The Bond: Connecting Through the Space Between Us
The bestselling author of "The Intention Experiment" reveals the latest science that proves the extensive connectedness of mind, matter, and consciousness.
Publishers Weekly (02/21/2011):
McTaggart (The Intention Experiment) straddles the line between science and pseudoscience, intending to help readers live fuller lives by understanding something she terms "The Bond." "In every way individual things live life attached and bonded to another, ' " she argues. "The idea of the individual," McTaggart says, "is a fallacy." Her discussion of the Bond encompasses quantum physics, genetics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, astronomy, sociology, psychology, and a host of other disciplines. While she provides ample and fascinating examples of "holistic," altruistic, and uplifting behaviors, her work fails to build a coherent theory from the hugely diverse body of anecdotes she provides. Second, she misapplies much of the science she discusses. Regarding quantum physics, for example, she implies incorrectly that quantum forces operate similarly on all levels, from the microscopic to the macroscopic. She makes the not fully supported claim that most disease results from the lack of a sense of belonging. It may well be better individually and collectively to cooperate rather than compete, as McTaggart says, but her explanations lack substance. (Apr.) Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews (03/01/2011):
New Age guru McTaggart (The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World, 2008, etc.) argues that new scientific evidence shows that humans are hardwired to seek connection and to live in harmony.
The Intention Experiment has been called the science behind the wishing-will-make-it-so bestseller The Secret, and was cited in Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol as the source for a main character's fascination with mind-over-matter power. Here, the author writes that recent studies in physics, biology and other fields indicate that our individualistic, dog-eat-dog way of living is based on antiquated Darwinian thinking. Cutting-edge science shows that a drive for cooperation and partnership is a fundamental aspect of human nature and should inform our lives. Our present competitive worldview brings economic and ecological crises; the new scientific story told by quantum physics offers "the extraordinary possibility that all of life exists in a dynamic relationship of cooperation." Thus, humans can look forward to an improved future of living in partnership with the universe. McTaggart relies heavily on the work of biologist Franz Halberg, a founder of chronobiology, who says humans are part of a complex energy system that is acted upon by the universe's planetary geomagnetic activity. In one study, Halberg and others found that peaks of terrorism in the period between 1968 and 2008 "exactly matched the periods of cycles of solar wind and the Earth's geomagnetic index." The author acknowledges that many of her cited findings from a hodgepodge of research are preliminary, circumstantial or unconfirmed, but she capably weaves them into a seemingly certain scientific case for holistic living within a cosmic "Bond."
Upbeat and well-intentioned, but not entirely convincing and often hokey.
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(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
Marc Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Review Quotes:
We all want a better world, a better life, but many people don t have the courage to take that first step. Lynne McTaggart's "The Bond" is so full of wisdom, truth, and science that it whispers to your heart and screams at your brain: reclaim your life, and create a better way to live for your sake, and your children's, and your children's children.
--Marci Shimoff, author of "Love for No Reason"
Review Quotes:
"Lynne McTaggart is the Malcolm Gladwell of the new science. This visionary book offers pioneering discoveries told in compelling stories, as well as hope and an action plan in these troubled times. Read this book and change your life and the life of everyone around you."
-- Jack Canfield, author of "The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be."
Review Quotes:
"We all want a better world, a better life, but many people dont have the courage to take that first step. Lynne McTaggart's "The Bond" is so full of wisdom, truth, and science that it whispers to your heart and screams at your brain: reclaim your life, and create a better way to live - for your sake, and your children's, and your children's children."
-- Marci Shimoff, author of "Love for No Reason"
Review Quotes:
Lynne McTaggart has elegantly and boldly caused us to look at the world we are living in through a new set of lenses. Her truth in this book shook me to my core, inspired me in my soul, and called me to action like no other book has ever done. Lynne is brilliant, and this book is a work of genius that can guide us back to ourselves and to each other.
-- Lisa Nichols, author of "No Matter What"
Review Quotes:
"Lynne McTaggart has elegantly and boldly caused us to look at the world we are living in through a new set of lenses. Her truth in this book shook me to my core, inspired me in my soul, and called me to action like no other book has ever done. Lynne is brilliant, and this book is a work of genius that can guide us back to ourselves and to each other."
