(Note:  As you see, we have included only a few biographies of well known social activists.  As a Level Four student you may choose the biographies or autobiographies of other individuals who inspire you in any field of endeavor.  You may select a specific book or let us know the name of the individual and we will see what is available.)

A Daughter Of Isis: The Autobiography of Nawal El Saadawi
by Nawal El Saadwi ($13.97)

Nawal El Saadawi has been pilloried, censored, imprisoned and exiled for her refusal to accept the oppressions imposed on women by gender and class. In her life and in her writings, this struggle against gender discrimination has always been linked to a struggle against all forms of oppression: religious, racial, colonial and neo-colonial. In 1969, she published her first work of non-fiction, Women and Sex; in 1972, her writings and her struggles led to her dismissal from her job. From then on there was no respite; imprisonment under Sadat in 1981 was the culmination of the long war she had fought for Egyptian women's social and intellectual freedom. A Daughter of Isis is the autobiography of this extraordinary woman. Sa'adawi grew up in a traditional Egyptian household. Her older, less academic brother's failures were mourned, while her successes were not even acknowledged. Fighting gender discrimination the entire way, she persevered through university and became a doctor. This autobiography is the story of those years, before Sa'adawi's name became synonymous with the struggles against gender discrimination and for women's social and intellectual freedom. Her father was also a great activist and believed in education for all, even his daughters. The book is almost less an autobiography and more a homage to her mother, whom Sa'adawi adores. There are no pages devoted to her years of writing and feminist struggles. There is only a short blurb at the end, catching up on her life to the present day. The book is an insightful piece as it celebrates the family of Egypt's most interesting feminist.

Gandhi An Autobiography:  Thee Story of My Experiments With Truth
by Mohandas K. Gandhi  ($10.50)

Gandhi's nonviolent struggles in South Africa and India had already brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation, and controversy that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. Although accepting of his status as a great innovator in the struggle against racism, violence, and, just then, colonialism, Gandhi feared that enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding. He says that he was after truth rooted in devotion to God and attributed the turning points, successes, and challenges in his life to the will of God. His attempts to get closer to this divine power led him to seek purity through simple living, dietary practices (he called himself a fruitarian), celibacy, and ahimsa, a life without violence. It is in this sense that he calls his book The Story of My Experiments with Truth, offering it also as a reference for those who would follow in his footsteps. A reader expecting a complete accounting of his actions, however, will be sorely disappointed.

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King
by Martin Luther King ($11.17)

Celebrated Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson is the director and editor of the Martin Luther King Papers Project; with thousands of King's essays, notes, letters, speeches, and sermons at his disposal, Carson has organized King's writings into a posthumous autobiography. In an early student essay, King prophetically penned: "We cannot have an enlightened democracy with one great group living in ignorance.... We cannot have a nation orderly and sound with one group so ground down and thwarted that it is almost forced into unsocial attitudes and crime." Such statements, made throughout King's career, are skillfully woven together into a coherent narrative of the quest for social justice. The autobiography delves, for example, into the philosophical training King received at Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Boston University, where he consolidated the teachings of Afro-American theologian Benjamin Mays with the philosophies of Locke, Rousseau, Gandhi, and Thoreau. Through King's voice, the reader intimately shares in his trials and triumphs, including the Montgomery Boycott, the 1963 "I Have a Dream Speech," the Selma March, and the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. In one of his last speeches, King reminded his audience that "in the final analysis, God does not judge us by the separate incidents or the separate mistakes that we make, but by the total bent of our lives." Carson's skillful editing has created an original argument in King's favor that draws directly from the source, illuminating the circumstances

The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of his writings on his life, work and ideas
by Louis Fischer ($13.00)

Gandhi believed in revealing himself. He regarded secrecy as the enemy of freedom-not only the freedom of India but the freedom of man. He exposed even the innermost personal thoughts which individuals usually regard as private. In nearly a half-century of prolific writing, speaking, and subjecting his ideas to the test of actions, he painted a detailed self-portrait of his mind, heart, and soul.

The Long Walk To Freedom:  The Autobiography Of Nelson Mandela
by Nelson Mandela ($11.87)

The famously taciturn South African president reveals much of himself in Long Walk to Freedom. A good deal of this autobiography was written secretly while Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island by South Africa's apartheid regime. Among the book's interesting revelations is Mandela's ambivalence toward his lifetime of devotion to public works. It cost him two marriages and kept him distant from a family life he might otherwise have cherished. Long Walk to Freedom also discloses a strong and generous spirit that refused to be broken under the most trying circumstances--a spirit in which just about everybody can find something to admire.

Built To Last:  Successful Habits Of Visionary Companies
by Jim Collins & Jerry Porras ($12.56)

Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies and studied each in direct comparison to one of its top competitors. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day -- as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: "What makes the truly exceptional companies different from the comparison companies and what were the common practices these enduringly great companies followed throughout their history?"  Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations that will prosper long into the 21st century and beyond. 

Full Steam Ahead: Unleash the Power Of Vision In Your Company & Your Life
by Ken Blanchard & Jesse Stoner ($13.57)

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of the business classic The One Minute Manager, has teamed up with Jesse Stoner, a leader in the field of vision and strategy, to show how anyone can create a compelling vision for their organization and for their own life. They show where vision comes from, how it unleashes great power and energy, and how it provides ongoing focus and direction. They explain how to create the three key elements of a compelling vision: significant purpose, clear values, and a picture of the future. They demonstrate how to engage people in shaping meaningful visions and putting those visions to work in their organizations and their lives. And they describe how to ensure that the vision stays alive through understanding three principles: how it is created, how it is communicated, and how it is lived.  The elements of vision are presented in a beautifully written and engaging story about two people who are struggling to create visions-both for the company where they work and for their own lives. Blanchard and Stoner offer numerous examples of effective visions and explore precisely why these visions work.  The lessons are remarkably easy to understand and apply. According to visionary leadership expert Warren Bennis, Blanchard and Stoner have given "meaning and life to vision. Even Dilbert will get it!" Readers will learn how to crystallize a vision that resonates with their own hopes and dreams and allows them to go full steam ahead!

 How To Make Collaboration Work:  Powerful Ways to Build Consensus, Solve Problems, and Make Decisions.  by David Straus & Thomas Layton ($10.17)

Collaboration is an everyday practice that many people find to be a frustrating, even exhausting, experience. How to Make Collaboration Work provides a remedy: five principles of collaboration that have been tested and refined in organizations throughout the world. Author David Straus shows that these methods can help any group make better decisions and function more effectively. The five principles are: Involve the Relevant Stakeholders, Build Consensus Phase by Phase, Design a Process Map, Designate a Process Facilitator, and Harness the Power of Group Memory. Each principle addresses the specific challenges people face when trying to work collaboratively, and each can be applied to any problem-solving scenario.

Igniting The Soul At Work
by Robert Rabbin ($10.85)

Rabbin, a self-proclaimed mystic, has penned this soulful exploration into changing the practices of corporate America, admitting that he has felt the sting of uncertainty when presenting his brand of leadership to various groups. Addressing both management and employees, he acknowledges that this type of reflection is scary to some, stating that "spirit is a loaded word in our culture." He argues that these loaded words make people retreat into fear, rather than be judged as "flakes, incompetents, or cultists" by their peers. Rabbin proposes that "the external world is a direct expression of our internal world, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs," and that the problems that people see in the world are a result of the inner turmoil that they spew. He pacifies readers, then, with the assertion that they can change the state of things; it is simply a matter of tapping into the inner mystic. Rabbin relies on quotes by spiritual figures and groups like the Dalai Lama and the Hopi to drive his point home. Each chapter ends with a segment called "Personal Reflection," which contains practical applications for questioning the way leaders view

In Natural Capitalism, three top strategists show how leading-edge companies are practicing "a new type of industrialism" that is more efficient and profitable while saving the environment and creating jobs. Paul Hawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins write that in the next century, cars will get 200 miles per gallon without compromising safety and power, manufacturers will relentlessly recycle their products, and the world's standard of living will jump without further damaging natural resources. "Is this the vision of a utopia? In fact, the changes described here could come about in the decades to come as the result of economic and technological trends already in place," the authors write. They call their approach natural capitalism because it's based on the principle that business can be good for the environment. For instance, Interface of Atlanta doubled revenues and employment and tripled profits by creating an environmentally friendly system of recycling floor coverings for businesses. The authors also describe how the next generation of cars is closer than we might think. Manufacturers are already perfecting vehicles that are ultralight, aerodynamic, and fueled by hybrid gas-electric systems. If natural capitalism continues to blossom, so much money and resources will be saved that societies will be able to focus on issues such as housing. The book is a fascinating and provocative read for public-policy makers, as well as environmentalists and capitalists alike.

