I recieved a shrink-wrapped book in the mail today called
ProEvo: Pro Evolution--Guideline for an Age of Joy. It is a pseudo-mystical conglomeration of evolution and Eastern religion as far as I can tell.
Okay, two things about this really wig me out:
- Out of the blue I received this book in the mail, and I have no idea why.
- The only related web sites that I can find are in German or are reprints of salient portions of the book or both.
There is an "Ask MetaFilter" list-serv thing asking the Internet community-at-large if anyone has received this book, and why, but there isn't much out there. The main web-site is at www.proevo.ch (and you can apparently get it translated through Babelfish.altavista.com).
The back cover lists a number of endorsements; here are the names verbatim from the back of the book:
- Prof. Dr. L.K., world-famous scientist
- Dr. W.S., university professor
- P.H. Chinese scientist
- A large country's institution for press, books, films, television and radio
- Dr. J.H., university professor
- Dr. H.D.W., physics
- Dr. B.M.S., university professor
The intials are not mine, that's what is actually printed on the back cover. The endorsement lines themselves are pure fluff such as, "The book is great," but the last one by BMS says, "I will give the book to my friends, enemies and politicians."
Which one am I?
221 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 221 of 221Just a quick follow-up:
I did find something about a 'Grand Cathedral-Building Project' that does refer (briefly) to TomotOm (Josef Haig). Clicking on the hyperlink takes you to a blog called carfreeuniverse [No, that is not a misspelling]. This blog, from what I can gather, is about people who prefer walking to driving- hence, car-free universe.
Just putting it out there.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN subscriber. Received book 08/24/2010, Florida. It seems that PRO EVO is actually ANTI EVO. I am now stuck in a logical paradox.
Received a 'Free Gift' copy of Pro Evo in today's post (2010 August 25).
About me: Male, age 41, in California's Silicon Valley Area (near San Francsico). Married. Undergraduate Degree in Engineering Physics, Graduate Degree in Applied Physics. Member of local Roman Catholic Church. Teach Middle-school catechism ('Sunday school') at same church. Worked in Semiconductor Manufacturing, Optical Telecom Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical Database operations, and now own my own computer networking business. No longer subscribe to Newsweek, but still Subscribe to "America" (a Catholic/Jesuit magazine) and "Scientific American". Bought new car two months ago. Use DSL for internet service. Have mole on left shoulder. Allergic to avocados. Social Liberal, fiscal conservative; no political party affiliation. Divorced and Remarried, four kids. Attend Live Theatre regularly. No 'Facebook' or 'twitter' but have online blog since 2001. Former 'Earthlink' subscriber. Joined "Netflix" last month. No criminal record. No lawsuits pending.
Hope this helps.
HAID is the author.
I am a science teacher. Made it through the first few pages before it got pitched.
I have enjoyed a lot of the comments though! Humor is good!!
I got today, gave me a good laugh. I subscribe to Scientific American, and have recently purchased something from Amazon.
-anon in Seattle, WA.
Well, THEY are still sending the book out in August 2010. I spent about 30 minutes skimming the book and thought it sounded similar to a strange ad that is usually toward the back of Scientific American magazine ("our guy discovered a law which will help you live your life to the fullest!"), but at least that ad clearly identifies the author and a website.
I'm not too worried about receiving it -- somebody else here mentioned a mailing list, and I'm sure that's all this is. I get junk mail every day.
Regarding the content, all it seems to basically be saying is that doing good is to be encouraged, and doing bad is to be discouraged. "Good" is defined as pro-evolution, but that term itself is not really defined, other than as anything that advances the evolution of the universe. So, should I drive gasoline or diesel? Not sure which is more pro-evo...
Oddly, the book DOES seems to think it's more pro-evo to be vegetarian; also, people and groups in which there is "too much talking" are somewhat anti-evo. Say what?
I have to wonder a little about people who found this book to be in line with their own thinking. This seems like the blandest, most banal list of ways to say "do good, avoid bad" that I've ever seen. Well, OK, I AGREE with that, sure, but there are a million pop songs which say it more cleverly -- and they rhyme and you can whistle them when you're feeling blue, too.
