A few months ago a friend's blog ran a review of a book called The Creed Room. The review was good, the book written by a friend of the blogger -- I was interested, but took the whole thing with a grain of salt. But I went to the author's website and found out he had a blog. I found the site and the blog very interesting. I ordered The Creed Room from amazon.com and got my copy.
When I read the epigraph at the beginning of the book, seeing that it was a quote from Spinoza, I shook a little in my boots. You have by now guessed that the person who referred me to the book on his blog was none other that the man who signs his comments here "benedict s.," after Spinoza, his favorite philosopher. Not a reader of philosophers, I feared The Creed Room might be heavy going.
I was mistaken. It's an intriguing novel with a story line that prompts the reader to stay with it. Its protagonist has his flaws, and the other characters irritate, illuminate, and charm, just like real life. And the author has woven the philosophy in so cleverly that the reader follows that too, taken in by the plot, just as he or she should be. It's really a quick read, and informs in a way that is easy to take. I liked it and emailed the author, rather like Holden Caulfield, who always wanted to call the author on the phone when he read the kind of book he liked.
I got a little plug in for Meet Me at the Butterfly Tree while I was at it.
Author Dan Spiro was more than generous, and offered to buy a copy of that, interested, as he said he was, in utopian communities. All this is to say that I sold a copy of my book! I got the check yesterday, and sent the book off by return mail. Let's see if it has the conversion power of The Creed Room.
You'll also note that I have linked to Dan Spiro's blog EmpathicRationalist, as well as within this post to his website.
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