Open Book Management
by John Case ($11.87)

Open-book management is not so much a technique as a way of thinking, a process that actively involves employees in the financial life of the company. Numerous companies have already found that employees who are informed and aware of the company's financial situation are motivated to seek solutions to problems and assume a greater degree of responsibility for its performance. John Case begins by examining the current competitive climate and the history of established management techniques. He shows how the traditional treatment of workers as "hired hands" with little involvement or responsibility beyond their own area is no longer effective in today's ever more competitive global environment. Case clearly and carefully explains the principles of open-book management: timely sharing of crucial financial information with employees; educating the employees to understand and apply the information; empowering employees to apply the information to their own work; and offering employees a stake in the successful implementation of their ideas. Open-book management will take different forms at every company, Case notes, but he offers a wide range of suggestions and guidelines for implementing these principles. He concludes with a series of in-depth case studies, featuring companies of various sizes and financial situations that have successfully implemented open-book management. Open-Book Management is the indispensable guide to teaching employees how to think and act like owners.

Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First
by Shel Horowitz ($11.90)

Marketing consultant Horowitz (Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World) offers the latest addition to the deluge of morally-centered business tomes. In one way, it's an overturning of traditional corporate wisdom-see your competitors as your allies, not your adversaries, Horowitz suggests-but it's also something we've been hearing an awful lot of lately: build meaningful relationships with your customers, view your employees as your partners and so on. Nevertheless, the arguments are all sound and illustrated with the customer-obsessed success stories of ventures like Saturn and Nordstrom. Horowitz is at his best when displaying his canny understanding of the media world, advising how to fit your business's message with the media's need to produce timely, relevant stories. But it also feels like the author is trying to riff on too many ideas, as he skips from thoughts on bartering to copywriting to investing. If readers don't mind following the occasionally meandering structure, they'll find this to be a bountiful source of marketing tips.

The Corporate Mystic: A Guidebook For Visionaries With Their Feet On The Ground
Gay Hendricks & Kate Ludeman ($10.88)

The authors of this wise little book have been consultants to corporations for 25 years. From their experience working with some 800 executives, they deduce that the corporate leaders of the 21st century will be spiritual masters ("corporate mystics"), and that already boardrooms are replete with mystics who are in on the secret that organizations are collective embodiments of spirit. In business for their heart and soul as well as for their wallet, they have beaten back the fear that robs the less hardy of their authenticity. With their ability to focus easily and nondogmatically on the task at hand, these "visionaries with their feet on the ground" are also problem solvers who inspire commitment, speak plainly, listen well, manage projects and create wealth. Wealth begins in the human soul, the authors say as they expound on powers of positive thinking, and at this point the book becomes a how-to manual culminating in four 10-minute exercises for attaining wealth-producing qualities of mysticism.

The Ecology Of Commerce: A Declaration Of Sustainability
by Paul Hawken ($11.53)

Paul Hawken, the entrepreneur behind the Smith & Hawken gardening supplies empire, is no ordinary capitalist. Drawing as much on Baba Ram Dass and Vaclav Havel as he does on Peter Drucker and WalMart for his case studies, Hawken is on a one-man crusade to reform our economic system by demanding that First World businesses reduce their consumption of energy and resources by 80 percent in the next 50 years. As if that weren't enough, Hawken argues that business goals should be redefined to embrace such fuzzy categories as whether the work is aesthetically pleasing and the employees are having fun; this applies to corporate giants and mom-and-pop operations alike. He proposes a culture of business in which the real world, the natural world, is allowed to flourish as well, and in which the planet's needs are addressed. Wall Street may not be ready for Hawken's provocative brand of environmental awareness, but this fine book is full of captivating ideas.

The Great Game of Business
by Jack Stack ($12.21)

In the early 1980s, Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation (SRC) in Springfield, Missouri, was a near bankrupt division of International Harvester. That's when a green young manager, Jack Stack, took over and turned it around. He didn't know how to "manage" a company, but he did know about the principal of athletic competition and democracy: keeping score, having fun, playing fair, providing choice, and having a voice. With these principals he created his own style of management -- open-book management. The key is to let everyone in on financial decisions. At SRC, everyone learns how to read a P&L -- even those without a high school education know how much the toilet paper they use cuts into profits. SRC people have a piece of the action and a vote in company matters. Imagine having a vote on your bonus and on what businesses the company should be in. SRC restored the dignity of economic freedom to its people. Stack's "open-book management" is the key -- a system which, as he describes it here, is literally a game, and one so simple anyone can use it. As part of the Currency paperback line, the book includes a "User's Guide" -- an introduction and discussion guide created for the paperback by the author -- to help readers make practical use of the book's ideas. Jack Stack is the president and CEO of the Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation, in Springfield, Missouri. The recipient of the 1993 Business Enterprise Trust Award, Jack speaks throughout the country on The Great Game Of Business and Open Book Management.

The Leadership Pill
by Ken Blanchard & Marc Muchnick ($13.57)

How can you become a more successful manager, a stronger team leader, and a motivator who gets the best results from a group? Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick's The Leadership Pill provides the answer. Their entertaining and inspiring  book is a parable about the competition between two leaders with totally different management styles -- a story that reveals the ingredients of truly effective leadership.  Consider this tantalizing possibility: What if there were a pill that could actually stimulate the natural powers of the mind and body to provide leadership? In the story, an amazing new pill heightens one leader's powers, but contains the wrong ingredients, stimulating him in an obsessive and shortsighted direction with disastrous results. In contrast, the Effective Leader, working without a pill, proclaims that "only through sustainability can our teams remain motivated and successful." An inspiring and supportive leader, he supplies the right ingredients, earning his team's respect and trust with a blend of integrity, partnership, and affirmation. The hard-won result is a highly motivated team producing consistent top performance and genuine success. Ultimately it is recognized that "leadership for a lifetime" is much easier to digest than a pill for leaders looking for a quick fix.

The Power of Failure: 27 Ways to Turn Life's Setbacks into Success
by Charles C. Manz ($14.95)

“Failure” is one of the most dreaded words in the English language. The very idea of failing is enough to stop most people in their tracks. It can cause the majority to simply pack up, turn around and retreat without even trying. Yet it is through seeming failure that most of life’s greatest successes are achieved The Power of Failure is designed to provide simple yet profound ways to turn seeming failures into successes. It contains practical prescriptions for successfully meeting some of life’s most common setbacks. The lessons of this book can help us all find the opportunities that are just waiting to be discovered in the challenges we face every day. This book is about failure, but failure in a whole new light. It is about The Power of Failure.

The Starfish and the Spider:

The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Ori Brafman & Rod Beckstrom ($16.47 / 240 p) 

Brafman and Beckstrom, a pair of Stanford M.B.A.s who have applied their business know-how to promoting peace and economic development through decentralized networking, offer a breezy and entertaining look at how decentralization is changing many organizations. The title metaphor conveys the core concept: though a starfish and a spider have similar shapes, their internal structure is dramatically different—a decapitated spider inevitably dies, while a starfish can regenerate itself from a single amputated leg. In the same way, decentralized organizations, like the Internet, the Apache Indian tribe and Alcoholics Anonymous, are made up of many smaller units capable of operating, growing and multiplying independently of each other, making it very difficult for a rival force to control or defeat them.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Difficult Conversations
by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen & Roger Fisher ($10.50)

Members of the Harvard Negotiation Project--which brought you the mega-bestseller Getting to YES--show you how to handle your most difficult conversations with confidence and skill.  Whether you're dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with your spouse about money or child-rearing, negotiating with a difficult client, or simply saying "no," or "I'm sorry," or "I love you," we attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day. Based on fifteen years of research at the Harvard Negotiation Project, Difficult Conversations walks you through a step-by-step proven approach to having your toughest conversations with less stress and more success. You will learn:

* why what is not said is as important as what is

* how to decipher the underlying structure of every difficult conversation

Getting To Resolution: Turning Conflict Into Collaboration
by Stewart Levine ($17.95)

What is the greatest impediment to productive and satisfying business and personal relationships? According to empowerment guru Stewart Levine, it's inadequate conflict resolution. Levine's seven- step model integrates two skills essential for success - collaboration and conflict resolution - and emphasizes the importance of a shift in attitude, assumptions, and approaches when facing a problem.

Mediators Handbook
by Jennifer E. Beer & Eileen Stief ($14.93)

Mediation is a respected and effective alternative to courtroom litigation. Completely revised and expanded from previous editions, The Mediator's Handbook is an invaluable resource for people working in corporations, government agencies, community organizations, schools, or any other situation where there is a need to build bridges between diverse perspectives. The Mediator's Handbook is a "how-to" guide walking the reader through the steps to an effective mediation. The Mediator's Handbook can assist in conflict resolution for anyone working in corporations, government agencies, community organizations, schools, or neighborhoods where there is a need to build bridges and compromises between diverse perspectives and conflicting interests.

