"Beauty presents us with a series of images of beauty ... written in a prose that is rich and jewelled. They demand to be read as one reads a poem, with an attention to each word and phrase. Beauty is as much at home in the stones of Chartres Cathedral as it is in the stones of the Burren or Conamara..... But the deepest current of energy running through this work has its dynamo in the mystical theology of Meister Eckhart and St. John of the Cross. O'Donohues philosophical background and his poetic spirit give him the capacity to apply their vision to the contemporary crisis in the world. For all already searching for a way to God in a world which disregards the spiritual, this book will be a constant companion. Indeed it will open new vistas on the journey. In its luminous pages one of the most neglected aspects of the nature of God, beauty, is affirmed and celebrated. With Beauty, John O'Donohue has contributed a major workd which is neither philosophy nor theology, neither spiritual nor dictrinal, neither critical nor exhortative but is rather a delighted dance of all these elements. It is the work of a writer finding new space to celebrate old truths."

The Irish Times.

"The author of the bestselling Anam Cara hits a lyrical mark again with this book that boldly takes up an eternal verity and ideal - beauty.... And so the author, who has a background in philosophy and has written about Hegel, seeks imitations and manifestations of beatuy; finding it in music, colour and movement, as well as some less likely locations - imperfection and death. Beauty is sensuous and present, but is also always pointing to the transcendent. Its trail leads to the recognition of God.... O'Donohue writes like the poet he is ( "Memory is the place where our vanished days secretly gather."), and he generously quotes from other poets across cultures and times. He also draws liberally into his circle of imagination the great philosophers of beauty, from Plato and Aquinas to contemporary German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. The resulting book is a lively and informed discussion among great minds - a digest of provocative views on an inexhaustible and compelling topic. This refreshing book falls like rain on the parched plain of contemporary discours."

Publishers Weekly - starred review