Book picks similar to
Sparks of Life: Darwinism and the Victorian Debates Over Spontaneous Generation by James E. Strick
philosophy
1515-origins-of-life
look-through
open-library
On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist: Expeditions in an in-between world where therapy ends and stories begin
Michael Harding - 2017
All of a sudden, he found himself falling back into the old religious devotions of an earlier time. The meaning he had found through years of engagement with therapy began to dissolve.
Here, in On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist, Harding examines the search for meaning in life which keeps him fastened to the idea of god.
After many therapy sessions focused on an effort to uncover personal truth, and long solitary months on the road with a one man show, Harding is finally led to an artists' retreat in the shadow of Skellig Michael.Mixing stories from the road with dispatches from his Irish Times columns, On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist is a spell-binding and powerful book about the human condition, the narratives we weave around the self, and the ultimate bliss of living in the present moment.
'What happens between one story and the next? That's the really interesting part. That's the space where we find bliss; where we float sometimes, suspended, and only for a brief moment. Perhaps only for a few scarce moments in an entire life.'
Corporations Are Not People: Why They Have More Rights Than You Do and What You Can Do About It
Jeffrey D. Clements - 2012
Jeff Clements explains why the Citizen's United case is the final win in a campaign for corporate domination of the state that began in the 1970s under Richard Nixon. More than this, Clements shows how unfettered corporate rights will impact public health, energy policy, the environment, and the justice system. Where Thom Hartmann's Unequal Protection provides a much-needed detailed legal history of corporate personhood, Corporations Are Not People answers the reader's question: "What does Citizens United mean to me?" And, even more important, it provides a solution: a Constitutional amendment, included in the book, which would reverse Citizens United. The book's ultimate goal is to give every citizen the tools and talking points to overturn corporate personhood state by state, community by community with petitions, house party kits, draft letters, shareholder resolutions, and much more.
The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction
Frank Kermode - 1967
Here, he contributes a new epilogue to his collection of classic lectures on the relationship of fiction to age-old concepts of apocalyptic chaos and crisis. Prompted by the approach of the millennium, he revisits the book which brings his highly concentrated insights to bear on some of the most unyielding philosophical and aesthetic enigmas. Examining the works of writers from Plato to William Burrows, Kermode shows how they have persistently imposed their "fictions" upon the face of eternity and how these have reflected the apocalyptic spirit. Kermode then discusses literature at a time when new fictive explanations, as used by Spenser and Shakespeare, were being devised to fit a world of uncertain beginning and end. He goes on to deal perceptively with modern literaturewith "traditionalists" such as Yeats, Eliot, and Joyce, as well as contemporary "schismatics," the French "new novelists," and such seminal figures as Jean-Paul Sartre and Samuel Beckett. Whether weighing the difference between modern and earlier modes of apocalyptic thought, considering the degeneration of fiction into myth, or commenting on the vogue of the Absurd, Kermode is distinctly lucid, persuasive, witty, and prodigal of ideas.
Hope for Each Day: Words of Wisdom and Faith
Billy Graham - 2002
In Hope for Each Day, Billy Graham offers spiritual comfort to guide us through our daily lives. Rev. Graham is a national treasure and has counseled numerous political leaders and provided comfort in times of public crisis.
The Gay Science with a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
Friedrich Nietzsche
The book contains some of Nietzsche's most sustained discussions of art and morality, knowledge and truth, the intellectual conscience and the origin of logic.Most of the book was written just before Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the last part five years later, after Beyond Good and Evil. We encounter Zarathustra in these pages as well as many of Nietzsche's most interesting philosophical ideas and the largest collection of his own poetry that he himself ever published.Walter Kaufmann's English versions of Nietzsche represent one of the major translation enterprises of our time. He is the first philosopher to have translated Nietzsche's major works, and never before has a single translator given us so much of Nietzsche.From the Paperback edition.
