Mutant Message Down Under



I volunteer at the local library one day a week. Sometimes its special projects but frequently I’m in the stacks shelving books and tidying rows. Browsing the many books I handle results in a constant supply of reading material to take home.
All sorts of books make the cut.

Case in point: Mutant Message Down Under. The book notes say this is a woman’s spiritual odyssey with the Aborigines in Australia. I’ve got a certain fascination with Australia. Have two beautifully illustrated “dreamtime” books with Aboriginal creation myths. Loved “Thornbirds” and “A Town Like Alice”. So I checked out MMDU and brought it home.

I enjoyed reading about the Aboriginal telepathy abilities, likened to a cell phone without the phone. Yeah, I liked that. No more phone to keep track of or batteries to charge. There was a bit about well telepathy works with child rearing – i.e., the child’s naughty thought goes out into the ether and then all the adults are looking at the kid, saying “nope” in the kid’s head. There was a lot about the Aborigine being the “first people” and their efforts not to impact the environment.

A disclaimer stated this is a fictional work but I am gullible in many things (and I do hate to admit that) so I somehow forgot about that and began considering this a true story. I wondered if the American author, Marlo Morgan, was still in Australia, etc., so off to Wikipedia I went in search of answers.

And found a veritable firestorm from Aboriginal groups stating Ms Morgan’s message was false and misrepresented Aboriginal culture. A further search found a group of Aborigines travelling to the states to confront Ms Morgan - which supposedly resulted in an apology by the author for representing the work as truth. Do we ever really know?

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

Comments

injaynesworld said…
See. You read so that I don't have to. That's a much-needed service. Thanks.
Tue Dec 08, 01:59:00 PM
Susan Blake said…
This is actually one of my all time favorite books! She has a second one "More Messages..." If you liked this (sounds like it!) then try "Spiritwalker" by Hank Wesselman - it will REALLY make you think - and have a lot of questions too about just where the heck are we headed. Interesting! I'm glad someone else besides me has read Mutant Messages! I just gave it to my daughter last week as a matter of fact, she's loving it.
Tue Dec 08, 02:51:00 PM
Alan Burnett said…
Yes the Internet can be a great spoiler at times. Several times I have read books and wondered whether to believe the somewhat strange stories they tell only to discover that they are highly contentious.
Tue Dec 08, 03:27:00 PM
Kathy's Klothesline said…
I would love to be able to read minds, oh wait, sometimes I am able to. But, I think we all have that ability from time to time. Truh is stranger han fiction.
Tue Dec 08, 04:10:00 PM
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