Gurdjieff has fascinated me all my life, since I first ran across a beat up old copy of In Search of the Miraculous by P. D. Ouspensky back in the 1970s. (Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=G._I._Gurdjieff&oldid=307225669). This little mini review is aimed at people familiar with his work and that of all his followers and interpreters.
This is not what I would consider one of the 10 essential books about Gurdjieff and his system, but it does shed some light on his antecedents and attempts to codify his philosophy in a somewhat rational way. Bennett does know, as well or better than anyone, that Gurdjieff can’t really be pinned down to anything static. His methods, emphasis and theories changed over his life and he purposely liked to keep his students and exegetes off balance.
Here’s a comment I added on Amazon to others’ opinions about Gurdjieff (not really this book specifically):
I have no horse in this race, but in my opinion with a little work the germ of Gurdjieff’s theories can be teased out. It’s frankly the only cosmology that makes any sense. I am amazed that he is the only thinker, new age or otherwise, who explained not only why 99% of humanity is essentially sleepwalking, but also why.
I think it make be that Gurdjieff used his followers as guinea pigs to see if there was a way out of this terrifying situation. Whether he was an abject failure, a thoroughgoing charlatan or a sincere seeker after the ultimate truths of the universe, I think anyone who gives his work a fair reading can decide for themself.
