Read books that open your heart-mind. If you are inspired by books and stories, share them. Tell your friends. Gift your favourites to them. Donate good books to open bookshelves. Participate in bookcrossing. Remember this: The gift must always flow!
These are my current favourite books which I can absolutely recommend to you:
- Brother David Steindl-Rast – “i am through you so i”
(IndieBound, Goodreads) - Culadasa John Yates – “The Mind Illuminated”
(Audible or Audible, IndieBound, Goodreads) - Mark Matousek – “When You’re Falling, Dive”
(Audible, IndieBound, Goodreads) - Amanda Palmer – “The Art of Asking”
(Audible, IndieBound, Goodreads) - Charles Eisenstein – “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible“
(North Atlantic Books (publisher), IndieBound, Goodreads) - Jeremy Lent – “The Patterning Instinct”
- Jeremy Lent – “The Web of Meaning”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer – “Braiding Sweetgrass”
- Richard Powers – “The Overstory”
- Paula Underwood – “Three Native American Learning Stories: Who Speaks for Wolf, Winter White and Summer Gold, Many Circles”
- Tyson Yunkaporta – “Sand Talk”
More favorites:
- Frank Herbert – “Dune”
- Hermann Hesse – “Siddhartha”
- Hermann Hesse – “The Glass Bead Game”
- Neil Gaiman – “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”
- Daniel Quinn – “Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit”
- J.R.R. Tolkien – “The Silmarillion” and “The Lord of the Rings”
- Douglas R. Hofstadter – “Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid”
- Jeffrey Kripal – “Secret Body: Erotic and Esoteric Currents in the History of Religions”
- Bhikkhu Katukurunde Nanananda – “Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought”
- Terry Patten – “A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries”
- Christopher Vogler – “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers”
- Jack Zimmerman and Virginia Coyle – “The Way of Council”
- Gigi Coyle – “Kaleidoscope: Finding my way around“
- Raimondo Panikkar – “Blessed Simplicity”
- Alfred Korzybski – “Science and Sanity”
- Loch Kelly – “Shift Into Freedom”
Recently read:
- Sophie Strand – “The Flowering Wand” (audiobook)
- Cynthia Bourgeault – “The Eye of the Heart”
- J.R.R. Tolkien – “The Lord of the Rings” (book trilogy + audiobook narrated by Andy Serkis)
- William Irwin Thompson – “Thinking Together at the Edge of History: A Memoir of the Lindisfarne Association”
- Stefan Merckelbach – “A Little Red Book About Source”
- Tyson Yunkaporta – “Sand Talk” (audiobook)
- Richard C. Schwartz – “No Bad Parts” (audiobook)
- Gigi Coyle – “Kaleidoscope: Finding my way around” (audiobook)
- Jessica Fern – “Polysecure” (audiobook)
- Frank Herbert – “Dune” (audiobook)
- adrienne maree brown – “Emergent Strategy” (audiobook)
- Richard Powers – “The Overstory” (audiobook)
- Jeremy Lent – “The Web of Meaning” (audiobook)
- Jeremy Lent – “The Patterning Instinct” (audiobook)
- Robin Wall Kimmerer – “Braiding Sweetgrass” (audiobook)
- Darlene Lancer – “Conquering Shame and Codependency”
- Hermann Hesse – “The Glass Bead Game” (audiobook)
- Michael Nußbaumer – “Weltübergang”
- Robert Wright – “Why Buddhism Is True” (audiobook)
- Pete Walker – “Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving” (audiobook)
- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche – “In Love with the World” (audiobook)
Currently reading:
- Anonymous – “The Cloud of Unknowing”
- J.R.R. Tolkien – “The Silmarillion”
- Tom Nixon – “Work with Source”
- Arist von Schlippe – “Das Karussel der Empörung: Konflikteskalation verstehen und begrenzen”
- Francisco J. Varela, Evan Thompson, Eleanor Rosch – “The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience”
Planned reading:
- Bruce Clarke – “Gaian Systems: Lynn Margulis, Neocybernetics, and the End of the Anthropocene”
- Brendan Graham Dempsey – “Emergentism: A Religion of Complexity for the Metamodern World”
- Herbert Pietschmann – “Eris und Eirene: Anleitung zum Umgang mit Widersprüchen und Konflikten”
- J.R.R. Tolkien – “Beren and Luthien”
- J.R.R. Tolkien – “The Fall of Númenor”
- Mark Matousek – “Writing to Awaken”
- Hanzi Freinacht – “The Listening Society”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer – “Gathering Moss”
