The Spiral Staircase (Paperback)

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• This item: The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong

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• Through the Narrow Gate: A Memoir of Convent Life by Karen Armstrong

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• A History of God by Karen Armstrong

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Through the Narrow Gate: A Memoir of Convent Life by Karen Armstrong 3.9 out of 5 stars (10)  £6.39

A History of God by Karen Armstrong 4.3 out of 5 stars (22)  £6.99

The Bible: The Biography by Karen Armstrong 3.9 out of 5 stars (16)  £5.39

The Great Transformation: The World in the Time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah by Karen Armstrong 4.0 out of 5 stars (4)  £6.99

A Short History Of Myth by Karen Armstrong 3.8 out of 5 stars (9)  £5.19

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Karen Armstrong speaks to the troubling years following her decision to leave the life of a Roman Catholic nun and join the secular world in 1969. What makes The Spiral Staircase: My Climb out of Darkness especially fascinating is that Armstrong already wrote about this era once--only it was a disastrous book. It was too soon for her to understand how these dark, struggling years influenced her spiritual development, and she was too immature to protect herself from being be bullied by the publishing world. As a result, she agreed to portray herself only in as "positive and lively a light as possible"--a mandate that gave her permission to deny the truth of her pain and falsify her inner experience. The inspiration for this new approach comes from TS Eliot's Ash Wednesday, a series of six poems that speak to the process of spiritual recovery. Eliot metaphorically climbs a spiral staircase in these poems---turning again and again to what he does not want to see as he slowly makes progress toward the light. In revisiting her spiral climb out of her dark night of the soul, Armstrong gives readers a stunningly poignant account about the nature of spiritual growth. Upon leaving the convent, Armstrong grapples with the grief of her abandoned path and the uncertainty of her place in the world. On top of this angst, Armstrong spent years suffering from undiagnosed temporal lobe epilepsy, causing her to have frequent blackout lapses in memory and disturbing hallucinations---crippling symptoms that her psychiatrist adamantly attributed to Armstrong's denial of her femininity and sexuality. The details of this narrative may be specific to Armstrong's life, but the meaning she makes of her spiral ascent makes this a universally relevant story. All readers can glean inspiration from her insights into the nature of surrender and the possibilities of finding solace in the absence of hope. Armstrong shows us why spiritual wisdom is often a seasoned gift--no matter how much we strive for understanding, we can't force profound insights to occur simply because our publisher is waiting for them. With her elegant, humble and brave voice, she inspires readers to willingly turn our attention toward our false identities and vigilantly defended beliefs in order to better see the truth and vulnerability of our existence. Herein lies the staircase we can climb to enlightenment. --Gail Hudson, Amazon.com

Review
'An exceptionally impressive autobiography... Karen Armstrong's account of her spiralling journey provokes thought and inspires respect' Daily Telegraph 'The book deserves many readers! Karen Armstrong must be a Woman of Iron to have survived, made a career and a life.' Hilary Mantel 'Admirably lucid... she gives a more exact and vivid account of the pleasures of writing than any I have seen' Sunday Times 'Unputdownable - absorbing, moving' Daily Mail 'A subtle and funny memoir' Sunday Telegraph Praise for The History for God: 'Only those who think they know it all will fail to be fascinated by Armstrong's search for God.' The Economist 'Highly readable and ought to be read!.Karen Armstong has read widely, has missed nothing, and gives us as solid a purview of the God of the past as it would be possible to find in a book,' Anthony Burgess, Observer 'Karen Armstrong is a genius.' A. N. Wilson