Soul Shifts: Transformative Wisdom for Creating a Life of Authentic Awakening, Emotional Freedom Practical Spirituality
Barbara De Angelis - 2014
How we have been living, working, and loving just isn’t enough or even acceptable anymore. We know we’re being called to something more significant and expanded—we can feel it. At these times what’s needed is not simply more change or an adjustment in our outer life, but profound transformation. We don’t just want to rearrange the pieces of ourselves so that they look better temporarily. We want nothing less than rebirth. We are ready for Soul Shifts. Soul Shifts is the groundbreaking new book from New York Times best-selling author and renowned transformational teacher Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D. Now, in her most powerful offering yet—and the culmination of her life’s work—Dr. De Angelis offers a practical handbook for awakening, and a brilliant revisioning of the journey of personal and spiritual transformation that will inspire and enlighten longtime seekers as well as new arrivals to the path of growth. Soul Shifts are radical, vibrational internal shifts that spontaneously and inevitably transform the way you relate to yourself, to others, and to the world. For transformation to be real and lasting, it must originate from the inside out, so that instead of trying to constantly micromanage everything, you operate from true mastery at the deepest level of who you are—the soul level. When you learn how to make these “Soul Shifts” on the inside, everything on the outside of your life shifts. Places where you’ve felt stuck or confused become illuminated with new clarity and understanding. Obstacles turn into possibilities, dead ends transform into doorways, and challenges convert into astonishing maps leading you to exciting new territories . . . all because you have made a Soul Shift. A masterful and moving teacher, Dr. De Angelis will offer you illuminating guidance and invaluable techniques for living a life of practical spirituality and making your own personal Soul Shifts. Written with Barbara De Angelis’s trademark eloquence, keen insight, and compassionate wisdom, Soul Shifts takes you on nothing less than a sacred inner journey to emotional and spiritual rebirth and lasting attainment. Reading it will leave you truly and authentically uplifted and transformed.
Ancient Future
Wayne B. Chandler - 1998
This book is an attempt to re-create this holistic experience in hopes that a synthesized view of life will become reality in the 21st century.
Bruno's Dream
Iris Murdoch - 1969
One of his last wishes is to contact his estranged son, Miles, whose marriage to an Indian woman drove a decades-long wedge between father and son. When Miles comes back into his father’s life, Bruno must confront his guilt, and his family must overcome the tension that grew during his long absence. Set against an enchanting London backdrop, Murdoch’s complex family drama is a poignant exploration of love, remorse, and the power of emotional redemption.
Bereolaesque: The Contemporary Gentleman & Etiquette Book for the Urban Sophisticate
Enitan O. Bereola II - 2009
THIS TIME IT'S SEXY! The old-fashioned, repressed, bland man has been banished to the Himalayas and a new breed is taking center stage. He is a man of style, sophistication, and security, just as strong and confident as his predecessor, but far more diverse in his interests, his tastes, and, most importantly, his self-image. He may be seen at an NBA game one night and an art gallery opening the next. Bereolaesque is that much needed fusion between being a gentleman and being sexy. This savoir-faire man's guide walks every man through the stages of ordinary to excellence in just two hundred pages. Perfect for that coffee table discussion, Bereolaesque lends quality information to everyday people and celebrities alike. Beyond the book's mysteriously eye capturing cover are innovative and appealing ways to maneuver through life's crazes, while keeping cool and maintaining manners. In the midst of a world plagued with economic turmoil, tasteless politics and dark behavior, the gentleman is refreshing and necessary. Bereolaesque is for every man and every woman who believe that chivalry is NOT dead, and individuals who are willing to learn exactly how far something as simple as being a gentleman and proper etiquette can get you in life. Not to mention, ladies are always quite pleased to meet a real gentleman...
The Tao of Poo: Legend of Li Chang
Dirk McFergus - 2011
This outrageous and inventive short story is not just focused solely on crap itself, but the spirituality of crap. This parody of the Tao Te Ching begs the question: Is everything crap? McFergus translates Li Chang's master work from an ancient roll of toilet paper, a minor Chinese national treasure purchased on eBay, to uncover the lost legend of Li Chang.DISCLAIMER: There is no Winnie the Pooh bear in this story. There is no piglet. The only honey pot in this story has crap in it. THIS IS NOT THE TAO OF POOH.
The Little Book of Philosophy: An Introduction to the Key Thinkers and Theories You Need to Know
Rachel Poulton - 2019
Including accessible primers on: • The early Ancient Greek philosophers and the ‘big three’: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle • Key schools of philosophy and their impact on modern life • Insights into the main questions philosophers have explored over the years: Who am I? What is the meaning of life? Do I have free will? • Practical applications for the theories of Descartes, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Marx, Nietzsche and many more. This illuminating little book will introduce you to the key thinkers, themes and theories you need to know to understand how human ideas have sculpted the world we live in and the way we think today.
