Author James Redfield takes readers to the mountains of Tibet in search of the mythical place called Shambhala, otherwise known as Shangri-La. Like his previous bestselling books, Redfield holds the tension between an adventure travel story (in this book, armed Chinese soldiers doggedly pursue him) and divine encounters. Rather than preach his spiritual beliefs, Redfield likes to portray himself as a naive pilgrim, receiving wisdom and insights from the various guides and teachers he meets on his metaphysical journeys.

Shambhala is indeed a paradise, just as it was lovingly portrayed in the famous James Hilton novel Lost Horizon. It is also a spiritual utopia, and Redfield takes great pleasure in pondering the possibilities of living in a culture that is entirely "focused on the life process." Residents explain their lifestyle, which has emerged from a completely spiritual culture, including some rather sensible opinions about technology, parenting, and even genetic testing. Meanwhile, Redfield remains the wide-eyed observer. Those who loved the characters, writing style, and epiphanies in The Celestine Prophecy will not be disappointed with Redfield's latest inspirational portrait of a new world order. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly
The third book in the Celestine series, this slight fable begins with an appealing spiritual quest, but is soon burdened with Redfield's millennial concerns. Still, readers who made bestsellers of The Celestine Prophecy and The Tenth Insight are not likely to be deterred, especially those who are interested in Eastern wisdom. Instructed by a neighborhood girl to seek a place of total enlightenment, the narrator makes an imaginary journey to Tibet in search of Shambhala (also known as Shangri-La). Under constant threat by Chinese soldiers, he makes a harrowing passage with the help of human and spirit guides, ultimately reaching the kingdom where the secrets of "the eleventh insight" are revealed in stages. Based on the notion that we attract the events in our lives, the 11th insight reveals that prayer in the form of affirmations and positive energy can empower not only individuals, but whole societies. Readers will find value in Redfield's simply stated comments about building energy through nutrition, posture and thought, and refusing to erode one's energy through negative thinking, including hatred, anger and evil. Redfield believes that baby boomers, with their interest in the human potential movement, have the power to fulfill their generational mission (as their parents did with WWII) by using the 11th insight to counter negative social forces, such as lack of community, youth alienation, environmental destruction, terrorism, the power of centralized technology and genetic engineering of all stripes. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Redfield's The Celestine Vision and The Tenth Insight were short books and, as audiobooks, released in unabridged and lightly abridged versions, respectively. The Secret of Shambhala is a longer work, and the publisher is offering abridged and unabridged recordings, both performed by LeVar Burton, who read Redfield's previous titles. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
At one juncture in Redfield's third Celestine yarn, the nameless hero observes a Himalayan mountain: "From here, Kailash looks like a pyramid." His companion replies, "What does that tell you? It has power." Batten down your auras, folks, we're in for another bumpy New Age vision quest! A friend phones the hero to tell him the friend's 14-year-old daughter has an urgent message for him: get thee to Tibet. Then Celestine fellow traveler Wil James shows up and says get thee to Kathmandu first, and I'll meet you there. But once there, Wil isn't. Instead, a young man named Yin is to guide him to Shambhala, aka Shangri-La, the legendary perfect city of Tibetan Buddhism. With the Chinese army hot on their trail, Yin and the hero make it to Shambhala, but only slightly before the city disappears in a "transition" to some other locale, stranding them in a snowstorm. The hero has already learned, however, that the Shambhalans have figured out how to make goods and goodness pretty much by wishing, though they explain it as a matter of strengthening and combining individual community members' "prayer fields" or their mental states of expectation, which are capable of bringing either good or ill fortune, depending on what feelings (love, anger, fear, etc.) they are full of. Mind over matter, is it? That's right, for the Manichean heresy lives. All ends happily and hopefully in this transparent takeoff of Lost Horizon (1933) that goes James Hilton's escapist perennial one better by claiming to know how all humanity will soon make it to Shambhala/Shangri-La, too. The legions of Celestine Prophecy (1993) and Tenth Insight (1996) fans are surely stoked for the trip. Ray Olson

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Continuing the action-packed adventures begun in The Celestine Prophecy and The Tenth Insight, "The Secret of Shambhala" opens with a search for the legendary Tibetan-Buddhist utopia of Shambhala (or Shangri-La), a magical place that not only truly exists, but is destined to be found and understood in our time. Following a child's instructions and led by fascinating synchronicity, we cross the Himalayas and discover a mysterious community set high on a Tibetan mountain range where the spiritual future of mankind is already being lived. Overcoming Chinese interference and the tests of the mysterious Dakini (the otherworldly guardians of Shambhala) we finally discover the secret of this idealistic way of life, and understand how it will now begin to move into the rest of the world.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The third book in the Celestine series, this slight fable begins with an appealing spiritual quest, but is soon burdened with Redfield's millennial concerns. Still, readers who made bestsellers of The Celestine Prophecy and The Tenth Insight are not likely to be deterred, especially those who are interested in Eastern wisdom. Instructed by a neighborhood girl to seek a place of total enlightenment, the narrator makes an imaginary journey to Tibet in search of Shambhala (also known as Shangri-La). Under constant threat by Chinese soldiers, he makes a harrowing passage with the help of human and spirit guides, ultimately reaching the kingdom where the secrets of "the eleventh insight" are revealed in stages. Based on the notion that we attract the events in our lives, the 11th insight reveals that prayer in the form of affirmations and positive energy can empower not only individuals, but whole societies. Readers will find value in Redfield's simply stated comments about building energy through nutrition, posture and thought, and refusing to erode one's energy through negative thinking, including hatred, anger and evil. Redfield believes that baby boomers, with their interest in the human potential movement, have the power to fulfill their generational mission (as their parents did with WWII) by using the 11th insight to counter negative social forces, such as lack of community, youth alienation, environmental destruction, terrorism, the power of centralized technology and genetic engineering of all stripes. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal