Welcome to My Book Reviews
Here you will find many reviews of my books.
A Cosmic Journey to The Unknown
Reviewed By Romuald Dzemo, Review Rating: 5 Stars – Congratulations on your 5-star review!
A Cosmic Journey to the Unknown by Odete Bigote is a fascinating book that asks pertinent religious and philosophical questions. It offers possibilities that we are afraid to consider because we are taught to cling to our familiar landscapes and only dwell on things we can verify scientifically. But this author shows that there is more to life than what we have been made to believe, that there are other dimensions to our existence and that there is a powerful interconnection between our life and the universe. The book opens with a somewhat startling realization: “It is obvious that the thought of separation creates fear and plays a major role in our lives.” It is curious that most of the explanations we have created to justify our existence have been an attempt at refusing to look beyond what we already know; an attempt to justify our fear of death and the uncertainty of what happens afterward. The author teaches readers to face this existential fear and to want to truly know.
Odete Bigote shares her knowledge with readers, letting them learn from her journey of self-discovery, her quest for answers, and the surprising truths she discovered along the way. Her idea of the fear of separation struck a powerful chord in me and I found myself wondering: Why the fear? In this book, the author demonstrates that our fear of ultimate extinction constitutes one of the greatest obstacles in acquiring real knowledge. It is a fear that makes us unable to grasp why were are here and to connect to our ultimate destiny. The writing is insightful and filled with suggestions on how to consider new horizons in life. The depth of thought coupled with existential questions make this book one that provokes a silent revolution in readers and a powerful shift in perspective.
The author captures the essence of this book in the following words: “Humanity must conclude that our history is the history of repetition. The reader will find out about many aspects of our lives, past, present, and future: before the existence of our planet, before our formation, as well as the reason for our presence on earth and where we are heading.” A Cosmic Journey to the Unknown is thought-provoking, revelatory, and filled with new paths.
Reviewed by Deepak Menon for Readers’ Favorite
A Cosmic Journey to The Unknown by Odete Martins Bigote is inspired by humanity’s need to be cured of its afflictions – to make a harmonious co-existence possible. Being a Christian, Odete has made an extensive study and analysis of existing religious thoughts and philosophies and has deduced that God, Allah, Moses, Buddha, and Mevlana all work in unison and are messengers of the unknown, and convey the same message that fundamental darkness, fear, and suffering arise because humans are ignorant of the fact they originate from the same source. Man’s fears emanate from the erroneous thought of separation from the cosmos, universe, nature, or environment. This separation prevents us from seeing what our eyes cannot see; the fact is that we are bathed 24/7 by cosmic energies. The author explains why humanity needs to be unified as one whole, as it was before the Big Bang. Science and spirituality are glimpses of this connectedness of humanity. Humanity needs to correct its thoughts and unify its consciousness. Odete quotes Einstein: “Science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind”
Ironically it is easy to see separation everywhere rather than unification. Humanity has been evolving through biological evolution which has resulted in human progress. The author explains that DNA carries all information of our past, and even scientific discoveries and religious thought come to us from the ‘Beyond’ and ‘The Unknown’. She gives examples of the messengers from beyond. The book premises that our physical form is temporary. One day we will be beyond the terrestrial. We remain part of endless cycles ad infinitum. The author has touched upon numerous philosophical treatises and explained the fundamentals of an equally vast array of theological thoughts.
The author’s premise is that life must progress to harmonious coexistence, which will happen when people understand and strive to achieve higher levels of thinking and consciousness. The book touches upon too many theological expressions of thought to mention here but is certainly worth reading. The cover is attractive and focused on the title. Keeping in mind that the final mission of the author seems to be a reasoned attempt to unleash the potential within human beings, this book deserves 5 stars.
You Can Remember Love: Contemplations on Science and Spirituality
“You Can Remember Love is filled with practical spiritual nuggets that help bring Light into any darkness.”
Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D.
Author, Love is Letting Go of Fear
“Ms. Bigote’s book approaches the often male-dominated view of science with the touch of a soft feminine loving hand. This book warmly brings love to a cold universe and helps many who have lost their way because of a too restricted view of the loving miracle they are.”
Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D.
Author of The Dreaming Universe
“You Can Remember Love makes the most brilliant use of the metaphorical possibilities of modern physics to date. Nature as an allegory of the spirit is an ancient theme which, over the past decades has been taken up by many modern writers on the spiritual implications of science. From the earliest times, philosophers and poets have perceived visible nature as a complex dance of symbols revealing the play of a deeper spiritual reality beneath. Ms. Bigote brings this ancient tradition to life once again and teaches us to interpret the paradoxes of quantum theory as the modern allegory of love and spiritual light.”
Curtis Brooks, Ph.D.
