• The Lucifer Principle

  • A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History
  • By: Howard Bloom
  • Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
  • Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (693 ratings)

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The Lucifer Principle

By: Howard Bloom
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
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Publisher's summary

The Lucifer Priciple is a revolutionary work that explores the intricate relationships among genetics, human behavior, and culture to put forth the thesis that "evil" is a by-product of nature's strategies for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological fabric. Though this argument is not a new one - it has been brought forth by such great historical figures as St. Paul, Thomas Hobbes, and Raymond Dart - Howard Bloom here takes fresh data from a variety of sources and shapes it into a lens through which listeners can reinterpret the human experience.

©2015 Blackstone Audio (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about The Lucifer Principle

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    3 out of 5 stars

A frightfully learned man

I once heard a man describe Howard Blum as "a frightfully learned man" as he touched upon how the writings of Blum related to the Gnostic religion of early Christianity. I would have much preferred that Howard Blum had written this book, and I was confused about the authors. Howard Bloom however argues his ideas from a wealth of knowledge that is far reaching in many of the disciplines, and he is impressive in his own right.
Yet I find myself in philosophical disagreement with the basis for this book. I do not find fault with the 5 principals that form the basis of the Lucifer Principal, but I do find them insufficient to fully understand the human being.
I kind of expected Bloom to recognize that good and evil are the poles on a plane of existence and thus of the same essence. And yet he spends an inordinate time using the malign side of the animal, insect and human existence to make his points that evil is hard baked into the human experience, and almost unilaterally responsible for the formation of the human psyche. Yet Bloom seems to deny that the opposite pole is also hard wired into into our psyches. Perhaps the proclivity in Mankind toward goodness might be called in Blooms parlance The Christ Principal. Regardless, it deserves consideration.
I started out enthusiastically absorbing the 5 principals and learning the biological make up of our brains (reptilian, animal, and an outer layer of Homo-sapien) but I became mired in a myriad of comparisons of insect, animal,and primate behaviors that supposedly proved the evils of our nature. These chapters seemed to imply that the reptilian and animal parts of our brains overpower the Human side, and are responsible for our compulsive and destructive nature. I became particularly disillusioned as he prescribed in an entire chapter the evil nature of Islam based solely on the Ayatolla Khomeni of Iran. Completely disregarding the many peaceful acolytes of the Islamic tradition. And at the same time he disregarded the barbarity of the Crusaders of Christianity.
By the last chapter he was once again espousing the 5 principals and back on more solid ground.

In short, I think it is easy to argue only one side of a point, but when arguing that man by nature is over-archingly shaped and ruled by the Lucifer Principal, the philosophical trap is unavoidable: What about the benevolent nature of Mankind?

In truth, I found little satisfying insight into the eternal struggle between good and evil in this book, and yet the scientific knowledge about insects and animals and primates was interesting.
This book is well written, but only half way argued, and in that way somewhat disappointing.

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14 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

A Fresh Perspective on "Known" Information

Will stretch your imagination--- and sometimes credibility--- but a must read for any trying to unravel this thing.

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Scientific or Politic.

The scientific portions of the book are just preambles and conditioning for the political and propaganda the book brazenly displays. Almost all the propaganda in the book is mere rhetoric and overflowing with fallacious arguments.
He thinks "our" society's shit don't stank!

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A most profound assessment of society...

I would say as grim at times this book can be at times; it was a refreshing look at the way we look at the concept of society. A must read...or a must listen.

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Deep insights into who we really are

Bloom always delivers. His insights give identity to the human race and reveals why we do what we do. Fascinating!

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Don't waste one second listening to this

This pseudo-historical, pseudo-scientific fairytale of a book pretends to figure out the woes of the world. The cherry picking of facts, combined with an editorial rewriting of history makes for one of the craziest piles of garbage I've ever wanted time listening to.

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A  patchwork of ideas that didn't took me anywhere

Some arguments are perfectly sound but I didn't understood where I was at the end of my intelectual journey.

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You must read or listen to this this book!

I read this book years ago and immediately placed it at the top of my list of the most important books that I have read. Listening to it on audible has only served to reinforce my high regard for this amazing piece of work.

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Everyone

My mind has opened up. This book is incredibly informative interesting and really cool. I recommend EVERYONE read or listen to Mr. Blooms book. My view of the world has changed. Can’t wait to read again. Awesome

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Incredible analysis about humans

This book is so complete by integrating different specialties all together, making an only but complex principle that could explain humans behavior. The performance was natural and let me be captivated by the content. Thank you for making this book available.

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