Nonviolent Communication: A Language Of Life
by Marshall Rosenberg ($12.21)

Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and the founder of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, an international nonprofit organization that teaches peacemaking skills across five continents, including a number of war-torn areas such as Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, the Middle East, Colombia, Serbia, Croatia, and Northern Ireland.  An enlightening look at how peaceful communication can create compassionate connections with family, friends, and other acquaintances, this book uses stories, examples, and sample dialogues to provide solutions to communication problems both at home and in the workplace. Guidance is provided on identifying and articulating feelings and needs, expressing anger fully, and exploring the power of empathy in order to speak honestly without creating hostility, break patterns of thinking that lead to anger and depression, and communicate compassionately. These nonviolent communication skills are fully explained and can be applied to personal, professional, and political differences. Included in the new edition is information on how to compassionately connect with oneself.

Peace is the Way: Bringing War & Violence To An End
Deepak Chopra ($15.64)

Noted author, Deepak Chopra contends that the deeply ingrained human habit of resorting to violence can be ended by raising the consciousness of individuals until there is a global change in awareness, similar to the shift that took place when the age of science took hold. Chopra is refreshingly honest about the way our comfort and security are ultimately the fruits of war. "The satisfaction of waging war cannot be replaced by philosophy or religion," he writes. In addition to analysis, he offers daily practices of meditation, thought and actions on behalf of others as a way to live the truth of Mahatma Gandhi's famous quote: "There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." Ultimately, however, the ego itself has to be disarmed to live the way of peace, he says: "For me as an individual to be free, I have to confront myself with questions about who I really am, and this is done in large part by examining the layers of false identity that I mistakenly call me." This is clearly harder to practice than it is to read. Still, Chopra's affirmation that "our true identity is at the level of spirit and nowhere else" has the ring of truth and so does the rest of this simple, practical, inspiring book.

Raising Children Compassionately
Marshall Rosenberg  (48p / 5.95)

Your search for parenting tips that actually improve your family dynamics is over. While other parenting resources offer communication models or discipline techniques, this powerful, practical booklet offers the unique skills and perspective of the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process. NVC stresses the importance of putting compassionate connection first to create a mutually respectful, enriching family dynamic filled with clear, heartfelt communication. An exceptional resource for parents, parent educators, families and anyone else who works with children. For over 40 years Dr. Marshall Rosenberg has taught NVC to parents, families, children and teachers. Parents around the world have used his advice to deepen family connections, move past conflicts and improve communication. His revolutionary approach helps parents motivate children to cooperate without either the threat of punishment or the promise of reward. Learn how to model compassionate communication in the home to help your children successfully resolve conflicts and express themselves clearly.

Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict & Diversity
by Arnold Mindell ($15.95)

This is a good introduction to the conflict resolution method called  "Worldwork, which is the application of Mindell's methods of Process Oriented Psychology to conflict between groups of all sizes.  It is written in very easily understandable language, and very readable.  It has interesting descriptions of conflict resolution work between several hundred people at one time, as in a town meetings where many ethnic groups in conflict are represented.  It makes large group conflict much more understandable than usual.

The Argument Culture: Moving From Debate to Dialogue
by Deborah Tannen ($10.50)

The world's most famous linguist offers a completely original analysis of the way we communicate, and a revolutionary language to live by. In her #1 bestseller You Just Don't Understand, Deborah Tannen showed why talking to someone of the opposite sex can be like talking to someone from another world. Now Tannen is back with another groundbreaking book, this time widening her lens to examine the way we communicate in public--in the media, in politics, in our courtrooms, and classrooms--once again letting us see in a new way forces that have powerfully shaped our lives. The Argument Culture is a remarkable book that will change forever the way you perceive--and communicate with--the world.

The Book Of Agreement: 10 Essential Elements For Getting The Results You Want
by Stewart Levine ($12.21)

For most people, negotiating an agreement feels adversarial. It is a process one tries to win. It is not viewed as a process that expresses a clear joint vision or a path to desired results. We have been conditioned to function in a "me vs. them" context. Creating agreements for results, rather than negotiating agreements for protection, would provide much greater benefits. The conflicts most people get into are avoidable. Conflict develops because of differing expectations about what working with others will produce. Differences arise because these expectations have not been made explicit to everyone. People fail to make their expectations explicit because they never learned how. The Book of Agreement provides a clear path through the minefields of conflict, to shared expectations.

The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution:
Preserving Relationships at Work, at Home, and in the Community
by Dudley Weeks ($10.47)

This book teaches the reader a process towards better conflict management. It is not a hard process to learn; its not an easy process to use all the time, though. That being said, I recommend this book HIGHLY, especially to anyone who is looking for ways to make their home life, work life, or community life more enriching. -- a readers review

The Unconquerable World - Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People.
by Jonathan Schell  (10.88 / 433 p)

At the outset of this lucid survey of alternatives to warfare, the author disavows the label "pacifist": he is not opposed to the use of force, but he believes that it has become an ineffective tool for achieving political ends. On this pragmatic basis, Schell builds a case for civil noncoöperation, which he argues has long played a crucial role in deciding otherwise bloody conflicts (among them the American, French, and Russian Revolutions). Showing how nonviolent action proved successful in ending apartheid in South Africa and in dismantling the Soviet bloc, Schell writes with discipline and urgency. It's disappointing, then, that, once he has persuaded us of the need for peaceful solutions, those he offers—such as shared sovereignty—seem disconnected from the realities of politics today.

You Just Don't Understand: Men & Women In Conversation
by Deborah Tannen  ($10.50)

Georgetown University linguistics professor Tannen here ponders gender-based differences that, she claims, define and distinguish male and female communication. Opening with the rationale that ignoring such differences is more dangerous than blissful, she asserts that for most women conversation is a way of connecting and negotiating. Thus, their parleys tend to center on expressions of and responses to feelings, or what the author labels "rapport-talk" (private conversation). Men, on the other hand, use conversation to achieve or maintain social status; they set out to impart knowledge (termed "report-talk," or public speaking). Calling on her research into the workings of dialogue, Tannen examines the functioning of argument and interruption, and convincingly supports her case for the existence of "genderlect," contending that the better we understand it, the better our chances of bridging the communications gap integral to the battle of the sexes.

CONSCIOUSNESS & ONTOLOGY
(Ontology: The Study Of the Nature Of Reality or Being)

Conscious Acts Of Creation
by William A. Tiller, Walter Dibble, Michael Kohane ($25.46)

This book is an “eye-opener” for both non-scientists and scientists, metaphysicians and physicians, students and teachers and all people with a real interest in how science moves our world. It concerns unactualized human capabilities, opportunities and adventures for all of us in the years ahead.  For the first time, a rigorous experimental protocol is available to allow human qualities to meaningfully alter the properties of physical materials via specific human intentions!  The experimental data portion of this book shows, via the use of IIEDs (Intention Imprinted Electrical Devices), how human intention can robustly influence physical reality with measurement amplitude changes by as much as 100 times the instrument measurement accuracy.  The described experiments deal with inorganic materials like water, in vitro organic materials like enzymes and in vitro living systems like fruit fly larvae.  This experimental data shows how after ~3 months of continued use of the IIEDs in a particular laboratory space, that space becomes “conditioned” to a higher state of physics Gauge symmetry than present in normal locales. In a “conditioned” space, human intention acts as a true thermodynamic potential to significantly influence the many chemical, electrical and biological processes of nature.

Far Journeys
by Robert Monroe ($10.17)

I have read Monroe's 3 books, and this one seems to be the most intriguing and enlightening. While his first book talks about the mechanics of Out of Body Experience ( written in the early days when he was still experimenting with it), this book talks about his Far Journeys to the outer realms of existence, out of time and space limitation, where he learns about the cycle and meaning of human existence (this will be the first time you read something like this from a rational straightforward perspective, without any religious conotations). Talks about human existence in time and space, and about existence outside of time and space. He meets a brighlty glowing enlightened being who knows everything about him (somewhat like his guide) who guides and shows him about life itself (most people who had Near Death Experience think that glowing being as their God, or Jesus, Allah, angels or whatever God they believe in, which Monroe many years later in his 3rd book 'Ultimate Journey' discovered who that glowing being truly is! You will be absolutely shocked and surprised!!)  - A readers review

God At The Speed Of Light
by Lee Baumann  ($11.66 / 178 pages)

Quantum physicists study the nature of light. The Bible speaks of light when talking about God. Near-death experiences describe going to a light that is welcoming, intelligent, and loving. Strangest of all, however, is the similarity of all these descriptions of the nature, presence, and behavior of light to descriptions of the nature of God. Could it be that light and God are one in the same? Physician Lee Baumann makes a case for exactly that. From many sources, Dr. Baumann has synthesized a compelling picture of what may be the true nature of our universe at all levels- physical, mental, and spiritual.

