent demise of the ego...Highly readable and enlightening, as the author's acute mind is imbued with the higher faculty of spiritual awareness." Eckhart Tolle's books have changed my life so I was sure this book would be important for me too, and haven't been wrong. I've read it through over the last three days and feel also though my whole outlook on the world has been altered. This book is a complete revisioning of human history from a spiritual point of view, seeing human history in terms of the development of the ego, looking at how the ego has given rise to thousands of years of violence and oppression. Taylor looks in turn at warfare, male domination, social inequality, alienation from the body, abuse of the natural world and so on, showing how the over-developed sense of ego produces these problems.
The book makes the important point - using a massive range of research - that earlier human beings and many of the world's native peoples - did not have our strong sense of self or ego and so were free from all of this disorder. The book's depiction of how the insanity of so much human behaviour is produced by the ego is riveting and extremely impressive. After reading this there is no way you can look at "normal" human behaviour in the same way. Taylor makes it absolutely clear that what we consider as normal is, in many ways, insane. And just as impressively, Taylor puts together an extremely good case for the idea that we are beginning to transcend the insanity of the ego and moving into a new era. This is one of those books which makes you look at the world in a new light, and gives you inspiration and hope for the future. Somehow it gives me the inspiration to try to fight for a better world, to contribute to the collective change which is taking place, and rekindle the state of harmony which the human race has lost.
Absolutely Fascinating! December 28, 2007
La Coccinelle
47 out of 50 found this review helpful
This book had me riveted. If we'd read books like this in high school history class, I would have been a lot more interested. The author does a great job of combining history, anthropology, gender studies, and spirituality (among other things) into a fascinating account of the past 6,000 years of human history.
I know that, after reading this book, I'll never look at the world the same way again. The premise behind the work makes so much sense, and helps to explain why things (good and bad) are the way they are.
Typos and grammar issues bother me, and there were some really horrendous ones in this book. However, I am willing to overlook them in this case and give this book five stars because I believe it is so important to our understanding of ourselves.
This is one of the best books I read in 2007. I highly recommend it.
An excellent book to make you think May 22, 2006
CQB (Teignmouth, Devon, UK)
29 out of 30 found this review helpful
I loved Steve Taylor's lucid account of why he thinks the world is in such a bad way, how we got to be in this sorry state and how we can get out of it. It skillfully blends history, psychology, sociology and spirituality to produce a book that is not only thought provoking and enlightening but also enjoyable to read. Despite the potentially depressing nature of the issues covered, Steve Taylor manages to remain positive and provide solutions for a way forward to a better world. This is an uplifting book and recommended to anyone searching for answers to difficult questions.
inspiring May 3, 2006
Hugh Smith (London, England)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
This is an inspiring and thought-provoking book. The author offers a completely new way of looking at the human race's past, and a new way of explaining all of the madness in human nature. It covers thousands of years of history and even looks into the human race's future, but is always extremely readable and even entertaning. It tries to explain almost too much - the origins of war, religion, male domination and so on - but it all makes sense it terms of theories he puts forward. All of these "pathologies" are seen as the consquence of our over-developed sense of ego. Underyling the whole book there is a sense of the spiritual, a vision of a possible state of harmony and meaning beyond our present traumas.
thought-provoking May 3, 2006
Mark Sullivan (Berlin, Germany)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
Steve Taylor manages to come up with a seemingly obvious but until now neglected theory about human nature and the development of civilisation. He analyses not only where we went wrong historically but also where we are still going wrong today. Our intensified sense of ego distorts the way we behave, as does the establishment of a culture that rewards selfishness, aggressiveness and the whole me-me-me I-want-it-now childishness that embodies the modern world. He says what a lot of people (including me) have been thinking for a while. If there is war, oppression and hunger in the world - how did it get here? And can we ever change? Steve Taylor suggests some fascinating answers to these questions. I was impressed enough to give up my job and house and go and live in a field growing my own vegetables... well, maybe not yet.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
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