Die Schriften von Accra (vuoden 2013 painos)

Wow ( )

كانت كأسلوب إلقائي محاضراتي غلب عليها جدًا طابع التنمية البشرية !
كان فيها أجزاء كويسه ( )

platitudes ( )

"It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all" says the mysterious Greek known only as the Copt, in Paulo Coelho's spiritual odyssey, set in Jerusalem in 1099. Thereby allegedly pre-dating Alfred Lord Tennyson, to whom that quote is usually attributed, by some 750 years.

And that, for me, sums up the problem with the book. Possibly an interesting idea, but it doesn't actually come up with anything new. Or where it does, it all feels a little out of step. Or just plain daft.

My purchase of this book was a prime example of why you should not judge a book by its cover. Being interested in history from the Crusades to the Reformation, a book with a central theme of an 11th century manuscript appealed. I anticipated getting a story set in the First Crusade. What I got was a series of platitudes.

The book begins by giving background - the discovery of a manuscript in 1974 - then leads into the "manuscript" itself. In Jerusalem, on the eve of the First Crusade battle that saw the recapture of the city, a group of men and women gather together to listen to the aforementioned mysterious Greek. As you do.

Over the course of the evening, they ask him to talk of many things: Defeat; Solitude; Love; Elegance; Beauty; Sex; Anxiety; Miracles; and so it goes on. And that's it.

For an ancient manuscript, the Copt's sermon appears to address some very modern problems; the anxiety referred to here seems to be very much the modern, office-related anxiety, rather than that of people about to face battle.

I'm not sure what this book sets out to achieve. If it meant to be thought-provoking, then by lifting old quotes from elsewhere, such as Tennyson, it fails, as the only thought it brings to mind is who said that before.

Perhaps I am missing the point completely. Perhaps it is meant to be ironic. Perhaps phrases like 'Listen to the wind, but don't forget about your horse' are actually meant to be ridiculous. Along with the story of the religious followers who in the space of three generations managed to forget how to light their sacred fire, how to recite their prayer, and where their sacred place was, but were still rewarded by miracles. It is probably meant to say 'God is with you as long as you have faith'. To me it just says why bother with all that religious stuff if even when you show no respect and forget everything, you still come out on top?

I am lead to believe Coelho is a highly popular and respected author. On the basis of this work, the words of the Copt seem apt: "Each time we see .... the arrogant humbled we are witnessing a miracle." It's time for a miracle. ( )

I love the "realism" of the setup (have always found it entertaining when authors use this method). There's a lot of wisdom in this "religious text", even for the atheist or the agnostic (that would be me). Maybe if you read this kind of philosophy all the time, there would be nothing ground breaking here, but I don't, haven't in a while, so lots of this was impressing me.

The tone is really positive and that's definitely something I can get behind. The length is also just about perfect ringing in at just over 2 hours on audio. And read by Jeremy Irons, which was a definite plus.

This is my second Coelho and I remember liking the other one a lot too. Looks like I'll be looking for more. ( )