Reviewed by Annie Menebroker
It's been a long time since a nonfiction book has made me want to put a "for sale" sign out in front of my house, sell it, and go on an adventure, due to the joy and heart of an author. I remember Jack London thrilling me with his words about sailing to the south Pacific and other adventures, aside from his story telling. I thought he was the most adventurous person of his time. I wanted to know him. Unfortunately, he was long dead when I was born into existence.
There have been a few other authors who have given me this feeling of letting it all go and strike out on the path more interesting and challenging. To hell with the outcome! Unfortunately, again, I haven't let that feeling drive me to that reality. Now come Fischer's book, Shattering the Crystal Face of God, Adventures in An Emerging World, and although I read the original draft and tried to help find typos and errors (which are still nestled in this book, begging to be routed, but do nothing to take the edge off Fischer's words) I reread the finished product over night, until my eyeballs felt as if they'd been turned inside out and dragged through sand.
There are thirteen chapters in this book of 180 pages. Each one begins with a quote by an author Fischer felt worked with the chapter. "Tripper," as the author acknowledges he would rather be called, takes us on his kayaking trips, road trips, hiking trips, surfing, and most of all his head trips. He explores his feelings in the natural world that he has found difficult, if not impossible, to explore in the mundane survival life in cities. Yet in this very dislike of cities and our cultural comforts that drive him to seek out his worth and value on the coastal shores of California, and in the foothills of the Sierras. Fischer can be infuriating at times with his views, but never dishonest. You don't have to agree with him. But there is too much of value in this book to shuck it off because you don't like his religious views or his outlaw rebellion against man made laws. Tripper's love of nature, the ocean, trees, insects, fish, birds, you name it, comes off so real and caring, that you can feel it with him. You wonder at his impulses to paddle his kayak when any sane person would be inside by the fire, listening to the wind and rain outside, ditto on his hikes. Tripper is a real nature boy. And this book is his desire to share with the reader just how he feels, what he sees, and then reacts to in full force. I recommend this book to anyone who has wished that they were more than an armchair traveler, to those who understand the pull of getting away from it all, and to give attention and praise to a man who has told his story with joy, intelligence, and a profound curiosity.
Annie Menebroker
Jan. 16, 2001
Great Stimulus --- This is a book that deserves to be read!, August 20, 2001
M. L. Fischer is a street philosopher, a theological anarchist and a disturbing writer, AND, I needed to hear his prophetic voice deriding the techno-conforming world in which we live. Throughout this book he challenges the reader to rethink core belief systems -question authority and normalcy.
If you need "the system" to get you through life, then this is not the book for you. To say that "Shattering the Crystal Face of God" is radical is an understatement; i.e. "God didn't throw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Greed, petty and selfish people fought over it until they destroyed it. We created the gods we needed to punish ourselves for our sins against ourselves and the planet. We are the instruments of our own damnation, and no savior is going to come along to absolve us. If we are to be saved, we've got to do it ourselves.". Get his message? Fischer is not subtle.
The only thing that is sacred to M.L. Fisher is truth. His search for truth reminds me of Mahatma Gandhi's epigram "The search for truth is a search for God. Truth is God.". Provocatively, Mahatma gave his life to the search for truth, and was also an anarchist, but popular anarchists are rewritten by history to come out as revolutionaries, spiritual leaders, and sometimes Gods: Jesus Christ.
Fischer's sixteen chapters capture sixteen perspectives that are best read not straight through but in spurts. Each chapter was a joy to read. Not all of his writing is philosophical. Often, Fischer, alias "The Tripper", takes the reader on his wanderings, mostly in the California central coastal area near Big Sur. "Descending the panorama trail", he writes, "I waded through the chest deep flowers of the coastal early spring. Looking out, I lost track of the temporal". Time is a subject that M. L. Fischer often talks about and losses track of. For M.L., time is a figure of speech and is best dealt with by living in the moment.
It is interesting that Spencer Johnson's bestseller "Who Moved My Cheese?" (published in September 1998 and on best-seller lists for nearly two years) is about rethinking the concepts which define your life, your reality (especially economic) and then moving on with life. M. L. Fischer does the same thing in "Shattering the Crystal Face of God" but, as the title infers, more intensely, and he has totally skipped the 5th Ave. packaging and marketing. "Trade in your tired conceptions for some fresh perceptions. The world is far more interesting and complex than you can imagine.". This is a book that deserves to be read.