Desert Notebooks examines how the unprecedented pace of destruction to our environment and an increasingly unstable geopolitical landscape have led us to the brink of a calamity greater than any humankind has confronted before. As inhabitants of the Anthropocene, what might some of our own histories tell us about how to confront apocalypse? And how might the geologies and ecologies of desert spaces inform how we see and act toward time--the pasts we have erased and paved over, this anxious present, the future we have no choice but to build? Ehrenreich draws on the stark grandeur of the desert to ask how we might reckon with the uncertainty that surrounds us and fight off the crises that have already begun.In the canyons and oases of the Mojave and in Las Vegas's neon apocalypse, Ehrenreich finds beauty, and even hope, surging up in the most unlikely places, from the most barren rocks, and the apparent emptiness of the sky. Desert Notebooks is a vital and necessary chronicle of our past and our present--unflinching, urgent--yet timeless and profound.

     Now, in his third-and finest-memoir, Knipfel looks unflinchingly at his soul, and comes to some surprising conclusions in this anti-spirituality spiritual manifesto.

    Lars Muhl was for many years a successful pop star who studied the world’s religions and esoteric knowledge between gigs and recording sessions.  When a nervous-system illness sidelined him in the mid-1990s, he turned in desperation to a spiritual healer who was able to get him back on his feet after a single phone call. Intrigued by this mysterious man, Muhl traveled to southern France to become his apprentice. Together, Muhl and the healer, who is known in the book simply as “The Seer,” embark on an adventure that is part history lesson, part Jedi-style initiation. “My work with The Seer began on Montségur, the holiest site of the Cathars, the medieval French religious sect that was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church,” notes Muhl.” It was the middle of summer and the hike up the mountain is pretty strenuous. At the same time that The Seer was testing my physical endurance, he was breaking down my emotional resistance. He taught me how to let go of the burdens from my past.”  Towards the end of his apprenticeship, after years of searching for Montségur’s secret cave, Muhl finally stumbles upon it. Inside he finds himself in the presence of “O,” the Messenger of Light; the source of all things; the symbol of ecstatic union. O tells Muhl, “Everything mankind longs for is, and has always been, within his reach. If he would only acknowledge this there wouldn’t be anything else to look for. When this happens mankind will step out of his self-made prison and into reality.”  The O Manuscript is not another book about positive thinking. Throughout his initiation, Muhl was forced to confront his dark side, the shadows that kept him from true health and wellness. “This is my journey,” says Muhl. “Every word of it is true and really happened to me, but it is also meant to be a kind of allegory. The lessons I learned are universal.” Praise for The O Manuscript:“I recommend this amazing story to anyone seeking the path to enlightenment.” —Al Jardine, The Beach Boys  “Lars Muhl tells an extraordinary tale in an extraordinary way…It is a story that, for too long, has been cyring out to be told.” —Henry Lincoln, co-author of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

    starving. It is a story of courage, determination, perseverance and the power of the human spirit. Irene spent 8 years of her life in orphanages, but this did not destroy her dreams and desire to live live a full and rich life.

    If you've ever been curious about the ancient spiritual practice of pilgrimage, come along with Lori Erickson as she explores a dozen holy sites around the world. Travel writer, Episcopal deacon, and author of the Holy Rover blog at Patheos, Erickson is an engaging guide for pilgrims eager to take a spiritual journey. Both irreverent and devout, Holy Rover describes travels that changed her life and can change yours, too.

    Their story is one of hardship, violence, and cautious, heartbreaking attempts toward compassion. Lesley's fearless journey through his family history provides a remarkable portrait of hard living in the Western states, and confirms his place as one of the region's very best storytellers.

    A journalist and young mother, Henion combines her own conflicted but joyful experiences as a parent with a panoramic tour of the world’s most extraordinary natural wonders.Phenomenal begins in hardship: with Henion deeply shaken by the birth of her beloved son, shocked at the adversity a young mother faces with a newborn. The lack of sleep, the shrinking social circle, the health difficulties, all collide and force Henion to ask hard questions about our accepted wisdom on parenting and the lives of women.Convinced that the greatest key to happiness—both her own and that of her family—lies in periodically allowing herself to venture into the wider world beyond home, Henion sets out on a global trek to rekindle her sense of wonder. Henion’s quest takes her far afield, but it swiftly teaches her that freedom is its own form of parenting, one that ultimately allows her to meet her son on his own terms: with a visceral understanding of the wonder he experiences every day at the fresh new world. Whether standing on the still-burning volcanoes of Hawai’i or in the fearsome lightning storms of Venezuela, in the vast animal movements of Tanzania or the elegant butterfly migrations of Mexico, Henion reveals in Phenomenal a world of sublimity and revelation. Henion’s spiritual wanderlust puts her in the path of modern-day shamans, reindeer herders, and astrophysicists. She meets laypeople from all over the world, from all walks of life, each going to great lengths to chase migrations, auroras, eclipses, and other phenomena. These seekers trust their instincts, follow their passions, shape their days into the lives they most want to lead. And somewhere along the way, Leigh Ann Henion becomes one of them. A breathtaking memoir, Phenomenal reveals unforgettable truths about motherhood, spirituality, and the beauty of nature.

