NON-READ REVIEW BOOK 'THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Dear David,

Let me first say this. I do understand the reason why you wrote this book. I do appreciate your project. I do understand your 'win'. But ... I don't comprehend my 'win' and why this book is urgent for me to read (and re-think etc) now.

1. You wrote "Ten ideas constitute a worldview that has not been articulated before". Title of your book is 'THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life'. Your claim of "most ancient moral text" is false. The oldest Hebrew bible dates from 600 BCE (source). 2.000 year earlier (ca 2770-2250 BCE) the ancient Egyptian concept of Maat was written down. Maat was the concept of truth, balance, order, law/ justice and morality. In the Book of Death, chapter 125 ('The negative confession') we can find most of the 10 commandments. I'm not a specialist on ancient moral texts but I guess we can find in China and Mesopotamia even older texts on this subject.

2. You wrote "The message is that [Ten Commandments] really have to offer us is of deep and immediate importance to our lives - regardless of faith." I do not disagree with your claim but the same could be said of every other (past or recent) culture on planet Earth. Every culture has it's own given set on proper/ good/ right behavior for individuals and groups.

3. Why should I read a book about something all individual 'Homo Sapiens' know by nature, by our innate morality? An inborn morality that we all know and understand regardless of faith or God/ gods we are focused on. Not religion is the rock of our human behaviour our inborn morality is. Check out Marc Hauser's The Moral Sense Test. Hauser: atheists have the same moral scores as deep believers. Even psychopaths have the same scores in the Moralitytest.

4. "Each commandment helps us become more caring, world-changing individuals." Sure! But why should I read your book on this? Why can't you write a 2 A4 blog on this? I'm interested in your message. I'm interested in your comments and interpretation of the 10 commandments. But I don't want to read your book.

Once again I do understand your 'win' of the book you wrote - it must have  been a great journey - but I don't understand my or our species Homo Sapiens' 'win'. What's the urgency for me? Why not summurarize your message in a blog on what it really means according to you to be a human being (love, life, wisdom, the self, property and insecurity)? Is your presupposition that by sharing your message in a book the mirror works better?

Best regards,

Jean