I got mine (Michigan) about a week ago. It's much more interesting to me as a demonstration of how people tend to fall so much in love with their own self-constructed beliefs. Must have been someone who had more money than he (she?) knew what to do with.
I subscribe to Scientific American and pretty recently bought a book from Amazon with the word "Evolution" in the title.
If you are worried about this little bit of well-intentioned silliness, better check yourself for paranoia.
Received today in San Francisco. I have a few web domains, one isn't anonymized. Also subscribe to Scientific American.
I, too, received this book, 8/28/2010, in N.J.,mailed from Hackensack, N.J.; and,like others here, I, too, admit to having had a natural short-lived curiosity about the genesis of my selection. Who wouldn't.
Soon, however my attention turned to the book's content and message. It speaks to the deep connectedness of all diverse, multifarious, universal energy and to the teleological evolution of that energy towards highly intelligent self awareness.
It is not perfectly written (remember that it was translated from German), nor is it necessarilly rigorously accurate from a scientific perspective. It is, however, thoroughly consistent philosophically, and it is essentially free from inherent contradiction. It propounds a highly ethical and highly mature stance (pro-evo) for conducting ones life: to seek to live joyously and to promote joyousness in others, to act not only for one's own good but for the good of others and for the good of our planet's fellow creatures. Who but an anti evo individual could argue against that?
To those of you either young in years, or heavily bamboozled by the brainwashing of religion or pop culture, I say release the fetters and open your mind: Tune in to Reality. Stop trying to relate everything to the narrow confines of some primitive-contrived religion or some hooky pop cultural nonsense of the moment. The real world (reality) is a lot more interesting, mysterious and magical.
My husband received this yesterday. We live in MA. Only common thread to all the previous posts- he subscribes to Scientific American.
I received mine Aug 2010. I thought it was a scientology mailing due to the stealth method of mailing and tracking who it was from but as I read it it was totally opposite from scientology. It appears to be a offshoot of Hindu teachings. The author "OM" and the "Prime Force/evolutionairy vibration" suggest it refers to the Hindu "OM" or "AUM" which vibration started creation and is used in hindu meditation. Since this book was in the early 70's, the Hari Krishna and piece and love , yogi/yoga guru magi movement was full scale. It seems the author was schooled in these teachings and resolved what made sense to him and discarded what did not. I agree with most of the book, which I had already known, but he got into subjective political/moral issues like abortion right/wrongs stance which suggests an attempt to start a new religious movement around this. Not a cult, just a unique view of Hindu and buddist teachings corresponding to modern scientific findings. I agree with most off the book, simple that it is, but the political conclusions are debatable.
Thoth2012@verizon.net
it appears to me that (from the commonality of the posts) that this is nothing more than a SCHEME to verify that a person (XYZ) lives at the address (SOMEWHERE) that it was sent to. if it does NOT come back to sender = score a VERIVICATION.
wtf are
CHENEY/CHERTOFF/ZAKHEIM/HAUER/SILVERSTEIN
up to now???
10/24/10
Jeez people, its just a book. Read it don't read it. Throw it away. Personally, I like to read and any one who wants to send me free reading material is welcome to do so.
fnord?
June 3, 2011
Received my shrink-wrapped little blue book today. I have a subscription to Scientific American also. I enjoyed reading most of the previous comments
This book was sent to one of my coworkers on June 1st, 2011. He then passed it along to me because we had contact with a guy with similar thoughts as Tomotom. Could it be destiny that the book was passed to me? Possibly but anyway. My coworker is located in Georgia. He is a relatively recent college graduate (traditional student- Engineering and Finance). He recently bought a volkswagen and I think that's why they sent him this book. Also, he listens to a lot of bands no one has ever heard of and reads intellectual books. He enjoys communing with nature (camping, hiking, etc.), although you probably knew that because he drives a VW. It would seem that he has hippie tendencies. Only thing is, I'm pretty sure he's conservative and I know he is a Christian. Those two factors do not bode well for his being enlisted in the regime. Also, he wears khaki pants and a button up collared shirt every day, so there you go.
