A Still, Small Voice

Customer Reviews

• A warm, gentle voice  Feb 11, 2002 (30 of 30 found this helpful)

  Echo Bodine writes beautifully about the human gift of intuition. In simple, conversational language, Echo gently guides the reader towards uncovering his or her inner knowing. This book is unique because Echo "normalizes" the experience of intuition -- teaching us that the intuitive voice is a gift we all possess-- a gift that can be used to enhance every moment of our lives. In fact, I was most impressed by her illustrations of how intuition can be used at any moment during an ordinary day -- and needn't be reserved for 'life altering decisions.' I was also touched by Echo's honesty; she presents herself as a "real" person with a history of struggle, and reflects on the interpersonal conflicts that can arise when friends and loved ones do not understand our spiritual path. Echo writes a lot about God but leaves the dogma behind -- allowing each reader to draw on his or her own interpretation of the divine. The book is so down-to-earth and non-judgemental that reading it feels like being in conversation with a gentle, caring, friend.

• A Little More Fluff than Substance  Dec 29, 2005 (23 of 25 found this helpful)

  Echo Bodine is a medium based out of Bloomington, Minnesota, and many of her sentiments have a strong, no-nonsense Midwestern flavor. She started off as a radio psychic who spoke about her experiences with spirits to an avid listening audience who could then call in and ask about their own departed loved ones. As she has branched out into print medium, she has added a number of readers to her already-sizable listening audience.
  
  Like her other works, A Still, Small Voice is very simplistically written and relatively short. While the book's lay-out attempts to disguise this fact, it's fairly clear that Bodine is a speaker much more than she is a writer. There is the very distinct feel that these books are ghost-written, and occasionally that detracts from the content.
  
  My main criticisms of this book are as follows:
  
  * Although A Still, Small Voice bills itself as a guide to awakening and developing intuition, Bodine fails to provide any real exercises for her readers.
  * A Still, Small Voice relies almost completely on anecdotal material to "teach," reading more like an inspirational memoir than a guidebook.
  * Bodine never addresses the theories or principals behind psychic experience, except to say that all intuition comes from God. Readers are encouraged to rely on spirit guides for their actual instruction, thus encouraging them to feel somewhat out of control of their own powers.
  * Bodine places a very strong emphasis on God, directly stating that psychic experiences are merely instances of God talking to the experiencer. While her faith is admirable, such a strongly religious approach alienates a large number of readers for whom God is less important than the mechanics of the experience itself.
  
  While A Still, Small Voice contains many interesting stories about Bodine's experiences with her own psychic gifts, on the whole, it teaches very little practical material that readers can use on their own. The emphasis on God, while laudable in its own way, undermines the stated purpose of the book, as Bodine repeatedly implies that the real mechanics of psychic experience boil down to little more than being "moved by the spirit." In the end, the book reads like a piece of inspirational cotton-candy, fluffy and sweet but lacking substance.

• Learning from your intuition.  Jul 3, 2001 (22 of 24 found this helpful)

  A Still, Small Voice is easy to read. Echo Bodine cuts to the subject with easy to follow instructions about our intuition. This book is one you'll reference back to many times. Echo's book demostrates her ability to relate to human reasoning and makes the subject about learning, listening and using our intuition for our best during our life journey, understandable. You'll want to give this book to your family and friends.

• This is a Good Book for Awakening  Feb 5, 2004 (11 of 11 found this helpful)

  This is the first book I read by Bodine - it got me hooked on developing the gifts, and then I read Tiffany Snow's book and that one was a "Wow!" so beautiful and inspiring. The lessons that Still, Small Voice helped me to begin, Psychic Gifts expanded. Now, I have the courage and insight to see that I have control over my life. Once I started to believe that I could have good things happen in my life, and learned how to ask and how to listen, wonderful things started to manifest in everyday occurances. Reading books like these have inspired me to my bones!

• A guide to awakening intuition  Jul 6, 2001 (11 of 13 found this helpful)

  Echo Bodine's A Still, Small Voice [...] provides a guide to awakening intuition, from encouraging blossoming psychic abilities to using intuition to solve daily life problems. Highly recommended.