Ishmael: An Adventure Of The Mind & Spirit
by Daniel Quinn ($11.56)

Quinn won the Turner Tomorrow Award's half-million-dollar first prize for this fascinating and odd book--not a novel by any conventional definition--which was written 13 years ago but could not find a publisher. The unnamed narrator is a disillusioned modern writer who answers a personal ad ("Teacher seeks pupil. . . . Apply in person.") and thereby meets a wise, learned gorilla named Ishmael that can communicate telepathically. The bulk of the book consists entirely of philosophical dialogues between gorilla and man, on the model of Plato's Republic. Through Ishmael, Quinn offers a wide-ranging if highly general examination of the history of our civilization, illuminating the assumptions and philosophies at the heart of many global problems. Despite some gross oversimplifications, Quinn's ideas are fairly convincing; it's hard not to agree that unrestrained population growth and an obsession with conquest and control of the environment are among the key issues of our times. Quinn also traces these problems back to the agricultural revolution and offers a provocative rereading of the biblical stories of Genesis. Though hardly any plot to speak of lies behind this long dialogue, Quinn's smooth style and his intriguing proposals should hold the attention of readers interested in the daunting dilemmas that beset our planet.

Journeys Out Of The Body
by Robert Monroe ($10.17)

Monroe has written 3 books on O.B.E and this is the first. Written decades ago, it records his experience and findings with OBE. This book contains more details about the astral planes nearer to the vibration of the physical plane we live in physically. It does however contain other dimensions and planes which he labels "Locale 2" and "locale 3".  Monroe was a business man, and ever since he had the OBE experiences since the age of 42, he has been exploring it to find out more about it. After years of experimentation with soundwaves, he finally came up with his Hemi-Sync audios, which are able to induce OBE and altered states suitable to change habits, addictions, etc. OBE is a very subjective experience, it cannot be proven objectively unless you experience it yourself, therefore people who have never experienced it will try to reason and use logic (which is limited only to their own ignorance/knowledge). Their (the psychologist's) reasonings and logic then becomes their belief (which they will try to prove is the only correct one- hmm, isn't that what they say about people's belief system?). ---A readers review

Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives
by  Michael Newton ($10.17)

Through case studies, Michael explains the spiritual journey of life and death.  Michael is a hypnotherapist in private practice and he has developed his own hypnosis technique to reach his subjects memories of the "hereafter."  There are several details about how it feels to die, who meets us right after death, what the spirit world is really like, where we go and what we do as souls, and why we choose to come back in certain bodies.  I found the book to be enlightening as well as clearly written about topics that can be murky to understand.

Mind Into Matter: A New Alchemy Of Science & Spirit
Fred Alan Wolf ($12.71)

Fred Alan Wolf has removed another brick in the wall separating us from the realization of our true, divine nature. Even skeptical readers will grasp the line of reasoning that always accompanies Fred Alan Wolf's joyous speculative leaps. As our scientific community continues to advance our understanding of the underlying nature of things, we are also realizing the wisdom in the mystical traditions. Fred Alan Wolf is one of the best writers alive today in the area where advanced physics and mysticism converge. The Unity of all things is a fact, and we are all indeed One. Those of us who cannot accept faith as a means of navigating through the mystery that is everywhere can take heart in the primacy of experience...the experience that comes from genuine open-minded inquiry, the experience that comes from many meditative states, from intuition, sudden glimpses of clarity that we occasionally stumble into, and the experience that comes from following the mind of someone who knows more than we do.

Molecules Of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine
Candace Pert ($10.20)

Why do we feel the way we feel? How do our thoughts and emotions affect our health? Are our bodies and minds distinct from each other or do they function together as parts of an interconnected system?  In her groundbreaking book Molecules of Emotion, Candace Pert provides startling and decisive answers to these and other challenging questions that scientists and philosophers have pondered for centuries.  Her pioneering research on how the chemicals inside our bodies form a dynamic information network, linking mind and body, is not only provocative, it is revolutionary. By establishing the biomolecular basis for our emotions and explaining these new scientific developments in a clear and accessible way, Pert empowers us to understand ourselves, our feelings, and the connection between our minds and our bodies -- body-minds -- in ways we could never possibly have imagined before.  Molecules of Emotion is a landmark work, full of insight and wisdom and possessing that rare power to change the way we see the world and ourselves.

Mysticism & The New Physics
by Michael Talbot ($11.16)

Mystics and "idealist" have always propounded the idea that the world is an illusion. Now quantum physics is putting forward theories that reinforce this belief. Until recently, the empirical approach of physicists such as Newton has taught us that the world exists with or without human consciousness to observe it. But we can never be totally objective about reality. The human mind, with all its preconceived notions, and prejudices, always intrudes, even in the most scientific of experiments, making true objectivity impossible to achieve. The new physics state that reality is combination of the laws of the physical world, quantifiable and unequivocable, and the subjective viewpoint of the observer. This "omnijective view" of the universe challenges all our most deeply held scientific beliefs and could radically change the way we view reality in the future. As our constructs are amended to this shift in approach, we can anticipate monumental changes in Western thought.

Otherwhere:  A Field Guide To Nonphysical Reality For the Out-Of-Body Traveler

Kurt Leland ($10.46)

You may not be planning a trip to Otherwhere, but you may want to visit soon after reading Kurt Leland's dazzling and unique field guide to its inhabitants and terrain. According to Leland, Otherwhere is the nonphysical reality that many of us explore in our dreams and visions. It is also the realm to which we venture in our out-of-body journeys and near-death experiences.  To Leland, the trickiest part of otherworldly travel is correctly identifying the phenomena we encounter. Astral images, he says, take shapes that vary according to our pesonal experience and cultural background. As an aid to fellow travelers, Leland presents "translation tables" that categorize nonphysical energies by function rather than form--Rescuers, Instructors, and Rangers, to name a few. Drawn from different cultural expressions, these tables provide a fascinating explanantion of the many different ways in which human beings perceive the spiritual worlds.  A seasoned out-of-body traveler, Leland is an otherworld tour guide extraordinaire. Illustrating his travelogue with examples from his own adventures, he escorts readers to various points of interest in Otherwhere. These include designated realms where you can explore alternate realities--play out the results of different 'what ifs' in your current life, paths you never took, but might have. Another memorable stop on Leland's tour is the living archives, a depository of vanished cultures, abandoned religions, and outmoded myths. With Leland's thoroughly engaging guidebook in hand, travelling to Otherwhere will be an adventure you are sure to enjoy.

Parallel Universes
Fred Alan Wolf ($10.50)

Wolf's readers should get ready for a wild intellectual ride through the convoluted realms of quantum mechanics, relativity, black holes and imaginary time. The physicist (Starwave ) is a strong proponent of the "many-worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics, and he launches a ferocious assault on conservative scientists who espouse the "Copenhagen" interpretation. Essentially, the debate hinges on the role of consciousness in measuring quantum events: Copenhagenists argue that a quantum measurement causes the "collapse" of a particle's probability wave, while Wolf claims the act of measuring actually causes the universe to split in two. The equations of relativity and quantum physics support both interpretations. Wolf describes what it would be like to travel through a black hole to a parallel universe; claims that the future must communicate with the present; answers the question of whether the universe had a radius before we started to measure it; and argues that schizophrenics may be in touch with parallel universes. Physics is becoming metaphysics.

Projections Of Consciousness: A Diary Of Out-Of-Body Experiences
by Waldo Vieira, MD ($10.16)

Dr. Waldo Vieira had his first lucid out-of-body experience in 1941 at the age of 9. He retired from medical practice at a young age and has spent the last 30+ years full time researching consciousness in general and out-of-body experiences in particular. He is therefore perhaps the top authority in the world on this phenomenon....  This is a fascinating book and a 'must read' for anyone interested in the out-of-body phenomenon.  Projections of the Consciousness presents 60 of Dr. Vieira's most varied and instructive out-of-body experiences (OBEs or astral projections) with candid realism. He relates events in non-physical communities, the profiles of which include: education; assistance in the transition of biological death; therapies for physical and non-physical dysfunctions; non-physical preparation for upcoming physical existence; non-physical preparation for physical motherhood. His out-of-body encounters range from those involving assistance given to "earth-bound" non-physical consciousnesses (spirits) and extraphysical rescues, to attainment of a total expansion of consciousness (nirvana, cosmic consciousness) and transcendence of the space-time continuum. He also illustrates the dynamics of OBE as a function of being projected in different physical and non-physical dimensions and communities in varying conditions. The author has been having lucid out-of-body experiences on a continuous basis since the age of 9. Projections of the Consciousness is a result of his projective prowess, the work of the extraphysical helpers, as well as a near-death experience he had in the early 1970s.

