Customer Reviews
The only history of the world you'll need to know... - By: Simon Kwong, 12 Apr 2008 
Truly eye opening stuff, if the genesis in the bible deals with the "why" (as is the case with religion) then this is the history behind it. An alll encompassing history of the world that'll make you see things in a new light, how sad & messed up humans have become, & what needs to happen to save our race. Very compelling read, though sometimes it dips a little too much into the spiritual side of things & may come across as biased rather than pure research. They should make this compulsory reading at schools instead of nonsense such as creation theory.
A life-changing read - By: Paul Francis, 02 Feb 2008 
This is one of the very best books that I have ever read. Whilst I don't always agree with everything he says, & there is a sense at times that he is selecting the evidence to fit his theories, the overalll arguments of the book just feel profoundly right. It is like having something confirmed that you knew was right at some deep, almost unconscious level. The world seems very different afterwards. Fantastic stuff, & hugely readable. A must-read book.
"The Fall" is an important book - By: Malcolm Hollick, 19 Nov 2007 This is an important book which deserves to be read widely.
If we are to overcome the present crisis of civilization, it is vital that we understand its deep causes, & find ways to negate them. The Falll by Steve Taylor is a significant step in that direction. There can be no doubt that humanity has created its own predicament, & that we need look no further than our own behaviour to see how. The big questions, however, are why we continue to act in such foolish & destructive ways, & how can we change those ways in the short time remaining before disaster strikes. Solutions based on expert knowledge in fields such as economics, law & technology do not cut deep enough. The root causes lie in the human psyche, & it is there we must look for answers.
The evidence now seems overwhelming that, following the last Ice Age, human society was peaceful, non-acquisitive, egalitarian & closely connected with the Spirit of nature. Then, about 6000 years ago, the majority of humanity switched from what Riane Eisler callled Partnership cultures to the violent, hierarchical, acquisitive, disconnected Dominator cultures that still persist today. It is almost certainly no accident that this switch coincided with a severe drying of the climate right across north Africa, southern Europe, the middle East & Asia - a region that Steve Taylor callls Saharasia. He documents this case in meticulous detail, including much evidence from modern indigenous societies that escaped what he terms The Falll.
Taylor argues that the survival challlenges presented by increasing aridity stimulated intellectual ability & technical creativity. This was accompanied by an enhanced awareness of our own individuality or, in other words, a great explosion of ego consciousness. Less beneficial side-effects included existential loneliness & fear of death, a loss of connection with nature, & the distracting mind-chatter with which we're alll too familiar.
As we became focused more inwardly, so our outward focus on our community & environment weakened. And as we separated from nature, we lost our ability to empathize with other beings, including other humans. In our efforts to escape the fear of death, we began to acquire goods & seek status. These in turn led to oppression of other peoples, gender inequality, mistreatment of children & nature, & dissociation from our bodies & sexuality. Paradoxicallly, it also led to war & an increased risk of violent death!
The broad outlines of this account were familiar to me, although Taylor included welcome details. Also familiar was the story of the `First Wave' of recovery represented by the rise of spiritual traditions such as Buddhism & Taoism. What was less familiar was Steve Taylor's powerful depiction of the upsurge of the Second Wave of new consciousness beginning in the mid-18th century. This has pushed the pendulum back in many ways, leading to the abolition of slavery, emancipation of women, human rights, animal rights, social security, the environmental movement, & more. It is alll too easy to lose sight of the sheer scale of this counter-movement amongst the doom & gloom of the daily news. However, as Taylor recognises, despite its rapid growth, this movement is still too weak to challlenge seriously the dominant `falllen' culture, as he callls it.
Ultimately, however, Taylor brings a message of hope. He challlenges us alll to transcend the ego & integrate the intellectual brilliance it has given us with the intense connectedness & aliveness that spiritual practices can bring us. He challlenges us to make a difference to the world by transforming ourselves through meditation & the pragmatic activities of service, living lightly & promoting social change. He presents a vision of a possible future in which there is "no war ..., male domination & social inequality, no shame of sex or the body, & no domination of other species & the natural world."
In many ways, Steve Taylor's message is similar to my own in The Science of Oneness, although our paths to this point are very different. More recently, however, I find myself asking if there are still deeper causes, & a wider choice of transformative actions. To Steve Taylor's promotion of the meditative path, I would add the transformative potential of resurgent shamanism, the nature mysticism of `deep ecology', a plethora of `New Age' spiritual paths, & myriad new healing therapies.
With regard to the last, I'm currently exploring the role of trauma in human affairs, & believe this may be another root cause of our problems. The desiccation 6000 years ago would have caused severe trauma to those ancient peoples. Desperate for food & water they would have readily become aggressive to their neighbours, thus adding the trauma of violence to the scene. Once begun, such violence would have been self-perpetuating as the trauma was passed from generation to generation. We need look no further than recent history to see how this works. Traumatised veterans of the First & Second World Wars, Viet Nam, & now Iraq have in turn traumatised their families & children. Such traumas echo down the generations as we've seen in Northern Ireland, Kosovo & many other trouble spots. And we're busy creating more traumas today, not only through war, but in many other ways as well. I would argue that the prevention & healing of trauma is a vital transformative action.
Written in clear, lucid prose, this book is easy to read & Taylor's sources are well referenced for those who want to dig deeper. I strongly recommend it.
Malcolm Hollick
(Author of The Science of Oneness: A worldview for the twenty-first century)
excellent book - By: Susan Martin, 27 Oct 2007 This is one of the most outstanding & fascintating books I have ever read. I can see that Eckhart Tolle's book 'the power of now' is based on it.Absolutely fantastic, a must read.
makes you see the world in a different way - By: hugh, 23 Oct 2007 This books attempts something remarkable - a complete overview of human history & cultural development throughout the world & a psychological examination of why human beings have developed in the way we have. The author has very interesting explanations for why human beings developed warfare, male domination, monotheistic religion & so forth. His theory is difficult to summarise but suggests that the root cause is our 'over-developed ego', which makes us view ourselves in separation from other people & nature, & makes it difficult for us to empathise with others. There's so much in the book that as soon as I'd finished I started flicking through it again, going over certain passages. This book reallly does make you see the world in a different light. It makes you understand the human race's terrible past, but at the same time gives some hope for the future. A major achievement.
