From the beginning, this is a hard pill to swallow.  But at least it is obvious from the beginning what is being proposed.  In the forward, the writer sets it up - “imagine if you had a simple yes or no answer to any question you asked”.  Its difficult to accept that there exists a definitive yardstick for measuring truth, or the levels of truth at each state of consciousness, and that the author is a detached proponent of this entire worldview.

Even though the premise is difficult to buy into, the conclusions seem completely accurate and coherent with spiritual tradition and collective experience.  Reading through the trilogy, it really comes together in the final book, “I”.  There are astounding descriptions of the true nature of Reality, God, and Enlightenment. 

I guess the science behind it has to be verified by each individual reader; do the kinesiological test.  See if it works! Find a partner who you can try it out with. 

This is a life-changing book and it greatly advanced my understanding of things I already intuited in other contexts. 
Michael Tiernan
www.tiernantunes.com

From everything I've read of Hawkins… I will say his first book is not his best.  Calibration is merely described here & honestly… calibration isn't very important in his later books aside from Truth vs. Falsehood.

& I will personally say I do not agree w/ all that he writes but his descriptions of the various “experiences” of what a human may experience are generally accurate.  At the time I picked up this book (thanks to Wayne Dyer) I really got a key thing out of it which .. Hawkin's description of behavior below 200 is very accurate.  He describes the negative aspects of humanity quite accurately & for anyone dealing with a difficult situation with someone else…this book can be helpful to some degree. 

I say read his later books for his personal experiences w/ mystical experience & his knowledge.  Take what you like & leave the rest.  If you can do that..this book can be helpful ;) & perhaps some piece of your own journey may be gleaned from his experiences!

What I liked about the book is that it helps answer the question of “What is enough?” with a different context. Instead of how much can we do it brings up the idea of what can we become. Make that the goal not the other.

This is a controversial book to say the least.  I read it in my time of despair and derived strength and knowledge from it.  I think there's much to be had out of the book even if you lay aside the main topic of muscle testing.  Hawkins' insight into behavior and his worldview seem reasonable and accurate enough to me - inline with other respected and prolific authors I've read.  More advanced critics can certainly pick apart the differences but as a whole I find his contentions and rationale conducive to a better world, and not as esoteric or fundamentalist as some make it seem.

I got A LOT out of this book.  I can pick it apart for many reasons… his research is unrepeatable… he promotes his own ideas as universal law and then tries to back it up with shady science.  BUT his map of consciousness still resonates really strongly for me.  Imagine subdividing the chakras into 1000 pieces and then mapping universal human experience, good and bad, along those 1000 points.  I honestly believe that this book directly served to increase my sensitivity to energy of all types.  What is the relative felt sense  of Apathy? 50 on david's logarithmic scale… but My own experience is that it is more “Dense” then grief and less “Dense” then Shame or Guilt. Which is how I interpret His work.

A neat read. Ive heard the newer books have the same ideas with less retoric.