Primary Perception: Communication With Plants, Living Foods & Human Cells
by Cleve Backster ($13.56)

This is the only book by Cleve Backster himself, describing 36 years of research in biocommunication, observed electrical responses in plant life and other living organisms. All life forms have the capability of responding to one another, from plants and bacteria to foods and animal cells. Most amazing is his work with human leukocytes. These discoveries have opened up a new paradigm in science, ecology and healing.

Quantum Reality
by Nick Herbert ($10.46)

This clearly explained layman's introduction to quantum physics is an accessible excursion into metaphysics and the meaning of reality. Herbert exposes the quantum world and the scientific and philosophical controversy about its interpretation.  

Sanctuary, The Path To Consciousness
by Stephen Lewis and Evan Slawson ($10.47)

More than half a century after Einstein first described the energetic unity of the world in his famous equation, E=mc2, we are finally beginning to understand the spiritual and mystical implications of his discovery. Sanctuary: The Path to Consciousness is about the miraculous possibilities that emerge when we see the universe as a matrix of frozen light, the spiritual manifestation of our intuitive consciousnesses.  In this remarkable novel, you will find a new energetic model of the body, the spirit, and the nature of the physical world. It points the way to unlimited possibilities of absolute, eternal transformation, and you will find out that it is readily available now! After reading this book, you too can take advantage of the techniques of energetic Quantum-Consciousness Evaluation, and be able to identify and remove subtle-energy imbalances to attain and integrate physical, emotional, and spiritual harmony!

The Biology Of Belief:
Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter And Miracles
by Bruce H. Lipton  ($16.50 /224 p)

The Biology of Belief is a groundbreaking work in the field of New Biology. Author Dr. Bruce Lipton is a former medical school professor and research scientist. His experiments, and those of other leading-edge scientists, have examined in great detail the processes by which cells receive information. The implications of this research radically change our understanding of life. It shows that genes and DNA do not control our biology; that instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our positive and negative thoughts. Dr. Lipton's profoundly hopeful synthesis of the latest and best research in cell biology and quantum physics is being hailed as a major breakthrough showing that our bodies can be changed as we retrain our thinking.

The Conscious Universe:  The Scientific Truth Of Psychic Phenomena
Dean Radin ($16.50)

Holding up such anomalies as ESP, psychokinesis, prayer, near-death experiences, and reincarnation under the cool light of scientific scrutiny can be a daunting task. Dean Radin, director of the Consciousness Research Laboratory at the University of Nevada, rises to the challenge in the pioneering and exhaustively researched The Conscious Universe. Fans of The X-Files will need no further convincing, but for the remaining skeptics, this easy-to-read mix of history, scientific evidence, and proclamations ("When modern science began about three hundred years ago, one of the consequences of separating mind and matter was that science slowly lost its mind.") will authenticate the existence of psychic phenomena. Radin creates two categories: the perceiving of objects or events beyond our ordinary sense capabilities and the triggering or influencing of action through mental powers. Radin aims to present simply and clearly the basic elements from science, psychology, and physics that prove the existence psychic phenomena. Given the tacit acceptance of psychic phenomena as "real," why do both government and mainstream science repudiate the claims and the evidence, yet continue to exploit them?  The Conscious Universe challenges our most basic assumptions about reality, those that exist in both the upper echelons of science and in the basic daily interactions. It’s a mind-bending exploration of how and what we see.

The Dancing Wu Li Masters
by Gary Zukav ($6.75)

Gary Zukav has written "the Bible" for those who are curious about the mind-expanding discoveries of advanced physics, but who have no scientific background. Like a Wu Li Master who would teach us wonder for the falling petal before speaking of gravity, Zukav writes in beautifully clear language--with no mathematical equations--opening our minds to the exciting new theories that are beginning to embrace the ultimate nature of our universe...Quantum mechanics, relativity, and beyond to the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen effect and Bell's theorem.

The Field: The Quest For The Secret Force Of The Universe
by Lynne McTaggart ($11.16)

McTaggart, an investigative journalist, describes scientific discoveries that she believes point to a unifying concept of the universe, one that reconciles mind with matter, classic Newtonian science with quantum physics and, most importantly, science with religion. At issue is the zero point field, the so-called "dead space" of microscopic vibrations in outer space as well as within and between physical objects on earth. These fields, McTaggart asserts, are a "cobweb of energy exchange" that link everything in the universe; they control everything from cellular communication to the workings of the mind, and they could be harnessed for unlimited propulsion fuel, levitation, ESP, spiritual healing and more. Physicists have been aware of the likelihood of this field for years, McTaggart writes, but, constrained by orthodoxy, they have ignored its effects, which she likens to "subtracting out God" from their equations. But, McTaggart asserts, "tiny pockets of quiet rebellion" against scientific convention are emerging, led by Ed Mitchell, an Apollo 14 astronaut and founder of the Institute for Noetic Sciences, an alternative-science think tank.

The God Code: The Secret of Our Past, the Promise of Our Future
by Gregg Braden ($16.47)

Author and computer systems designer Gregg Braden wrapped this entire book around the premise that God's name is literally encoded into every human body. According to Braden's logic, the basic elements of DNA--hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon--directly translate into specific letters of the Hebrew alphabets (YHVA), which then translate into the original name of God. Braden's hope is that knowing that God's signature is carried within each cell of the estimated six billion humans on earth will give humankind the evidence we need to overcome our differences and renew our faith:  Beyond Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Native, Aboriginal, white, black, red, or yellow; man, woman, or child, the message reminds us that we are human. As humans, we share the same ancestors and exist as the children of the same Creator. In the moments that we doubt this one immutable truth, we need look no further than the cells of our body to be reminded. This is the power of the message within our cells.

The Hidden Messages of Water
by Masaru Emoto ($11.87)

The Hidden Messages in Water is an eye-opening theory showing how water is deeply connected to people's individual and collective consciousness. Drawing from his own research, scientific researcher, healer, and popular lecturer Dr. Masaru Emoto describes the ability of water to absorb, hold, and even retransmit human feelings and emotions. Using high-speed photography, he found that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward it. Music, visual images, words written on paper, and photographs also have an impact on the crystal structure. Emoto theorizes that since water has the ability to receive a wide range of frequencies, it can also reflect the universe in this manner. He found that water from clear springs and water exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns, while polluted water and water exposed to negative thoughts forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors. Emoto believes that since people are 70 percent water, and the Earth is 70 percent water, we can heal our planet and ourselves by consciously expressing love and goodwill.

The Holographic Universe
Michael Talbot ($11.20)

Today nearly everyone is familiar with holograms, three-dimensional images projected into space with the aid of a laser. Now, two of the world's most eminent thinkers -- University of London physicists David Bohm, a former protege of Einstein's and one of the world's most respected quantum physicists, and Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, one of the architects of our modern understanding of the brain -- believe that the universe itself may be a giant hologram, quite literally a kind of image or construct created, at least in part, by the human mind. This remarkable new way of looking at the universe explains now only many of the unsolved puzzles of physics, but also such mysterious occurrences as telepathy, out-of-body and near death experiences, "lucid" dreams, and even religious and mystical experiences such as feelings of cosmic unity and miraculous healings.  Author Talbot writes that ". . . there is evidence to suggest that our world and everything in it. . . are also only ghostly images, projections from a level of reality so beyond our own it is literally beyond both space and time." Hence, the title of his book. Beginning with the work of physicist David Bohm and neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, both of whom independently arrived at holographic theories or models of the universe, Talbot explains in clear terms the theory and physics of holography and its application, both in science and in explanation of the paranormal and psychic. His theory of reality accommodates this latest thinking in physics as well as many unresolved mind-body questions.

The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts To Change Your Life & The World
Lynne Taggart  ($17.16 / 32 pages) 

 The book you hold in your hands is revolutionary, a groundbreaking exploration of the science of intention. It is also the first book to invite you, the reader, to take an active part in its original research. Drawing on the findings of leading scientists on human consciousness from around the world, The Intention Experiment demonstrates that thought is a thing that affects other things. Thought generates its own palpable energy that you can use to improve your life, to help others around you, and to change the world.

The Intention Experiment builds on the discoveries of McTaggart's first book, international bestseller The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe, which documented discoveries that point to the existence of a quantum energy field. The Field created a picture of an interconnected universe and a scientific explanation for many of the most profound human mysteries, from alternative medicine and spiritual healing to extrasensory perception and the collective unconscious. The Intention Experiment shows you myriad ways that all this information can be incorporated into your life.

The Intention Experiment redefines what a book does. It is the first "living" book in three dimensions. The book's text and website are inextricably linked, forming the hub of an entirely self-funded research program, the ultimate aim of which is philanthropic. An original piece of scientific investigation that involves the reader in its quest, The Intention Experiment explores human thought and intention as a tangible energy -- an inexhaustible but simple resource with an awesome potential to focus our lives, heal our illnesses, clean up our communities, and improve the planet.