“Odete M. Bigote has written a spiritual guidebook for the 21st century. Drawing from her own experiences, and from spiritual texts from ancient times down to the present, she has set forth in a series of short, clearly written chapters, steps that will lead the grateful reader to self-awareness and peace of mind and heart. Ms. Bigote’s book is free of the cant and jargon that often characterize spiritual self-help books. It is also a marvel of comprehension. You Can Remember Love is a gift of illumination to anyone seeking a way out of the agony of self-doubt, envy, bitterness and the grief of a failed relationship.”
Peter Rand,
Author of China Hands
“Odete Bigote’s You Can Remember Love is a philosophical and also practical book about healing and self-discovery through re-discovering our unity with God and realizing that our seeming separation is only an illusion. Writing in a clear, accessible style expressing her lively, friendly personality bubbling over with love, good will, and joie de vivre, Odete combines science and religion, physics and theology, to show that we are part of the Light and never even really left the Light, though we erroneously believe we did. Using both metaphysics and the New Physics to demonstrate our oneness with our Source, she quotes from the Bible, the Upanishads, the Buddha, Plato, Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Fred Alan Wolf, David Bohm, and A Course in Miracles. She uses modern science to show that while things and people seem to be separated in space, time, and our ordinary everyday consciousness from each other and from God, they are fundamentally united and will ultimately rejoin their Source. She describes her workshops where she has translated those concepts into practical reality, showing how she and others have successfully used the ideas of You Can Remember Love in everyday life.”
Dr. T. Peter Park
“Odete speaks freely and easily about our apparent “paradox” of separation from God and being one with God, at the same time. While she mixes Science and Spirituality, we can see how our world really is not what we believe it to be. Odete has a wonderful way of giving us hard proven, scientific evidence that takes us to the edge of understanding. Then she softens it, with intimate, personal experiences of her life and relationships, that bring the idea of ultimate love and forgiveness.”
“The meditation and affirmations are very powerful in recognizing our own fears, and allowing them to go back to the Source for completion.”
“It is a book that every “logical” minded person, who is searching for truth must read.”
Rev. Melissa Leath
Before the World Began: The Point of the Encounter of Love and Science
“Before the World Began is a succinct and heartfelt book written by a woman
who has lived it’s message.”
Steven Corsano
“WOW! Before the World Began: The Point of the Encounter of Love and Science, is penned by an author that is solid in faith.”
“Odete Martins Bigote has allowed us to travel with her in order to understand that all things are connected, and gives us the tools to lift the veil.”
“In my adventure reading Before the World Began, I have seen myself transported to enlightenment and inspired to deepen my exploration of science as life.”
“My faith is suported by science; this is refreshing, to see the Love and Passion that one is blessed with.”
“I loved the interjection of the family stories, and the ability to check the facts and to even write my own thoughts.”
“I highly recommend Before the World Began:it is a feel good book with love, passion and science. You will be surprised how inspired and blessed you will be from reading it – I was.”
J. Vincent
“If the Big Bang created the universe, then what exactly existed before that moment in time? This question is at the heart of Odete Martins Bigote’s ambitious Before the World Began, a book that mixes an unusual amalgam of self-help, philosophy, and personal memoir in a quest to find some common ground where science and religion can agree on the matter.”
“So what did exist before the beginning? According to Bigote, God. For scientists,especially those rooted in a materialist worldview, some energy existed, but it wasn’t God. What’s the difference? For Bigote there isn’t any. Faith and reason are essentially talking about the same thing.”
“Bigote is not a scientist but a feisty, spiritual seeker who takes to task none other than Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, the authors of the bestselling The Grand Design, which posited that God was not necessary to create the universe. Bigote sees holes in many of their arguments. For example, Bigote highlights their statement that philosophy is dead because it “has not kept up with the modern developments of science, particularly physics.” Yet, Bigote rightfully points out that some of the writings of science’s heaviest hitters, like Sir James Jeans and David Bohm, were more metaphysics than physics.”
“Point for Bigote.”
“Bigote is an enthusiastic writer with a probing, poetic mind and her voice inspires trust. Bigote is a robust thinker and her tenacity and spirit of inquiry should be praised. There are interesting observations in this book that will stay with this reviewer for some time.”
BlueInk Review
“Odete Martins Bigote is very learned and knows what she is writing about when she quotes from Stephen Hawking, William Shakespeare, and most especially, the Holy Bible. In “Before the World Began: The Point of the Encounter of Love and Science”, she states that we, as mankind, are here to correct thoughts about ourselves, that indeed we have freedom of choice in this existence. We must try to learn that God is the eye behind all events. This world that we live in is made out of necessity for us to wake up from illusions and to choose the path of light where we can turn our lives around and for the good.”
“On page 138, Bigote states that “miracles are nothing but our return to our original condition…” In the dance of life, the forces of darkness, of confusion, and of negativity, dance around the forces of light.
