The Kingdom of Shivas Irons

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 1 SEPT. 1997

One of the pioneers of the human potential movement, Murphy co-founded the Esalen Institute in 1962 and, 10 years later, expressed his beliefs in the bestseller Golf in the Kingdom, which told readers about golf pro and mystic Shivas Irons, with whom Murphy had played a transformative round of golf in 1956. Here, Murphy details his recent (beginning in 1987) search for Irons. The golf pro had introduced Murphy to supernatural practices resulting in amazing golf shots, but Murphy seems to have forgotten most of what he learned--or perhaps he never really understood it. Now he haunts golf courses in Scotland and travels to Moscow to spend a little time with a Sufi shaman, all in hopes of finding Irons. Eventually, he realizes that he must turn his attention inward to learn that the truth, the answer, the possibilities are all there, within him and everyone else. Murphy spins a good yarn and has the ability to inspire readers to want to change their lives, inner and outer. But his brand of self-transformation here, as in his major nonfiction work, The Future of the Body, relies heavily on the potentialities of the body and on whether humans can transcend their ordinary limitations in order to enjoy such powers as traveling instantaneously, appearing and disappearing at will, or becoming a "luminous embodiment" with only the vaguest cloud-like form. His emphasis on superhuman physical powers undermines his talk of heart, soul and spirit; after all, there's no substantial reason to assume that Moses, Jesus, Muhammad or Buddha could have shot par. $200,000 ad/promo; simultaneous BDD audio; author tour.