The Intention Experiment also forces you to rethink what it is to be human. As it proves, we're connected to everyone and everything, and that discovery demands that we pay better attention to our thoughts, intentions, and actions. Here's how you can. 

The Nature Of Personal Reality
by Jane Roberts ($12.21)

Nothing is quite the intellectual work piece and spiritual all-comprehensive-foundation that this book is. Nothing is more empowering, more logical, more hopeful, more eclectic and more straight forward than The Nature of Personal Reality - this book is just what its title says. It is the prerequisite for a functional self-empowered life. Including health, wealth, etc.

The Outsider
by Colin Wilson ($10.46)

An attempt by the author to get behind the expressions of what he terms outsiders, but in reality are people who attempt to break free from society's constraints and illusions. Rather like the attempt to transform one's life from a catarpillar into a butterfly. Where most people never get beyond the catarpillar stage. Explains the real struggle of those who can no longer accept deception and attempt to seek personal unification, revealing what many great works of art, poetry, and literature attempt to express. The Outsider is the visionary beneficiary when he/she succeeds, but a terrible burden if he/she fails. What the Outsider brings is transcendence from ordinary existence and ultimately is the supreme paragon, and the prophet. Primarily a literative study, with a discussion of such as H.G. Wells, Hemmingway, Dostoevsky, and Tosltoy, it also studies others such as Van Gogh and T.E. Lawrence, and the usual philosophers Nietzsche and Kierkagaard. The message is that prophets, who are those who understand the unpleasant truth for the good of all, are also the most persecuted and misunderstood. It occurred to me that this may have provided philosophical source material for the explosive 60's TV series "The Prisoner". Four stars because it's not for everyone. ---A Readers Review

The Secret
by Rhonda Byrne ($14.37 / 216 pages)

 Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it. In this book, you'll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life -- money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You'll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that's within you, and this revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life.

The Seth Material
by Jane Roberts ($13.57)

I read the Seth Material in the early to mid 70's and the chords it struck within my being still resonate today. I have used the lessons learned in this book in my daily life and I am able to love my life because of the understanding I gained from this book. There are lessons to be learned by not only reading this book, but by comprehending the information that is being given on these pages. The lessons mostly concern how you fit into this fabric of life and how you can utilize your own depth of character to propel you towards greatness in your personal life. Actual mechanics of how all of us have come to be here. How and why we CAN change everything in our lives to suit our desires, and why most of us don't. Even the subtle and always overlooked affect of linguistics in the creation of our physical reality.  Information contained within this book is the best it gets as far as detailing all actions and reactions to situations in your life. The best way to describe this book is as a technical manual of cause and affect. -- Review by a reader

The Self Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates The Material World
by Maggie Goswami, Richard Reed, Amit Goswami ($11.17)

Consciousness, not matter, is the ground of all existence, declares University of Oregon physicist Goswami, echoing the mystic sages of his native India. He holds that the universe is self-aware, and that consciousness creates the physical world. Calling this theory "monistic idealism," he claims it is not only "the basis of all religions worldwide" but also the correct philosophy for modern science. Once people give up the assumption that there is an objective reality independent of consciousness, the paradoxes of quantum physics are explainable, contends Goswami, writing with his wife and Reed ( Building the Future from Our Past ). He also applies his hypothesis to the so-called mind-body schism, which he attempts to heal. Sketching a model of the self, this demanding but rewarding treatise uses analogies from the "new physics" to throw light on choice, free will, creativity, the unconscious and paths to spiritual growth. Illustrated.

The Spell of the Sensuous
by David Abram ($10.17)

David Abram's writing casts a spell of its own as he weaves the reader through a meticulously researched work that gently addresses such seemingly daunting topics as where the past and future exist, the relationship between space and time, and how the written word serves to sever humans from their primordial source of sustenance: the earth. "Only as the written text began to speak would the voices of the forest, and of the river, begin to fade. And only then would language loosen its ancient associations with the invisible breath, the spirit sever itself from the wind, the psyche dissociate itself from the environing air," writes Abram of the separation caused by the proliferation of the written word.

The Spiritual Universe:  One Physicists Vision of Spirit, Soul, Matter & Self
Fred Alan Wolf ($15.26)

Why do we believe in the soul? Does it actually exist? If so, what is it? Does it differ from the self? Is it part of the material world? Does it survive the body after death?  In THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE, Fred Alan Wolf brings the most modern perspective of quantum physics to the most ancient questions of religion and philosophy. Taking the reader on a fascinating tour of both Western and Eastern thought, Wolf explains the differing view of the soul in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and St. Thomas; the ancient Egyptian’s believe in the nine forms of the soul; the Qabalistic idea of the soul acting in secret to bring spiritual order to a chaotic universe of matter and energy; and the Buddhist vision of a “nonsoul.” And, Wolf mounts a defense of the soul against its modern critics who see it as nothing more than the physical body.

The Tao Of Physics
by Fritjof Capra ($10.85)

First published in 1975, The Tao of Physics rode the wave of fascination in exotic East Asian philosophies. Decades later, it still stands up to scrutiny, explicating not only Eastern philosophies but also how modern physics forces us into conceptions that have remarkable parallels. Covering over 3,000 years of widely divergent traditions across Asia, Capra can't help but blur lines in his generalizations. But the big picture is enough to see the value in them of experiential knowledge, the limits of objectivity, the absence of foundational matter, the interrelation of all things and events, and the fact that process is primary, not things. Capra finds the same notions in modern physics. Those approaching Eastern thought from a background of Western science will find reliable introductions here to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism and learn how commonalities among these systems of thought can offer a sort of philosophical underpinning for modern science. And those approaching modern physics from a background in Eastern mysticism will find precise yet comprehensible descriptions of a Western science that may reinvigorate a hope in the positive potential of scientific knowledge. Whatever your background, The Tao of Physics is a brilliant essay on the meeting of East and West, and on the invaluable possibilities that such a union promises.

The Turning Point: Science, Society And The Rising Culture
by Fritjof Capra ($12.89)

Many years in the making, this book covers a very wide spectrum of knowledge and looks toward a world view that encompasses a balance of science and spirit. Capra is also not shy about deconstructing or critisizing popular economic and political mythology, which may disturb some readers, but he has the benefit of input from some of the greatest minds of our time and his analysis is unassailable. Female readers will probably appreciate his sensitivity and balanced approach to feminist perspectives as he discusses what's wrong with our world and what we can do to change things.

The View from Nowhere
by Thomas Nagel ($21.95)

Human beings have the unique ability to view the world in a detached way: We can think about the world in terms that transcend our own experience or interest, and consider the world from a vantage point that is, in Nagel's words, "nowhere in particular". At the same time, each of us is a particular person in a particular place, each with his own "personal" view of the world, a view that we can recognize as just one aspect of the whole. How do we reconcile these two standpoints--intellectually, morally, and practically? To what extent are they irreconcilable and to what extent can they be integrated? Thomas Nagel's ambitious and lively book tackles this fundamental issue, arguing that our divided nature is the root of a whole range of philosophical problems, touching, as it does, every aspect of human life. He deals with its manifestations in such fields of philosophy as: the mind-body problem, personal identity, knowledge and skepticism, thought and reality, free will, ethics, the relation between moral and other values, the meaning of life, and death. Excessive objectification has been a malady of recent analytic philosophy, claims Nagel, it has led to implausible forms of reductionism in the philosophy of mind and elsewhere. The solution is not to inhibit the objectifying impulse, but to insist that it learn to live alongside the internal perspectives that cannot be either discarded or objectified. Reconciliation between the two standpoints, in the end, is not always possible.

Thinking Allowed: Conversations on the Leading Edge Of Knowledge
by Jeffery Mishlove ($16.95)

Information in this book ranges from quantum physics and the human shift in consciousness, the transformations of human evolutionary growth, ancient societies and lost metaphysical properties useful in our day, evolution of the human potential in addition to our physical bodies, our brains acting as tuners to morphic-information fields as opposed to information storage, the Platonic concept of ideas of a higher realm then our ordinary conceptual thinking, the metaphorical nature of mythology and its applications to universal modern day physics, how we exist in a middle world capable of transcending to higher realms in regard to scientific quantity to spiritual quality, to teleological and spiritual concepts of higher purposes in a harmony of science and religion, to the idea of hyperspace and multidimensional reality or realms with superstring and fiber bundle theories in physics, to the beneficial properties of existential psychology and the creativity that is born out of despair, to recognition of ourselves as good who make both good and bad decisions to cease imprisoning ourselves with demands that act self-defeating, to open communication, the recognition of unconscious communication and our ability to speak to others in ways less negative conveying our messages, to walking with people in existential subjectivity apart from Freudian scientific objectivity. The recognition of our multiple personalities we must stop disowning but rather acknowledge and use in controlled, meaningful ways. To see in transpersonal psychology a interdependence that transcends the separate dependence and angst or anxiety in existential psychology.