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14 Reviews 5 star:  (8) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:  (2) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review 4.1 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   38 of 42 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply moving and important, 3 Oct 2004 By A Customer This review is from: Spiral Staircase (Hardcover) Karen Armstrong's books seem to be getting better and better. The first hundred pages of The Spiral Staircase are interesting, the next very interesting - but the final section is deeply moving and important. After intense study of the sacred texts of the world's major religions, Karen Armstrong re-states with great clarity and understanding a truth discovered by other mystics over the ages - true religious practice does not consist of belief in one creed or another, but in living a compasionate and thoughtful life. I am reminded of Tolsoy's The Wisdom of Humankind, which comes to similar conclusions. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   26 of 30 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The Spiral Staircase - a review, 26 April 2005 By  Mrs J MacGregor (Maldon, Essex, England) - See all my reviews Having read both 'Through the Narrow Gate' and Beginning the World, I was intrigued to find out how Ms Armstrong would handle a further book covering the same period without being repetitive. Indeed, there are some episodes in the book which had been covered previously, but taken this time from a different perspective and I generally did not have a feeling of 'deja vu'. Ms Armstrong did refer to her previous book at times, mainly in a negative light. I did feel that this was perhaps oversensitive of her, as it is inevitable that she would view these episodes differently after a further 20 year gap. However, it was sensitively written and it would be difficult for the reader not to empathise with the difficulties she has encountered in her life. I found the spiritual content excellent and well presented, with well thought out arguments, whether or not I agreed with her conclusions. Overall, this is an excellent book for anybody with a spiritual turn of mind and I look forward to reading her next book Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   15 of 17 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars The Spiral Staircase, 17 April 2006 By  Dr. I. Finlay "i_finlay" (Condorrat, Scotland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    In this third volume of Karen Armstrong's biography, she traces her life journey from the time she left the convent and her life as a nun to the present day. She writes of her initial rejection of God and all things religious. She wrote and presented television programmes that promoted a secular view. Her life was marred for a long time by undiagnosed epilepsy, which resulted in the feeling (regrettably supported by her psychologist) that she had serious mental illness. Eventually she returned to religion but not to the conventional God of Western religion. She started to view religions as adherence to certain practices which took one out of oneself. Good religion is that which promotes compassion - feeling what others feel and not treating them in ways in which one would not like to be treated. Bad religion is that which promotes intolerance and hatred. This is a very well-written book that explores one person's search for meaning. It is worth reading by those who are religious, irreligious or just not sure. For me there remained one unanswered question - How can belief and practice be divorced? Whether one adheres to a religious view or not, our beliefs influence our practices but our practices also affect our beliefs. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 14 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey Towards the Light One of the reviewers on here refers to Karen Armstrong's book as "a memoir of her journey from nowhere to nowhere along a path of self pity". I could not disagree more. Read more Published 3 months ago by Ukhuman1st 3.0 out of 5 stars Only The Lonely Karen Armstrong's The Spiral Staircase is a memoir of her journey from nowhere to nowhere along a path of self pity. Read more Published 3 months ago by Neutral 5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully readable biography This is a wonderful biography from an author I much admire. Her story wonderfully woven with the verses of Elliot's Ash Wednesday we see the post-monastic life of Karen Armstrong... Read more Published 6 months ago by Ibrahim Ali 5.0 out of 5 stars A excellent read. I read Karen Armstrong's "Though the narrow gate" and immediately wanted more. The Spiral Staircase delivers much more. Read more Published 10 months ago by A Customer 5.0 out of 5 stars Please think twice There are some unduly negative reviews of this book, based mainly on ignorance of the reality of epilepsy. Weird sensations, as I know well, are only the beginning. Read more Published 13 months ago by M.I. 5.0 out of 5 stars Essential spirituality I recently gave my copy of this book away, I was reluctant to but seeing the pain and confusion in my recipients life I thought it would help him as he struggles to discover an... Read more Published 13 months ago by Dh Jayaraja 1.0 out of 5 stars Uggh! I intensely disliked this book and although friends urge me to read more of Karen Armstrong's work, I couldn't bring myself to face another. Read more Published 23 months ago by Nadia 3.0 out of 5 stars An insider's view Having read the two previous volumes of karen Armstrong's autobiography, I was very keen to read this latest one. I had found "Through the Narrow Gate" particularly moving. Read more Published on 10 Sep 2006 by Seeker 2.0 out of 5 stars The Spiral Staircase This is an interesting, though often self-indulgent, work. It's about a former nun who leaves holy orders but cannot shake off her neurotic, self-absorbed personality. Read more Published on 24 Jan 2005 by Book lover 5.0 out of 5 stars Never Give Up Karen Armstrong's book is both an autobiography and a very intimate record of a remarkable spiritual journey. Read more Published on 13 Aug 2004 by Peter Kenney Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 14 customer reviews...

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