Review by wdmonty -- Roadmap to the End of Days

[wdmonty]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Roadmap to the End of Days" by Daniel Friedmann.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Roadmap to the End of Days by Daniel Friedmann is a non-fiction, apocalyptic book based on Judaist beliefs. While, at times, it was difficult for me to separate my Christian beliefs from what the author was stating, I found the book informative and interesting. Therefore, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.

Friedmann begins the book with a focused examination of the past based on a perceived timeline of events. The major focus on this section is how events on the timeline follow a specific pattern and how we can apply the events on this timeline to possible future events. He takes these patterns into the present day (or recent past) and applies the same pattern to illustrate how possible future events could play out. The book ends with a vague picture of a possible future which also follows the pattern illustrated in earlier chapters.

One of the main points I struggled with was my lack of knowledge of Jewish history. The book is informative, but some previous knowledge is important in understanding some of the more prominent points in the book. An example of this is the section in which Friedmann discusses Amalek. It was never entirely clear to me if Amelek was a specific person’s bloodline (Esau’s grandchild) or if Amalek represents the spirit of anyone, any entity, or any country that comes against the Jewish people in an attempt to stop the Divine Purpose from taking place. I would have liked a section devoted to explaining Amalek in detail. It would have given more insight to the rest of the work as Amalek is referred to often. Another possible issue concerns the timeline. I have personally read many different theories on the timeline of the Bible. The author assumes his theory is absolutely correct and offers no sources or proof as to why his version is correct instead of another’s perspective. While I forgive the assumption of being correct, I wish more information would have been offered as to why the assumption is correct.

One of the aspects I enjoyed was the reference to the original language (Hebrew) of the Torah. The author used endnotes to expound on some of the meaning of the words based on the Hebrew language which provided more insight into the meaning and helped to illustrate the author’s assertions. He didn’t just assume his reader would have knowledge of the language. Another aspect that was interesting and made the author’s argument successful was the numerous references to the Torah, Bible, and other Jewish writings. He didn’t just make blind assertions with no proof of what he was stating. This makes the author’s beliefs more understandable and provides authority to the work. While most of these sources were people who agree totally with the author, it brought more belief to what he was illustrating. I would have, however, liked for the author to disprove some others that do not hold the same beliefs as he does. This would have brought much more prominence to his work.

While I believe the main audience of this book is for practitioners of Judaism, I would recommend it to people of other faiths. I looked at the book from a Christian perspective and found it informative and as reinforcement for some of my beliefs. The book was well written and concise in its clarity and explanation of the author’s beliefs. I enjoyed reading this book.

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Roadmap to the End of Days
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[Rosemary Okoko]

The author should have let the reader know who Amalek was because he makes several references. I agree with you that the author should have given evidence for his assumptions. Nice review.

[Kelebogile Mbangi]

I think I would have the same problem as you did (not being able to separate your christian beliefs from the authors arguments). I'd probably go in biased. I like though that you highlighted in detail what makes it a good book. Thank you for your honest and objective review.