If it truly was destiny that I received the book then here are my details: I am located in North Georgia. I have a bachelor’s degree in business management (traditional student) and am working on an MBA (which is jacking up my brain enough already). I listen to mostly mainstream music (although my ipod playlist was described as being put together by “someone on crack”) I drive a Jeep. I’m very southern, but also very intelligent. I am not an intellectual and I enjoy reading vampire novels as opposed to intellectually stimulating crap. I am conservative in most respects and I am a Christian, although I do not go to church. I believe my brain is impervious to being washed and I have been repeatedly told how hard my head is. I may read this book from the mysterious realm… I probably will not believe it, but maybe I can pick up some tips on how to deal with “different” people (and by different I mean crazy, but you can’t call people crazy around here without the Spanish Inquisition). Neither I nor my coworker seem to be good candidates for the new cult we can’t sign up for since there is no contact information. Some of the other people we work with might be excellent candidates, but I will not be passing this book along to them (they’re already so far out in left field, they forgot how to get to the stadium).
I hope this info helps solve the mystery… if it hasn’t been solved that is because I didn’t read the comments to the end. If anyone finds the answer, I’ll be splitting me buried treasure with ye… when I find it that be.
Looks like they're at it again, this time in Denver, Colorado. And gee, guess what? I subscribe to Scientific American. I think that's the missing link here.
lol
[19 December 2012] [by davidmichael]
I have just finished reading all 219 comments to date, and am amazed with all the obsession about who sent the book and why. The amount of paranoia is also amazing. It's also sad to see how many people have closed their minds and refuse to read the book, or who have skimmed it and decided that they know what it says.
Look, it's very simple and innocent:
A German (if it matters) guy (Joseph Haid, if you really need to know) who died in 2001 had developed a philosophy on how humans can live in harmony, based on his and others’ observations of the behavior of the universe and of humans to date, having made extensive enquiries into science, religion, philosophy, and sociology. He found that living by this philosophy worked for him, so he wanted to give other humans a chance to try it, in hope that it could lead to more happy lives and thus a better world. He had made a good amount of money, which he considered to be part of the success afforded him by living according to his philosophy, so he willed a large sum of it to create a non-profit foundation whose sole directive is to disseminate the book “ProEvo”, which is a distillation of his beliefs.
It doesn’t matter what techniques the foundation uses to disseminate the work, be they targeted or random or a combination of the two. It’s no different than Johnny Appleseed bringing his apple seeds out to pioneers in the Midwest while also having some seeds scattered to the winds. Johnny did his thing simply as a good deed and wasn’t looking for payment or recognition, nor was he looking to start a cult of apple worship!
The author obviously wanted to be anonymous exactly so that his words – not the man -- would be the focus, and that if his ideas took hold, nobody could attempt to make him into a prophet or messiah, since history shows how that can distort and obscure the real message.
As to the content, it looks to me as if he tried to make this edition as concise and short as possible, so that it would be practical to mail it and so that people would tend to consider giving it a full read. The downside to that (and being translated doesn’t help) is that it takes some concentration and requires that each perhaps-too-concise concept be fully understood before going on to the next.
Doubtless the author was not – nor is the foundation – familiar with the further obstacles of American “culture” in particular, as evidenced by the laziness, small-mindedness, and obsessive paranoia displayed by most of the above comments.
As to his ideas, my purpose here is not to discuss those, although I praise those participants above who have actually done so (presuming that they read the book thoroughly), and I will gladly engage in a separate – if serious and sincere – discussion. I will only say here that I think that there is no harm in this book at all, and that it could help many people. The more people who receive it and who actually read it and think about it, the more will be helped.
Well, I went through many of the comments, and it appears that the book mostly goes to people with some academic background... (received it last weekend (09/2013)
i received this book today (23/09/2014)and what i find strange is that i am neither at university or buy anything online. i dont have a subscription to SA or anything else for that matter. Why did i get it then and where did they get my info from? besides the fact that it has interesting content. i would like to know what qualified me to receive it.
nothing in this world is free
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