    The next, I was marching in lockstep through the dark, snow-strewn streets of Sweden. Clad in an ill-fitting cheap blue suit—a Book of Mormon in my pocket—I was tasked with nothing less than saving the country of "godless fornicators from certain moral destruction." You've seen us. We are impossible to miss. We are iconic, and now even celebrated in a nine times over, Tony Awarding winning Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon. Most are boys, some girls. We always travel in pairs. Impeccably groomed, always smiling and polite, you can’t mistake us for anyone else. And, if you haven't met us already, we will soon be coming to knock on a door near you. I know. I was one of them. This is my story. Although raised in the LDS faith, nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced. My world was turned upside down. Nothing was as I expected: the country, the work, my fellow missionaries, and most of all, the Church. Had I not gone through the experience myself, I honestly would not believe a word of what follows. And yet, it’s true. Every last bit.

    Drawing inspiration from the shells on the shore, Lindbergh’s musings on the shape of a woman’s life bring new understanding to both men and women at any stage of life. A mother of five, an acclaimed writer and a pioneering aviator, Lindbergh casts an unsentimental eye on the trappings of modernity that threaten to overwhelm us: the time-saving gadgets that complicate rather than simplify, the multiple commitments that take us from our families. And by recording her thoughts during a brief escape from everyday demands, she helps readers find a space for contemplation and creativity within their own lives.With great wisdom and insight Lindbergh describes the shifting shapes of relationships and marriage, presenting a vision of life as it is lived in an enduring and evolving partnership. A groundbreaking, best-selling work when it was originally published in 1955, Gift from the Sea continues to be discovered by new generations of readers. With a new introduction by Lindbergh’s daughter Reeve, this fiftieth-anniversary edition will give those who are revisiting the book and those who are coming upon it for the first time fresh insight into the life of this remarkable woman.The sea and the beach are elements that have been woven throughout Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s life. She spent her childhood summers with her family on a Maine island. After her marriage to Charles Lindbergh in 1929, she accompanied him on his survey flights around the North Atlantic to launch the first transoceanic airlines. The Lindberghs eventually established a permanent home on the Connecticut coast, where they lived quietly, wrote books and raised their family.After the children left home for lives of their own, the Lindberghs traveled extensively to Africa and the Pacific for environmental research.

    To reconnect with his past. And to better understand the 19th-century Cascade Range advocate John Waldo, the state's answer to California's naturalist John Muir. Despite great expectations, near trails end Welch finds himself facing an unlikely challenge. Laughs. Blisters. And new friends from literally around the world-his PCT adventure offered it all. But he never foresaw the bittersweet ending.

    . . would you eat it?Louise's first kill is a disaster. She injures a rabbit, and thinks it has died in agony. But the experience teaches her a lesson, and when she subsequently finds the rabbit, she vows to do its death justice by finding out what it really means to kill and eat animals. Many people claim to care about the meat that they eat, but do they really know how the animal died? The Ethical Carnivore addresses this universal question, through an emotional personal quest. Taking the current fashion for "ethical meat" to its logical conclusion, Louise vows to eat only animals she has killed herself for a year. Starting small, Louise shoots and traps game such as hare and squirrels, and learns how to skin and cook them. She builds a new appreciation of the British countryside, and its wild fish and animals.The narrative moves to domestic animals. Louise sees cows in the slaughterhouse; by talking to the men and women who work there, she finds out how the animals are killed and the effect it has on the people who do it on our behalf.At the end of her journey, Louise goes wildfowling in the Orkneys to shoot a goose for Christmas dinner. She reflects that the rabbit with the white blaze has taught her to appreciate meat by facing up to the death of animals and to look deeply at her own morals and values.

    A Field Guide to Getting Lost draws on emblematic moments and relationships in Solnit's own life to explore the issues of wandering, being lost, and the uses of the unknown. The result is a distinctive, stimulating, and poignant voyage of discovery.

    The four men portrayed here have different relationships to their environment, and they encounter each other on mountain trails, in forests and rapids, sometimes with reserve, sometimes with friendliness, sometimes fighting hard across a philosophical divide.

    It is a story about last chances, about crafting solutions from the wreckage of a devastated place, and about the high cost, emotionally and physically, of hope in the presence of despair. Writing from the Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana, the wildest valley in the Lower 48, Rick Bass portrays the plight of the artist deeply embedded in a place he loves. The author asks how a writer survives amidst the destruction of the natural world around him, if, like Bass, the writer must struggle passionately to protect a place like the Yaak from devastation. As a work of fiction, "Fiber" elegantly follows the life of the narrator as he evolves from the geologist who takes, to the artist who gives, to the activist who fights, and finally to the troubling and magical 'log fairy.'

    Ordained at twelve, he would eventually become the first Buddhist chaplain at an American university, the founder of a retreat center and monastery, and a bestselling author. Here, Bhante G. lays bare the often-surprising ups and downs of his seventy-five years, from his boyhood in Sri Lanka to his decades of sharing the insights of the Buddha, telling his story with the "plain-English" approach for which he is so renowned.