Your Faith is Your Fortune
by Neville   ($9.95)

According to Neville we are creators of our own lives. It matters not what other people do or think. Consciousness is the one and only creator of circumstances. Plus we can not be affected by the consciousness of others. We are in total control of our lives at all times.  We manifest our desires instantly via our imaginations at our source; the spiritual level. So we control how we Feel at all times. When we are making a change in our life it usually has to do with wanting to change how we feel. So by living from our desired states as Neville proposes, we can control how we feel at all times and that is very important. It just takes a certain amount of time for our imagined states to affect the lower level

ECOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY

Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists Are Fueling The Climate Crisis - And What We Can Do To Avert Disaster
by Ross Gelbspan ($14.96)

In Boiling Point, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan argues that, unchecked, climate change will swamp every other issue facing us today. Indeed, what began as an initial response of many institutions-denial and delay-has now grown into a crime against humanity. Gelbspan's previous book, The Heat Is On, exposed the financing of climate-change skeptics by the oil and coal companies. In Boiling Point, he reveals exactly how the fossil fuel industry is directing the Bush administration's energy and climate policies - payback for helping Bush get elected. Even more surprisingly, Gelbspan points a finger at both the media and environmental activists for unwittingly worsening the crisis. Finally, he offers a concrete plan for averting a full-blown climate catastrophe.  According to Gelbspan, a proper approach to climate change could solve many other problems in our social, political, and economic lives. It would dramatically reduce our reliance on oil, and with it our exposure to instability in the Middle East. It would create millions of jobs and raise living standards in poor countries whose populations are affected by climate-driven disease epidemics and whose borders are overrun by environmental refugees. It would also expand the global economy and lead to a far wealthier and more peaceful world. A passionate call-to-arms and a thoughtful roadmap for change, Boiling Point reveals what's at stake for our fragile planet  

Ecological Medicine
by Kenny Ausubel ($11.53)

Drawn largely from luminous presentations given at the annual Bioneers Conference, this pathfinding book--the first in a new Bioneers Series published by Sierra Club Books--focuses on pragmatic solutions emerging at the fertile edges between the overlapping worlds of environmental restoration and holistic healing. In this kaleidoscopic collection, many of the world's leading health visionaries show us how human health is inescapably dependent on the health of our environment. The rich array of voices in this book reflects the collective intelligence of the emerging movement known as Ecological Medicine. Its advocates look to the strategic public health measures that first do no harm to the environment and, in turn, successfully improve human health. They call for prevention and precaution as the first line of action. They seek to heal the tragic split that conventional medicine made from nature and to conjure nature's own mysterious capacity for self-repair. They celebrate the virtues of ancient natural-medicine practices but also embrace an integrative medicine that uses the best of all approaches to healing--with special emphasis on the centrality of the human spirit in the healing process. Their inspiring work, described so compellingly in this book, is of critical relevance to everyone concerned about health and the environment.

Eco-Economy: Building An Economy For The Earth
by Lester R. Brown ($10.85)

Eco-economic theory calls for harmony between our economy and natural resources. Our current, untenable, profit-focused economic model, says Brown (Building a Sustainable Society), depletes forests, oil, farmland, topsoil, water, atmosphere and species beyond a sustainable level. Brown, founding director of the Earth Policy Institute, uses the Sumerians as an antimodel: as the land was overworked, water sources eventually disappeared. And he uses forestry as a counterexample: forests secure land and store water, acting as natural dams. Logging delivers paychecks, but doesn't consider flood damage from tree loss. Eco-economists would say that the logger and the town, while temporarily profiting, pay more in the end in rising insurance costs, flood damage to homes and infrastructure, increased taxes and disaster relief funds. The goal, presented here in convincing detail, is to design a profitable economy that accurately reflects the social cost of abuse of resources. Brown suggests shifting "taxes from income to environmentally destructive activities, such as carbon emissions." Individuals and towns should receive tax breaks for deploying solar and wind-generated power. However receptive to Brown's excellent, sophisticated proposals, many readers will wonder how they can become reality; for eco-economics to work, all world leaders would need to agree on what makes practices environmentally unsound. (Nov. 5)Forecast: In light of the current administration's poor reputation for eco-concern and its withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, Brown's book will do well among students, activists and the growing environmental movement.

High Tide: The Truth About Our Climate Crisis
by Mark Lynas ($10.50)

"President Bush and his Administration have risen to the global warming challenge with responses ranging from obfuscation to pretense to outright denial...I'd like to issue each and every one of them a challenge. Come with me--see what I have seen--and try to understand what global warming really means for us and for our children. Leave Washington and travel to the places I have visited..."--From the Preface  A glacier disappears high in the Peruvian Andes. Floodwaters surge across the English countryside. Ten thousand Pacific Islanders begin to evacuate their homeland. A dust storm turns day into night across the Inner Mongolian plains. These events may seem unrelated, but they are not. Even as scientists and other experts debate the specifics, climate crisis is already affecting the lives of millions. In this ground-breaking book, Mark Lynas reveals the first evidence--collected during an epic three-year journey across five continents--about how global warming is hitting people's lives all around the world. From American hurricane chasers to Mongolian herders, from Alaskan Eskimos to South Sea islanders, Lynas's encounters and discoveries give us a stark warning about the even worse dangers that lie ahead if nothing is done. High Tide's message is urgent and its revelations are at once shocking and inspiring--shocking as so few of us yet realize the magnitude of what’s happening, and inspiring as there is still time to avert much greater catastrophe. No one who reads this book will be able to look their children in the eyes and say "I didn’t know."

Limits To Growth: The 30 Year Update
by Donella H. meadows, Jorgen Randers & Dennis L. Meadows ($15.75)

Updated for the second time since 1992, this book, by a trio of professors and systems analysts, offers a pessimistic view of the natural resources available for the world's population. Using extensive computer models based on population, food production, pollution and other data, the authors demonstrate why the world is in a potentially dangerous "overshoot" situation. Put simply, overshoot means people have been steadily using up more of the Earth's resources without replenishing its supplies. The consequences, according to the authors, may be catastrophic: "We... believe that if a profound correction is not made soon, a crash of some sort is certain. And it will occur within the lifetimes of many who are alive today." After explaining overshoot, the book discusses population and industrial growth, the limits on available resources, pollution, technology and, importantly, ways to avoid overshoot. The authors do an excellent job of summarizing their extensive research with clear writing and helpful charts illustrating trends in food consumption, population increases, grain production, etc., in a serious tome likely to appeal to environmentalists, government employees and public policy experts.

Nature's Operating Instructions
by Kenny Ausubel ($11.53)

"Biotechnology" as generally understood is a misnomer, having less to do with biology than with generating profits from genetic manipulation. The corporatizing of genetic science is just the latest risky manifestation of a dysfunctional industrial paradigm based on consuming natural capital and producing toxic waste - an economic model totally at odds with the evolutionary intelligence of living systems. But there is another way. The "true biotechnologies" described in this second volume in the Bioneers series, are working strategies grounded in the innate complexity, relatedness, and sustainability of natural ecosystems. The contributors to this volume are visionary leaders in fields such as biomimicry (mimicking nature in order to restore nature and serve human ends harmlessly), "living machines" that break down toxics biologically, natural design for industrial processes and buildings, and the restoration of natural capital. Their guiding principles include diversity, kinship, symbiosis, reciprocity, and community. These brilliant innovators illuminate a future environment of hope by "wedding human ingenuity with the wisdom of the wild," as contributor John Todd puts it. Human beings are a keystone species with an essential role to play in the ecological well-being of our world; we are only just learning how to go about it. Sector by sector-from energy and agriculture to transportation, industrial production, and land management-the true biotechnologies described here show how nature has already orchestrated a symphony of intelligent design that we can emulate and adapt, to the benefit of humanity and all life on Earth.

One With Nineveh:  Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future
by Paul R. Ehrlich & Anne H. Ehrlich ($17.01)

The Ehrlichs' provocative and eminently readable look at current environmental trends takes its title from Rudyard Kipling's poem "Recessional," which contrasts the pomp of the 19th-century British empire to the faded glory of Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian empire. The Ehrlichs (Betrayal of Science and Reason), both members of Stanford's department of biological sciences, look at the global problems of overpopulation, overconsumption, and political and economic inequity that threaten to make the world into a new fallen Nineveh. Each of the book's nine chapters analyzes one area in detail (using current research in ecology, demographics, migration, economics, biodiversity, ethics, climate, politics and globalization) and then suggests measures "that might allow humanity in general, and the world's sole remaining superpower in particular, to alter course and work towards achieving a sustainable world." The prognosis is sometimes depressing: about three-fifths of all important oceanic fish stock has been seriously depleted since 1994; today's global population of six billion is about three times what Ehrlich considers to be the "optimal" number for the world; profligate consumption threatens to use up nonrenewable natural resources such as oil while governments inhibit the development of renewable sources such as solar power. The current Bush administration is the target of cogent criticism about how it has aided a culture "dominated by short-term greed," but Europe and various Third World countries receive their share of criticism as well. A concluding section embraces the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. to argue that idealism and individual action can still save the world from massive environmental disaster. Although wide-reaching in range, this is a direct and levelheaded presentation that should get, and deserves, wide readership.

