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The Stone Monkey : An Alternative, Chinese-Scientific, Reality
Book by Bruce Holbrook
408 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 13, 2010
This book argues that China, which has long been charged with having lacked a science as the 'West' defines it, had and has a science. Holbrook makes an excellent argument, and I found from this book a starting point from which I could begin to see with an objective eye some of the arbitrariness and ideology of what we glibly accept as science.
A worthwhile read because it raises questions about the nature of how our science perceives 'truth'. Are there legitimate alternative ways for 'science' to view the nature of life? Agree or disagree, the argument presented by Holbrook is worth wrestling with.
Loved this book!
A worthwhile read because it raises questions about the nature of how our science perceives 'truth'. Are there legitimate alternative ways for 'science' to view the nature of life? Agree or disagree, the argument presented by Holbrook is worth wrestling with.
Loved this book!
March 13, 2017
One seldom finds someone who can think “outside the box” like Holbrook. This is one of those rare books that endures in one’s thinking because it maps a reality that one’s own culture and education has neglected—a reality that one knows firsthand but often can’t find the words to express.
Since the sixties of the last century there has been a longing in many people to get in touch with the East. It’s not just a geographical thing; it’s almost a human physiological matter. The East in us engenders that longing for wholeness. What is West without East? Can we live in the West of our being and not long for the East? Reading some of the negative reviews of this book in the mainstream it is evident that many people are unaware of any disconnect, anything missing—they are content with being miserable on the nightmare bandwagon of half-asleep materialists. They “have it together” while they swallow the pabulum of half-truths that the lopsidedly materialistic view feeds them, the food of the “know it all” Western paradigm. All the while science, art and religion have split us in at least three parts—if we have enough soul to recognize the need to harmonize all three we will feel this dismemberment. Let alone the further fragmentation of specialization in our time without any relief by “general-ism.” No such thing in our time. No one to put it all together. Science tries. Religion tries. Art tries. No Leonardo DaVinci’s? or Aristotle’s? Or maybe we just can’t see them. Don’t know what they would look like. They’re not recognized going unnoticed by the masses.
In any case Bruce Holbrook has identified the problem and made an heroic attempt to solve it in the hope to shift out thinking out of its ethnocentrism. Here Holbrook gives us a look at the holes in our Western point of view and an alternative perspective. Much to think about. It’s about shaking things up in a big way. Can we see our own blinders and perhaps remove them? Chances are only a few people will get a peek through Holbrook’s looking glass; rare individuals will embrace this bold point of view, which contains, in my opinion, a valuable roadmap out of the labyrinth we have created for ourselves over the past millennium. For anyone who is intent on destroying our destroyer, our Minotaur, and finding the silver thread out, Holbrook certainly should be counted among the frightfully few Theseuses or Ariadnes of our time, who can be trusted to guide us in that direction.
Nothing is perfect. But a rare gem. I give it an unequivocal five stars.
Since the sixties of the last century there has been a longing in many people to get in touch with the East. It’s not just a geographical thing; it’s almost a human physiological matter. The East in us engenders that longing for wholeness. What is West without East? Can we live in the West of our being and not long for the East? Reading some of the negative reviews of this book in the mainstream it is evident that many people are unaware of any disconnect, anything missing—they are content with being miserable on the nightmare bandwagon of half-asleep materialists. They “have it together” while they swallow the pabulum of half-truths that the lopsidedly materialistic view feeds them, the food of the “know it all” Western paradigm. All the while science, art and religion have split us in at least three parts—if we have enough soul to recognize the need to harmonize all three we will feel this dismemberment. Let alone the further fragmentation of specialization in our time without any relief by “general-ism.” No such thing in our time. No one to put it all together. Science tries. Religion tries. Art tries. No Leonardo DaVinci’s? or Aristotle’s? Or maybe we just can’t see them. Don’t know what they would look like. They’re not recognized going unnoticed by the masses.
In any case Bruce Holbrook has identified the problem and made an heroic attempt to solve it in the hope to shift out thinking out of its ethnocentrism. Here Holbrook gives us a look at the holes in our Western point of view and an alternative perspective. Much to think about. It’s about shaking things up in a big way. Can we see our own blinders and perhaps remove them? Chances are only a few people will get a peek through Holbrook’s looking glass; rare individuals will embrace this bold point of view, which contains, in my opinion, a valuable roadmap out of the labyrinth we have created for ourselves over the past millennium. For anyone who is intent on destroying our destroyer, our Minotaur, and finding the silver thread out, Holbrook certainly should be counted among the frightfully few Theseuses or Ariadnes of our time, who can be trusted to guide us in that direction.
Nothing is perfect. But a rare gem. I give it an unequivocal five stars.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews