The Biology of Belief by Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D – Book Review
Recommend: No
Star rating (1 to 5): 2
Gender: Metaphysics/New Science
High School Biology 101
The subtitle of this book is Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles, so as an avid reader of matters related to spirituality and consciousness, I was excited to read it. The book also had two pages of cover endorsements from various prestigious sources, as well as a large number of positive reviews on Amazon. I approached my read with high expectations after such rave reviews. In the spirit of full disclosure of my mindset for spirituality, I am a firm believer in the Original Cause and appreciate scientific theories/studies that harmoniously unite the two mindsets of science and spirituality. I also strongly believe that both can and should be believed and more information should be provided to support their complementary nature rather than their segmented views. I admire and encourage the scientific community that is brave enough to step up in this context.
On the other hand, I am also a book reviewer who, at the very least, expects authors to provide at least one thread of content in their book in relation to the title. I think perhaps using Understand instead of Unleash in the subtitle of the book could have been much more appropriate. At the end of the day, I didn’t find any content that provided suggestions, theories, practices, or methods to Unleash anything more than a long and somewhat repetitive explanation of cellular structure and functionality.
I consider myself quite intelligent and wanted to understand the correlation between cells, their membranes, and how all of this might relate to consciousness, but the level of detail that Lipton shared in this book was far superior. Unless this book is intended to be part of the curriculum of a high school or early college biology course, there is simply no need to go into the level of detail about how the amino acids in our cells are assembled. cells or provide diagrams of the molecular composition of different protein molecules. I tell you, it took every ounce of effort I had and a few cups of coffee to read the 5 out of 7 chapters in this book that deal with biological details I’ll never remember that could have been described in a page or two. to support the author’s views.
I appreciated the authors’ attempt to present this dry, specific material in a lighter, more conversational way than most would find in a textbook, but nevertheless the material was extensively detailed for a book that was ultimately intended to talk. on consciousness and spirituality. I enjoyed the chapter that Lipton wrote on mindful parenting, titled Mindful Parenting: Parents as Genetic Engineers. Don’t let the chapter title scare you too much, in this chapter I found some theories and studies explained in more general terms that helped to understand the authors’ points.
Social Statements Included
I’m not a fan of authors using a book to push their social agenda when the book is categorized as something else. Whether or not I believe in the social statement is not the point. The book is about one thing (according to the book’s title and description) and should not be used to bring together a captive audience to discuss some social issue. If you want to talk about that topic, write a book about it that clearly informs the reader about your content.
I’m sure Lipton intends this point of view to be part of his liberation of consciousness and a responsible topic to discuss (the statement he makes at the end of the book is about how humans are destroying the earth and each other and we’re destined for annihilation if we don’t change our conscious behaviors), but from my point of view, this is a topic best discussed as part of a venue where the audience is receptive to these views, not captive. Also, what makes this stand out as a social ideological platform rather than a highly generic solution to expanding consciousness were the contradictions in his own theories. You either believe in global limitations (human destruction of the planet) or you believe in infinite cellular adaptation (constantly expanding based on biological and spiritual variables).
Summary
For a reader looking to gain insight into how science and spirituality intermingle and combine in a harmonious relationship, this book is for you. only if you like the high end of the scientific part of this equation. For me, someone who enjoys exploring scientific and spiritual concepts and getting background on the concepts presented, this book was too detailed on the scientific side of things and too weak on the spiritual side of things. I was able to understand his point in general about cell behavior based on environmental input, but getting so deep into the science of cell structure, I lost interest in general. Frankly, I only finished the book so I could review it. I could not recommend this book to readers who are primarily interested in consciousness as it relates to both science and spirituality.
I found the writers style and presentation easy to read, but if you are presenting material that is dry and overly saturated, your informal writing style is affected by your love of hearing yourself talk about details that no one else would care about. matter or never will. remember (unless you are also a scientist). Finally, readers never really have an idea of how we can improve our biology of belief, even though the author claims several times that we can and that, in fact, he has.