Plan B: Rescuing A Planet Under Stress & A Civilization In Trouble
by Lester R. Brown ($18.85)

Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute, believes that "we can build an economy that does not destroy its natural support systems, a global community where the basic needs of all the earth's people are satisfied, and a world that will allow us to think of ourselves as civilized." Brown (Eco-Economy) backs up his argument with clear and well-reasoned text that outlines how to solve the world's severe environmental problems. According to Brown, the earth's populations are currently living in a bubble economy based on reckless consumption of natural resources. Because of water shortages, soil erosion and rising temperatures, grain production has seriously fallen off. If this situation continues, especially in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent, hunger and disease will prevail and lead to disastrous consequences for the entire world. Drawing on careful research, Brown outlines the details of Plan B, a committed global cooperative effort to raise water and land productivity, cut carbon emissions and stabilize population growth before time runs out. He provides many individual success stories, such as the Netherlands' embrace of the bicycle for transportation instead of the environmentally poisonous automobile. Since 1989, Iran has cut its spiraling population growth through education and access to contraception. In this measured plea, Brown points out that for Plan B to be adopted worldwide, it desperately needs the leadership of the U.S., as the wealthiest nation on earth, to change its focus and resources from a military presence to one that fosters a global economy that will sustain generations to come.

Plan B.2.0 - Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble
by Lester Brown  (11.53 /  352 pages)

Tension between alarmism and optimism fuels this stimulating treatise on green development, an update of the 2003 edition. Earth Policy Institute president Brown (Who Will Feed China?) surveys the worldwide environmental devastation wrought by breakneck industrialization and the heedless, auto-centric, "throwaway economy": oil and water shortages, pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, collapsing fisheries, mass extinctions, looming famine and pestilence-and he hasn't even gotten to global warming yet. Fortunately, Brown says, "all the problems we face can be dealt with using existing technologies," at a manageable cost. He spends most of the book touting advances in sustainable agriculture, wildlife and resource conservation, renewable energy, hyper-efficient cars, mass transit and appliances, and recycling (a waterless, composting toilet that produces "essentially odorless" humus, for instance). He totals it all up in a $161 billion yearly budget and adds a prescription for environmental taxes-on everything from gasoline to garbage-to steer the economy toward eco-friendliness. Brown wants to reform and humanize, not abolish, industrial modernity, and keeps the focus on practical, tested measures. He sprinkles many intriguing facts and figures, but they are presented selectively and unsystematically (price data on renewable energy sources, in particular, is inadequate and misleading); his somewhat boosterish approach lacks the meticulous cost-benefit analyses the subject cries out for. But while the book doesn't offer the last word on sustainable economic development, its can-do spirit and lucid exposition of promising proposals make it a good starting point for discussion of this all-important issue.

State Of The World 2004
by  Brian Halweil, et al ($11.87)

In State of the World 2004, the Worldwatch Institute's award-winning research team focuses on consumption, pointing to the many ways in which our consumption habits drive ecological and social deterioration, as well as how these habits can be redirected to reinforce environmental and social goals. As always, State of the World 2004 provides government officials, journalists, professors, students, and concerned citizens with a comprehensive analysis of the global environmental problems we face along with detailed descriptions of practical, innovative solutions—like charting the most environmentally sound path to a hydrogen-fueled economy, or accelerating the rapidly growing conversion of farmers worldwide to organic farming and sustainable agriculture.  Written in clear and concise language, with easy-to-read charts and tables, State of the World 2004 presents a view of our changing world that we, and our leaders, cannot afford to ignore.

The Last Hours Of Ancient Sunlight
Thom Hartman ( $10.47)

While everything appears to be collapsing around us -- ecodamage, genetic engineering, virulent diseases, the end of cheap oil, water shortages, global famine, wars -- we can still do something about it and create a world that will work for us and for our children’s children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio’s web movie Global Warning, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight details what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture’s blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem. Thom Hartmann’s comprehensive book, originally published in 1998, has become one of the fundamental handbooks of the environmental activist movement. Now, with fresh, updated material and a focus on political activism and its effect on corporate behavior, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight helps us understand--and heal--our relationship to the world, to each other, and to our natural resources.

ECONOMICS

Building a Win Win World: Life Beyond Global Economic Warfare
Hazel Henderson ($19.95)

World-renowned futurist Hazel Henderson extends her twenty-five years of work in economics to examine the havoc the current economic system is creating at the global level. Building a Win-Win World examines how jobs, education, health care, human rights, democratic participation, socially responsible business, and environmental protection are all sacrificed to "global competitiveness" and outlines a new economic architecture based on positive, sustainable systems.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
by John Perkins ($15.72)

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man reveals a game that, according to John Perkins, is "as old as Empire" but has taken on new and terrifying dimensions in an era of globalization. And Perkins should know. For many years he worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to convince LDCs (less developed countries) around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money ended up at Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and construction companies. This book, which many people warned Perkins not to write, is a blistering attack on a little-known phenomenon that has had dire consequences on both the victimized countries and the U.S.

Gaian Democracies
by Roy Madron and John Jopling  ($10.17)

"Gian Democracies" is a powerful book. It explains and questions our need for perpetual economic growth-that over time can only lead to ecological disaster. It explains why our present economic system depends on such growth in order to provide jobs and keep our economy going. Our present economic system, fulfills the needs and desires of transnational corporations at the expense to the rest of us. It feasts upon the environment. The authors suggest changing our economic and governing system to a Gaian Democracy which would better meet the needs of individuals and be compatible with our planet. It suggests ways we can move in this direction. This is a good book. It should be widely read, and if taken seriously, could help turn us in the right direction for a sustainable future. ---review by a reader

Goodbye America!  Globalization, Debt & The Dollar Empire
by Mike Rowbotham ($22.50)

The injustice of Third World debt is exposed in this incisive and penetrating work by the brilliant author of The Grip of Death.  He warns that the Third World debt trap is an extreme case of the same debt trap that all working families face in our own economies.  You may think Third World debt is a distant problem for distant lands. Think again. This book shows that the mechanisms pushing the Third World into permanent poverty are the same as those that are deferring your retirement and pushing your children into permanent debt with no hope of escape. Like docile frogs slowly being boiled alive, we are slowly being impoverished by the major banking institutions we trust. This book shows how.

Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender
by Thomas H. Greco Jr. ($13.57)

Cash. Loot. Scratch. Lucre. Bread. Coin. Scrip. Moolah. Green. We all think we know intuitively what money is, and what it can do for us. Tom Greco, director of the Community Information Resource Center, understands and explains money on an eye-popping, fundamental level. Moreover, he provides a roadmap on how to make alternatives to the "legal tender" work for individuals, communities, and local economies.  Money will set your mental gears spinning with fantastic ideas. This book explains the mysteries and realities of money in clear and accessible prose, and reveals the true workings, and alarming fragility, of our existing financial system. It also describes concrete and realistic actions that individuals, businesses, social service agencies, and governments can take to enhance productivity and purchasing power, to protect local economies from the ravages of globalization, and to strengthen the bonds of community. Money is a radical critique of our existing financial system, but also a practical and inspirational how-to manual for creating a vibrant and effective community currency system.

Power Down
Richard Heinberg ($11.87)

If the US continues with its current policies, the next decades will be marked by war, economic collapse, and environmental catastrophe. Resource depletion and population pressures are about to catch up with us, and no one is prepared. The political elites, especially in the US, are incapable of dealing with the situation and have in mind a punishing game of "Last One Standing."  The alternative is "Powerdown," a strategy that will require tremendous effort and economic sacrifice in order to reduce per-capita resource usage in wealthy countries, develop alternative energy sources, distribute resources more equitably, and reduce the human population humanely but systematically over time. While civil society organizations push for a mild version of this, the vast majority of the world's people are in the dark, not understanding the challenges ahead, nor the options realistically available. Powerdown speaks frankly to these dilemmas. Avoiding cynicism and despair, it begins with an overview of the likely impacts of oil and natural gas depletion and then outlines four options for industrial societies during the next decades:

The Debt Virus: A Compelling Solution To The Worlds Debt Problems
by Jacques S. Jaikaran ($18.66)

Envision a world without poverty or economic oppression - a place where humankind can attain its potential amidst the weightlessness of true freedom. Imagine the United States, and the rest of the world, with