New Civilization (The Ringing Cedars, Book 8, Part 1) [Paperback]

I read Anastasia, Book 1 of the RC series. After sorting through it's tedious text and fairy tale-like stories about Anastasia's fantastic abilities, I did in fact get the powerful message from her wonderful philosophies that creating a family-tended-garden that yields veggies, fruits and other edibles is one of the best way people can live closer to the Earth and live a more sustainable lifestyle. Truly beautiful and profound implications there.

My recommendation is that you go slow in purchasing the various books in the Ringing Series series. Start with Anastasia and be sure to read the various book reviews to find which next ones you might want to read next.

I bought all the books in the series, read the first one and then I skipped ahead of the 6 other books (2-7) to this one because its title "A New Civilisation" is intriguing.

And after reading I have 3 Not-so-great things and 3 good things to say about book 8-1.

Not-so-great:
1) The ego and unawakened personality of the middle-aged, Russian male author, Vladimir Megre, comes through strongly in this book. Whether Anastasia is real or not, I keep on getting this feeling that the author has created the perfect woman, via his cultural standards and male fantasies, and has enhanced her in many fantastical ways to convince his readers' egos that she is "perfect" and therefore her philosophy and spirituality justifiable and worth listening to/reading about. His narrations muddle up the spiritual messages of the book. The pure Anastasia is the Truth bearer of the RCseries but in this book, 8-1, she does not speak as distinctly and as often in this book as the Book 1. I had to read back a few paragraphs every now and then to remember who was the speaker of the words---Anastasia or the author.

2) Book 8-1 tends to be more nationalistic and patriotic towards Russia. Spirituality is Universal but one must constantly read through a lot of text addressed specifically to Russian citizens and Russian government. Incidentally, if you search the title of this book "new civilisation" in amazon.com, books category, you will get several books pertaining to Russia. So that gave me a preview of what I should expect of this book.

3) On the back cover the Publisher had the following printed: "Anastasia shows Vladimir a vivid scene of America's radiant future, revealing how the conflict between the powerful and the helpless and between the rich and the poor can be overcome and thereby lead to positive transformations in both individuals and society." This phrase should be promptly removed for future printings since that is too loaded a description to apply to the only text in the book about America (Chapter Seven, "The Billionaire").

Good:
1) There are many charming stories of this book and the rest of the RC series that are spiritual fables that Anastasia implies are waiting to be manifested with the help of positive thinking, Hope and Love.

2) If these books are as popular in Russia and Europe (as the publishers imply with their unabashedly glowing self-reviews at their website and here at Amazon.com) than the RC series may have a powerful call to action for the citizens of a world power and first world countries to live a life closer to the earth---and that could very well create a turning-point movement towards a more natural, greener, peaceful, prosperous and awakened humanity on Planet Earth.

3) I have read Anastasia, Book 1, and because of it am even more convinced that I will, within the next few years, have a larger garden to include more veggies and herbs and to be there everyday tending and planting, to go back to living in a rural setting, to create my own bee hive, to walk barefoot in the grass and the soil as often as possible.

All in all, from my personal experience, I have read many a book on spirituality and awakening and the Ringing Cedars is NOT the best of all of them. it carries some good messages, but you have to read through a lot of text to find the gems.

Again, my recommendation is that you go slow in purchasing the various books in the Ringing Series series and be sure to read up on other's reviews to see which book is best worth your time and money.

I have read all but 8-2 in this series and all I can say is "wow". This book is a bit more nationalistic than the rest, but it ties into the continuing story of the author and his chance encounter with a living goddess, Anastasia. If you are a seeker of truth, The RC series delivers. I have read all manner of spiritually themed books for the better part of the last 8 years, and nothing covers all relevant issues like this series. I wouldn't recommend reading any of these books out of sequence. Each book builds on the previous. It's amazing to watch the authors' writing style/ability progress and unfold as his life leads him on a n amazing roller coaster ride. Every book is certainly not a masterpiece of literature by any means, but the gritty, crass, and brutally honest way Megre represents himself leads the reader to share in the contemplation of Anastasia's sensational claims.

This series is about MUCH more than simply growing a garden and reconnecting with our natural surroundings. This series is about how to take back control of yourself and reconnect to your higher self. It covers everything from child raising to who's behind all the turmoil in our current world. I have extensively researched many of the author's sometimes fairytale sounding claims, and found that virtually every thing I could turn up evidence on was indeed true. therefore, I am compelled to "buy what Anastasia's selling". She has begun a very large, very easy to prove movement in Russia as a result of these books.

I hope this helps anyone interested in this fantastic and inspiring series.

I have read all 9 of them and they are so interesting I read them at one sitting. I can't stop until I reach the end. Jenkadh

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.6 out of 5 stars