On page 279 of this well-written, well-formatted and powerful book, Odete Bigote writes: “There is always a limit as to how much we can do for others: there is a higher self in charge of helping everyone follow their own path.” She offers well-written advice that the serious reader will ponder on such as this on page 186, “Some events we can change, some we cannot.” There are areas for the reader to respond to questions, so this is not a book to be widely shared. The table of contents and bibliography are first-rate and the author’s words of wisdom will stay with the reader forever. “If all of us were equal, this world would not exist. It was designed to represent differences.” “Before the World Began” is not an easy read, but it certainly is a vital one for the thinking reader of religious bent as it moves step by step to its conclusion.”
Alice D. for Readers Favorite
“Before The World Began: The Point of the Encounter of Love and Science, by Odete Martins Bigote is an inspiring, life-affirming book. This makes for very welcome reading since, as the author says, ‘fear is everywhere these days’. There are plenty of negative, fear-inducing books out there. But we need to lose that fear and instead be willing to love and to appreciate being loved. There are more than forty discussions in this book, which make heavy use of quotations from many different texts, predominately the Bible but also including scientific texts and other literature, ancient and modern. The author uses these to explain her optimistic and faith-based interpretation of the modern world that we live in. She challenges us with questions to make us think for ourselves about issues such as predestination, preconceived ideas, creation and destruction, philosophy, healing and sickness for ourselves and not just trot out what we’ve learnt from scientists or the media.”
“Life is a dance which we must appreciate and enjoy. Odete Bigote succeeds in bringing out the sheer joy and love in our existence with her reasoned and well supported arguments. At times she is perhaps a little too hard on the scientists in my opinion, but by no means simply dismissive of them. This is an academic and thoughtful work and reflects a brave, unique point of view. We too have to think hard as we read this book and challenge our own preconceptions, and the sun is definitely shining a little brighter when we reach the end. The positive attitude is infectious and invigorating.”
Stephanie D. for Readers Favorite
“Before The World Began: The Point of the Encounter of Love and Science” by Odete Martins Bigote is a look at the beginning of life as we know it. Bigote has spent much time researching this topic. Her conclusion goes somewhat like this. We existed in a different form, such as that of a spiritual being before God created the heavens and the earth. Bigote discusses the conflict many see between science and religion. After much contemplation she comes to the conclusion that there is in fact no conflict: science and religion fit together. While some may consider the idea of parallel universes outlandish, I see things a bit different. If we deny the impossibility, are we not denying the greatness of God? Should our limited imagination or ability to dream be attempting to bring God to our tiny level? One of the statements that surprised me was the comparison between gold fish in a curved bowl and humans. “The goldfish was saved by a visible hand; while we know that there is an invisible hand ready to rescue us, but we refuse to move.” Her description of why we fear God is very interesting. We have a memory of the great energy it took to turn chaos into an ordered world. She also reminds us that the very energy we fear is embedded deep within us.”
“Bigote has included quotes from various sources as well as the scripture. She has included a space for thoughts, comments and questions. This book is well-organized. I am not sure if I have ever read a book on this topic handled in quite this manner. I think I would enjoy listening to Ms Bigote explaining her theory in person. I hope one who reads this book will take time to ponder the lessons in this book. I found them fascinating and well-worth reading.”
Bernadette A. for Readers Favorite
“Many of us have an odd view of God, we see him as a punisher rather than our creator that loves us very much. There is a loving being just waiting for us to reach out to Him and yet we don’t. In times of trouble we remember Him and reach out to Him in our anguish but when things are going well we dismiss, ignore and refuse to accept Him. Odete Martins Bigote successfully combines science and Christianity, as they were created to work together. They are not in competition or conflict. It is the closed and corrupt minds of man that produce the conflict.”
“Before the World Begins by Odete Martins Bigote has several important points:
1. “There was already some form of existence, in the form of energy before the world began and before we were created.” I have always believed that God was not alone, the Son and Spirit existed along with Him, in the Trinity. Through scriptures we also know that angels existed otherwise the rebelling ones could not have fallen from heaven.
2. “We are not supposed to know the details of how the event (meaning the rebellion) started.” There are some things we need to take on faith. While scientists can come up with theories they can only hypothesize.
3. “We were programmed a priori and were given the freedom to choose.” Repeatedly the author discusses our free will, our ability to choose. This is a very important part of this book.
4. “In Him also we obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” Ephesians 1:11.
On page 55, the author writes, “However, we have free will to choose which path to follow among the paths that we have already chosen.” It is clear from reading Ms. Bigote’s book that God has a plan for our lives but some of us are too stubborn and independent to listen to Him.”
“There are many more important points in this book but if I gave them all to you there would be no need to read the book. In critical places Bigote has placed questions to ponder and a few lines to record your answers. The reader will need to take time pondering the text. While it is written in layman terms the text is profound and something you need to think about. This book is intended to explain the ties that bind physics, science and religion. Ms. Bigote is a talented author and lays out her case in a well-organized manner. Well done Ms. Bigote.”
Anne B. for Readers Favorite