Review by raikyuu -- Roadmap to the End of Days
Posted: 03 Jul 2017, 07:07
[Following is a volunteer review of "Roadmap to the End of Days" by Daniel Friedmann.]

3 out of 4 stars
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Roadmap to the End of Days is Daniel Friedmann’s 3rd book in his series “Inspired Studies.” The book is a non-fictional work that aims to show how the biblical history fits together as a part of the “Divine Plan”. He studies the biblical events to show that there is a repeating pattern in history which would ultimately end to what he calls the “End of Days”.
The book is written in a Jewish context, so some premises of the book can become difficult to accept due to people’s differing beliefs and skepticism. Nevertheless, this is a good book if you want to have a general idea on Friedmann’s understanding of the Tanakh. This book can also be read without reading the first two books in the series, as you can still get a good understanding of the book.
I find the book’s retelling of biblical events to be a fun experience as they are presented concisely and coherently. Friedmann also provides summaries after discussions to fit them in the bigger picture. One can learn so much about biblical Jewish history as he arranges a lot of these details in a short book. Because of this, I find the book engaging and easy to read, even if I don’t necessarily subscribe to the beliefs.
However, the book becomes challenging to read when he starts to talk about how exactly he came up with the repeating pattern. Friedmann provides an appendix, hoping to complement the chapters on how the pattern was produced, but the appendix doesn’t help much as it only contains a summary of these chapters. Some excerpts are given without providing reasons on why it is the case. An example is this excerpt from the book, “Nonetheless, the Bible tells us to follow a pattern of seven days per week, which is not tied to the motion of a cosmic body. We run our lives on this weekly pattern, and the weeks fit within the overall cosmic calendar of months, seasons, and years.” I am hoping for more details on how the weeks fit within the cosmic calendar, but he provides none of it. More of these excerpts can be found in the book.
But what troubled me the most is the subtle “religious racist” theme of the book in the form of the Amalek. Even if Friedmann doesn’t intentionally add this theme, it is still entrenched in some contexts of the book. Of course, maybe I just misinterpreted his intentions or I just read into it too much; I admit that I don’t have a complete understanding of the Tanakh. Still, I may not want to give this to children as they might only interpret particular excerpts without looking at the bigger picture.
However, despite the aforementioned flaws, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The book is still an enjoyable read as the author writes the book to ensure that most, if not all, details of the book is clear to the reader. This book is ideal for people who want to be inspired and to use a good 3 hours of their time.
******
Roadmap to the End of Days
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Roadmap to the End of Days is Daniel Friedmann’s 3rd book in his series “Inspired Studies.” The book is a non-fictional work that aims to show how the biblical history fits together as a part of the “Divine Plan”. He studies the biblical events to show that there is a repeating pattern in history which would ultimately end to what he calls the “End of Days”.
The book is written in a Jewish context, so some premises of the book can become difficult to accept due to people’s differing beliefs and skepticism. Nevertheless, this is a good book if you want to have a general idea on Friedmann’s understanding of the Tanakh. This book can also be read without reading the first two books in the series, as you can still get a good understanding of the book.
I find the book’s retelling of biblical events to be a fun experience as they are presented concisely and coherently. Friedmann also provides summaries after discussions to fit them in the bigger picture. One can learn so much about biblical Jewish history as he arranges a lot of these details in a short book. Because of this, I find the book engaging and easy to read, even if I don’t necessarily subscribe to the beliefs.
However, the book becomes challenging to read when he starts to talk about how exactly he came up with the repeating pattern. Friedmann provides an appendix, hoping to complement the chapters on how the pattern was produced, but the appendix doesn’t help much as it only contains a summary of these chapters. Some excerpts are given without providing reasons on why it is the case. An example is this excerpt from the book, “Nonetheless, the Bible tells us to follow a pattern of seven days per week, which is not tied to the motion of a cosmic body. We run our lives on this weekly pattern, and the weeks fit within the overall cosmic calendar of months, seasons, and years.” I am hoping for more details on how the weeks fit within the cosmic calendar, but he provides none of it. More of these excerpts can be found in the book.
But what troubled me the most is the subtle “religious racist” theme of the book in the form of the Amalek. Even if Friedmann doesn’t intentionally add this theme, it is still entrenched in some contexts of the book. Of course, maybe I just misinterpreted his intentions or I just read into it too much; I admit that I don’t have a complete understanding of the Tanakh. Still, I may not want to give this to children as they might only interpret particular excerpts without looking at the bigger picture.
However, despite the aforementioned flaws, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The book is still an enjoyable read as the author writes the book to ensure that most, if not all, details of the book is clear to the reader. This book is ideal for people who want to be inspired and to use a good 3 hours of their time.
******
Roadmap to the End of Days
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like raikyuu's review? Post a comment saying so!