I've not read the book, though some rave about it and others pan it.
I know it's hotly debated in the ACIM world. I thought it might be good to post
the thoughts of my ACIM teachers, Who in my estimation are clear examples
of embodying the teaching. Jack Lucket was the first Executive director of the foundation for Inner Peace which publishes ACIM. It's a little long, but thought provoking. Here's what Jack said:

Aloha dear friends,from Jack,

A while back we received an unexpected package in the mail. This surprise contained two books & had been sent from N. Dakota by a former student/teacher,in the Course. The books were: a pre 1976 publication version of ACIM ,all three in one hardcover,author Jesus (w/o any printing attribution) & The Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard (hereafter refered to as Disappearance).I tossed them on the shelf, thanked the giver, & forgot them.

About six months ago i got the message in meditation to take them down & to read them w/a serious eye.

I am really grateful for receiving these two books & reading them at this time in my spiritual life.We have been active students of the Course for over 26 years.I have read every word including the two pamphlets at least 10 times. We read a lesson or a section from the Workbook or Text every day-- that is over 9500 successive days. But, I think I had slid into the "been there done that" frame of mind. The blessing these unsought for books produced in my life was to reignite my dialogue w/the Course and its implications.

The first book I read was theearly (Jesus) version (pre Ken Wapnick) of the Course. As I read it silently & aloud to Layle, we found we did not have to refer back to the First (1976) edition for comparison, we actually could recognize the changes from memory.The Course had made that significant an imprint on not only our memories but our lives.I did not enter into the trap of judging the efficacy of the editing of the published version. I read the (Jesus) set only for further spiritual enlightenment. Upon much discussion & reflection both Layle & I agree that as helpful as it was to us as a review of the Course, we did not find any secrets or hidden passages that increased our spiritual view beyond the original version. It was the looking, discussing & meditating on the material in both books that was beneficial.We also recognize the original 1976 edition was perfect for us at that time, just as it was organized.

INTERJECTION FROM EULALIA: I was actually delighted w/principles of miracles expanded. Felt Jesus edition clarified the inevitable confusion we had seen virtually every newcomer experience. Also because it corresponds to explanations & understandings we'd gotten for ourselves in meditation & talking w/Bill Thetford -----

Upon looking at Disappearance I found it had been published by Patrick Miller a respected student of the Course.I read this book alone & then outloud to Layle. I also exchanged e-mail discussion w/Bill & Pam Mac Donald, Course experts, & our dear friends in Sydney, Australia.I also read the review of the book by Val Scott, another knowledgeable Course student.I saw an additional review in the "Bridge", St. Frances Reed's excellent newsletter from our old "Garden Party" venue in Portland, Or.

Myguidance is a little different from that expressed by those students I just mentioned.I feel Disappearance is two books in one.

The first book, & the one I enjoyed the most was made up of 365 direct quotes from the Course surrounded by the attendant discussion.These taken as a whole ammount to what you would expect an interested student to learn, as conversion from worldly ideas, inthe first six month honeymoon period in the Course.

Some people were put off by the homage he gives Ken Wapnick & that his organization & discussion of the Course sound a lot like Ken's tapes. I don't object to this, I have always said students should acknowledge & honor their teacher, & then go beyond them. Secondly the Course tells us teachers have students ready to come to them, so its preordained. Also since Ken is the gatekeeper for all Course related material & Gary having spent nine years writing Disappearance could not help but benefit from good will in Ken's camp. My only complaint w/the CIM portion of the book was that it never procedes beyond the guilt level & is lacking in warmth & hope.

During our active teaching phase we held the record for facilitating the most CIM meetings.We delt on a close basis with what totaled thousands of students.We had all ages,as many sexual preferences as imagination allows,Hindus, Buddhists, Catholic Nuns & Priests, mormons, Ba hai, Protestants ofvaried hues, multi ethnic & racial representation, some street people & some millionaires. In spite of seeming difference eventually they all sorted out into two points of view...optimists or pessimists.

From the material selected to be quoted in Disapperance it would seem that Gary is indeed a pessimist.He gives loads of space to special relationships & dismisses the holy relationship w/half of a sentence.We are left at the end of his Course portion struggling w/the ego in existential unconscious guilt barely held at bay by forgiveness.

You find no phrases like: all things work together for good, we forgot to laugh, you will have a perfect working body till you no longer need it & lay it down, love is the answer, the key to heaven is in your brothers hand, angels watch over you lovingly, all of the effects of guilt are here no more, I am God's son complete & healed & whole, turn toward the light, your peace is w/me Father I am safe or when you have learned to decide w/God, all decisions become as easy & as right as breathing.There is no effort & you will be led as gently as if you were being carried down a quiet path in summer. both the optimistic & pessimistic approaches work & both are valid for the holder since all learning is maximal.But I would have enjoyed this portion of the book more if some element of love & hope had been woven in.

As I said earlier there were two books in one, the first the CIM content.The second part is made up of two high oracular numinous beings taking form & visiting Gary & informing us thru him.I am not impressed w/this literary device of having the author's world view professed via an unimpeachable godling in order to give it validity & avoid dispute. Gary isn't alone, Baird Spalding, Neal Donald Walsh & others have employed this technique in the past.

In this case some of what is discussed is accurate, some shallow, some down right wrong. In some of these discussions the following subjects are explained to us: Jesus was married for fifteen years & had an active sexlife w/his wife Mary Magdalene-the difference between sexual orgasm & heaven-the hidden source of Shakespears writings-denounciation of fellow Course students in Wisconsin-criticism of US Government policy & action in the middle east-prediction that terrorists will detonate an atomic device in a US city- speculation concerning gun ownership in the US & murders-criticicm of the Marshall Plan after WW II-equating use of guns to penis envy in women & feeling inadaquate in penis size in men-the flat denial of evolution-denounciation of capitalism & saying the US is not a democracy but a moneyocracy-commenting on the CIA & "right wing puppets", stating that sunspots directly effect our personal thoughts via the collective mind-& the unfairness of American elections-these & many more things included in a work dedicated to teaching that the world is an illusion, thus advocating nonjudgement & forgiveness. Folks I'll tell you I had to fight to stay centered amidst all these polarizing opinions. It drove me deeper & deeper into the Holy Spirits quiet voice.

If all of this world, except forgiveness, is an illusion & we are writing the script for this movie as we go along, even tho the movie is already made, why not write a summer romance?

Why write a film noir filled w/struggle & angst when you can join us on the summer path home?

Blessings of love and laughter,
J&E.

PS...Our guidance is ,there are two concepts for Course students that cause you to return to GO, w/out collecting $200, & having to start all over again:

1. Holding the idea that my way of practicing the Course is the right & only way & if you are not following it you are wrong.

2.Claiming I did it on my own.