- Suzanne Simard – “Finding the Mother Tree”
- John M. Gottman – “The Science of Trust”
- Erik Davis – “TechGnosis”
- Stephen Jenkinson – “Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble”
- adrienne maree brown – “Pleasure Activism”
Thematically sorted, these works have been on top of my reading list:
:: Buddhism ::
- Analayo – “Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization”
- Nyanaponika Thera – “The Heart of Buddhist Meditation”
- Culadasa John Yates – “The Mind Illuminated”
- Loch Kelly – “Shift into Freedom”
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu – “Wings to Awakening“
- Bhante Henepola Gunaratana – “Mindfulness in Plain English“
- Shunryu Suzuki – “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”
- Shunryu Suzuki – “Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen“
- Daisetz T. Suzuki – “Introduction to Zen Buddhism”
- Bhikkhu Katukurunde Nanananda – “Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought”
:: General Semantics ::
- Alfred Korzybski – “Science and Sanity“
- S.I. Hayakawa – “Language in Thought and Action“
- Bruce I. Kodish – “Korzybski: A Biography”
- Gad Horowitz – “Radical General Semantics”
:: Science etc. ::
- Francisco J. Varela, Evan Thompson, Eleanor Rosch – “The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience”
- Gregory Bateson – “Steps to an Ecology of Mind”
- Jeffrey Kripal – “The Flip: Epiphanies of the Mind and the Future of Knowledge”
- Bernardo Kastrup – “The Idea of the World”
- Max Boisot et al. – “Collisions and Collaboration”
- Roger Penrose – “The Road to Reality”
:: food for more or less thought ::
- Paul Watzlawick – “Situation is Hopeless, But Not Serious“
- Robert Anton Wilson – “Quantum Psychology“
- Eric Berne – “Games People Play”
- Douglas R. Hofstadter – “Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid”
This, of course, is only the tip of an ever-growing iceberg.
I’m dreaming of turning my filled bookshelves, where these standing resources lose their value, into a kind of ‘living library’ that people can use, where they sit down, drink a cup of coffee or tea, pick a book to read, and perhaps enjoy a chat about it. Meanwhile I have found joy in sharing some favorites with fellow readers. Mark’s book “When You’re Falling, Dive” is now in Amanda’s collection, Amanda’s book “The Art of Asking” (signed, yay!) has found its way to Mark and my brother and several dear friends, Charles’ book “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible” has passed through the hands of Mike from the “Yes Men”; Neil’s magical story “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” (signed too!) went all the way to my dear soul-mate Ling in Australia, to Mark and Beth; and Kyle’s enthralling short story “Glorious Leader and the Analog Cabin Mystery” has traveled to Ling and Tanya in Australia (where there are cangaroos) and to my aunt Michi in Austria (where there are none).
Oh, and crowdfunding! I have found that when you’re supporting a piece of art in-the-making, your relationship with the creators (and their ‘rewards’) becomes much deeper, knowing that you’ve helped their dream to come true. I supported the book “Blessed with a Brain Tumor”, written by my dear friend Will Pye … but have yet to read it!
Back to recommendations – I’m also fond of these authors: (incomplete list, as usual)
Ajaan Geoff, as he is also called, takes a very sharp-minded and scientific approach to Theravada Buddhism. He is the author of many essays, study guides and Pali-English translations on Access to Insight. Many of his Dhamma Talks are also available for download. Recommended reading: “Wings to Awakening“.
A highly respected, very modest teacher of Zen Buddhism (Soto Zen) in the West. “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” is his most famous work. I was also profoundly inspired by “Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen“.
The “Manual of the Warrior of Light” and “The Valkyries” turned out to become significant sources of inspiration in a time of transition in my life.
“The Lord of the Rings” and “The Silmarillion” are among my all-time favourites.
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