Oneness
Rasha - 2003
These rare, life-changing books always seem to show up at the perfect moment in time, exactly when we all need it the most. "Oneness" is such a book--one that will change your life.In February 1998, Rasha began a profound dialogue with the universal Presence, "Oneness"--the Divinity we all share. Word for word, she transcribed the principles for a new understanding of the mystery we call "life." These teachings empower us to take a quantum leap into our own inner depths and totally transform our lives--and our world.Oneness gives humanity an astounding new vision of who we really are--and where we're headed. Here, we discover clues that inspire us to create the kinds of lives we long for and help us release the energies that prevent us from realizing our dreams. We learn to recognize the emotional patterns that undermine our best intensions. And we start to harmonize with the powerful energies building all around us--and with the power of Creation that's driving it.Oneness speaks in a voice that reaches out to the heart of each of us. The words are personal--and the experience of embracing the understandings they hold is transformational. We come away from the simple act of reading feeling like we've been touched by something indescribable--and holy.Filled with astounding metaphysical concepts and catalysts for change, Oneness takes us to the outer reaches of our own humanness and to the depths of the Divinity within. Reading it becomes a sacred, experiential journey that leaves the reader empowered with timeless tools for real transformation and a clear roadmap of the inner path to enlightenment.
All Souls' Day
Cees Nooteboom - 1998
Arthur Daane, a documentary film-maker and inveterate globetrotter, has lost his wife and child in a plane crash. In ALL SOULS' DAY we follow Arthur as he wanders the streets of Berlin, a city uniquely shaped by history. Berlin provides the backdrop for Daane's reflections on life as he plans his latest project - a self-funded film that will show the world through Daane's eyes. With a new circle of friends - a philosopher, a sculptor and a physicist - Arthur discusses everything from history to metaphysics, and the cumulative power of remembered images and philosophical musings on the meaning of our contemporary existence comes to permeate the atmosphere of the book. Then one cold, wintry day, Daane meets the young history student Elik Orange and his world is turned upside down. Whenever this mysterious woman beckons, Daane is compelled to follow. ALL SOULS' DAY is, finally, an elegiac love story in which the personal histories of the characters are skilfully interwoven with the history of the countries in which they find themselves. It is also the poignant and affecting tale of a man coming to terms
Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions
Phil Zuckerman - 2014
Phil Zuckerman, a Pitzer College sociologist, makes this case as fluidly and pleasurably as anybody in his book, Living the Secular Life."A Best Book of 2014, Publishers Weekly
Over the last twenty-five years, “no religion” has become the fastest-growing religion in the United States. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have turned away from the traditional faiths of the past and embraced a moral yet nonreligious—or secular—life, generating societies vastly less religious than at any other time in human history. Revealing the inspiring beliefs that empower secular culture—alongside real stories of nonreligious men and women based on extensive in-depth interviews from across the country—Living the Secular Life will be indispensable for millions of secular Americans. Drawing on innovative sociological research, Living the Secular Life illuminates this demographic shift with the moral convictions that govern secular individuals, offering crucial information for the religious and nonreligious alike. Living the Secular Life reveals that, despite opinions to the contrary, nonreligious Americans possess a unique moral code that allows them to effectively navigate the complexities of modern life. Spiritual self-reliance, clear-eyed pragmatism, and an abiding faith in the Golden Rule to adjudicate moral decisions: these common principlesare shared across secular society. Living the Secular Life demonstrates these principles in action and points to their usage throughout daily life. Phil Zuckerman is a sociology professor at Pitzer College, where he studied the lives of the nonreligious for years before founding a Department of Secular Studies, the first academic program in the nation dedicated to exclusively studying secular culture and the sociological consequences of America’s fastest-growing “faith.” Zuckerman discovered that despite the entrenched negative beliefs about nonreligious people, American secular culture is grounded in deep morality and proactive citizenship—indeed, some of the very best that the country has to offer.Living the Secular Life journeys through some of the most essential components of human existence—child rearing and morality, death and ritual, community and beauty—and offers secular readers inspiration for leading their own lives. Zuckerman shares eye-opening research that reveals the enduring moral strength of children raised without religion, as well as the hardships experienced by secular mothers in the rural South where church attendance defines the public space. Despite the real sorrows of mortality, Zuckerman conveys the deep psychological health of secular individuals in their attitudes toward illness, death, and dying. Tracking the efforts of nonreligious groups to construct their own communities, Zuckerman shows how Americans are building institutions and cultivating relationships without religious influence. Most of all, Living the Secular Life infuses the sociological data and groundbreaking research with the moral convictions that govern secular individuals, and demonstrates how readers can integrate these beliefs into their own lives. A manifesto for a booming social movement—and a revelatory survey of this overlooked community—Living the Secular Life offers essential and long-awaited information for anyone building a life based on his or her own principles.
New York Times Book Review (Susan Jacoby)
“[A] humane and sensible guide to and for the many kinds of Americans leading secular lives in what remains one of the most religious nations in the developed world."