-- Lisa Nichols, author of "No Matter What"
Review Quotes:
"There is something on every page of this book to make you jump for joy. It's like things you've secretly suspected but figured must not be true since no one else seems to think them are suddenly proven to be true! You don't even realize how thirsty your soul has been for another way of looking at the world, until it's given you and you can't stop drinking it in. Rarely does a book so tell it like it is."
-- Marianne Williamson, author of "The Gift of Change"
Review Quotes:
"The Bond" brilliantly reveals the essence of who we are, backed by rigorous new science and expressed with clarity and power. McTaggart is a visionary and an extraordinary scholar of the heart. In this seminal book, she communicates a life-altering message that has the power to transform the way we see ourselves and therefore the way we see the world. Read this book. It will open your heart, and change your life.
--Lynne Twist, author of "The Soul of Money"
Review Quotes:
""The Bond" brilliantly reveals the essence of who we are, backed by rigorous new science and expressed with clarity and power. McTaggart is a visionary and an extraordinary scholar of the heart. In this seminal book, she communicates a life-altering message that has the power to transform the way we see ourselves and therefore the way we see the world. Read this book. It will open your heart, and change your life." -
-- Lynne Twist, author of "The Soul of Money"
Review Quotes:
"Once in a very great while, a book comes along that shifts our sense of reality, or extols a new way of living. Lynne McTaggarts extraordinary new book, "The Bond, " does both." ? Deepak Chopra, author of "Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul"
Review Quotes:
Lynne McTaggart is the Malcolm Gladwell of the new science. This visionary book offers pioneering discoveries told in compelling stories, as well as hope and an action plan in these troubled times. Read this book and change your life and the life of everyone around you.
--Jack Canfield, author of "The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be."
For centuries, Western science and many Western cultures have taught us to think of ourselves as individuals. But today, a revolutionary new understanding is emerging from the laboratories of the most cutting-edge physicists, biologists, and psychologists:
What matters is not the isolated entity, but the space between things, the relationship of things. The Bond.
By international bestselling author Lynne McTaggart," The Bond "is the culmination of her groundbreaking work. It offers a completely new, scientific story of life and the human experience, one that challenges the very way we conceive of ourselves and our world. "The Bond "shows that the essential impulse of all life is a "will to connect "rather than a drive to compete.
In fact, we are inescapably connected, hardwired to each other at our most elemental level--from cells to whole societies. The desire to help others is so necessary that we experience it as one of our chief pleasures, as essential as eating and having sex, and we succeed and prosper only when we see ourselves as part of a greater whole. Every conflict that occurs--whether between husband and wife, social or racial groups, or nations--is resolved only when we can fully see and embrace the space--the bond--between us.
McTaggart offers detailed recommendations to help foster more holistic thinking, more cooperative relationships, and more unified social groups. Blending interviews and human stories into an absorbing narrative, she shows how:
- A simple daily practice conditions the brain to enable you to become more empathetic toward others
- A new way of speaking and listening can overcome polarization, helping the staunchest of enemies to become close friends
- People who fire together wire together: Whenever a group works together for a common goal, the brains of all parties begin to get on the same wavelength, strengthening the bond within the group
- Fairness is more powerful than unfairness: A small group of individuals committed to strong reciprocity can "invade" a population of self-interested individuals and create a fairer society
"The Bond "offers a breathtaking, visionary plan for a new way to live, in harmony with our true nature and with each other, and a new way to heal our relationships, our neighborhoods, and our world.
Review Citations:
Publishers Weekly 02/21/2011 (EAN 9781439157947, Hardcover)
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2011 (EAN 9781439157947, Hardcover)
Contributor Bio: McTaggart, Lynne
Journalist and author LYNNE MCTAGGART is one of the preeminent spokespersons on consciousness, the new physics, and the practices of conventional and alternative medicine. The author of The Intention Experiment, she lectures worldwide and is co-executive director of Conatus, which publishes well-respected health and spiritual newsletters. She lives with her family in London.