Category — Books

On December 8th, the First WORDBRIDGE FAIR is being held in NYC.

Plant consciousness crosses roads with speculative fiction and a contemporary art show. It’s set to be an all day program with authors, artists and plenty of fun. Relaxed ambiance and music for art viewing, book signings, along with scheduled readings which are sure to be a delight!

FREE OF CHARGE
All day from 3 to 9 pm,
Saturday, Dec 8th 2007.

Salomon Arts Gallery, 83 Leonard Street, 4th floor. 212.966.1997

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Come, oh come, yea tea thirsty

Restless ones; the kettle boils,

Bubbles, and sings, musically.

–Rabindranath Tagore (as quoted in Tea: Legend, Life and Livelihood of India)

Tea is such a part of India’s culture, it’s hard to imagine daily life without it. As scientific research continues to establish the beneficial qualities of tea, it’s popularity continues to soar. The history of tea in the country of India is as fascinating as is the tea industry’s important role in the socio-economic life of the people.

Thanks to Tea: Legend, Life and Livelihood of India, the history now comes alive. [Read more →]

From the acclaimed author of The Epicure’s Lament, comes a grand new novel of literary contention in which two competing biographers collide in their quest for the truth about a great artist.

Oscar Feldman, the “Great Man,” is a New York city painter of the heroic generation of the 40s and 50s. Rather than focusing on abstract canvases like Pollock and Rothko, he stubbornly holds to painting one subject alone—the female nude. Upon his passing in 2001, he leaves behind a wife, Abigail, an autistic son, and a sister, Maxine, herself a notable abstract painter. [Read more →]

“Rather than look for miracles, see the miraculous in everything.”

Prior to the birth of Jesus, in ancient China, Lao-tzu dictated 81 verses, which are regarded by many as the ultimate commentary on the nature of our existence. The classic text of these 81 verses, called the Tao Te Ching or the Great Way, offers advice and guidance that is balanced, moral, spiritual, and always concerned with working for the good. In Dr. Wayne Dyer’s latest book, Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao , Dr. Dyer reviews hundreds of translations of the Tao Te Ching and has written 81 distinct essays on how to apply the ancient wisdom of Lao-tzu to today’s modern world. This work contains the entire 81 verses of the Tao, compiled from Wayne’s researching of 12 of the most well-respected translations of text that have survived for more than 25 centuries. Each chapter is designed for actually living the Tao or the Great Way today. Some of the chapter titles are “Living with Flexibility,” “Living Without Enemies,” and “Living by Letting Go.” Each of the 81 brief chapters focuses on living the Tao and concludes with a section called “Doing the Tao Now.”

One of the key teachings I keep returning to is, ” There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” It’s all a matter of changing our state [Read more →]

Russell Simmons, the godfather of hip-hop at the helm of Rush Communications, a $300+ million conglomerate reaching beyond music to include clothing companies, arts, nonprofit organizations, and diamonds, who in the past has used street smarts and a bling bling Rolodex to achieve social and political goals ranging from overturning certain restrictive New York State drug laws to encouraging voter registration, has published a new self-help book, Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success. In it, he explains how readers can use yoga and Buddhism to find what he calls the “sweet spot”: one’s life’s work and mission. Simmons preaches about the practice of love and encourages readers to listen to their inner voice.

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For those of us trying to travel to the beat of our own drum, Elizabeth Gilbert’s down to earth writing in, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia is definitely worth checking out. This book is delightful, funny, at times sad, but an inspiration throughout. Elizabeth takes you along for the ride as she searches to find herself: through food, prayer and love.

Sharing in the gastronomical delights of Italy, searching for spiritual discipline and joy in the majestic lands of India, seeking love and balance in the exotic Bali…you are sure to be transported.

As Kan Lamat so eloquently states, “As a hitchhiker thru many lands, my wanderlust delighted and splashed in the puddles of scenic descriptions and friendly faces that fill this book. Many memories resurfaced, particularly in India, and future plans were altered to taste in a bit of the lovely author’s experience. As a holyman, I love watching myself and others be dragged, kicking and screaming, by our divine guidance to a more healthy, holy self…As a walking advertising campaign for everything I love, I have found that I can turn anyone onto this book simply by handing it to them with the words “pick a paragraph… any paragraph.” I have yet to have anyone simply shrug off what they randomly read.
I second that one Kan!

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A dear friend of ours recently turned us on to a great new book called Visionary Plant Consciousness: The Shamanic Teachings of the Plant World In it, 23 leading experts reveal the ways that psychoactive plants allow nature’s “voice” to speak to humans and what this communication means for our future. Exploring the relevance of plant-induced visions and shamanic teachings to humanity’s environmental crisis, the book comes complete with winning contributions from Terence McKenna, Andrew Weil, Wade Davis, Michael Pollan, Alex Grey and Katsi Cook to name just a few.

Visionary plants have long served indigenous peoples and their shamans as enhancers of perception, thinking, and healing. These plants can also be important guides to the reality of the natural world and how we can live harmoniously in it. In Visionary Plant Consciousness: The Shamanic Teachings of the Plant World, editor J. P. Harpignies gathers presentations from the Bioneers annual conference of environmental and social visionaries that explores how plant consciousness affects the human condition. Twenty-three leading ethnobotanists, anthropologists, medical researchers, and cultural figures present their understandings of the nature of psychoactive plants and their significant connection to humans. What they reveal is that these plants may help us access the profound intelligence in nature–the “mind of nature”–that we must learn to understand in order to survive our ecologically destructive way of life.

J. P. Harpignies is associate producer of the national Bioneers conference and coproducer and founder of the Eco-Metropolis conference in New York City. He is the author of Political Ecosystems: Modernity, Complexity, Fluidity and the Eco-Left and Double Helix Hubris: Against Designer Genes, the editor of Visionary Plant Consciousness: The Shamanic Teachings of the Plant World, and the associate editor of Ecological Medicine and Nature’s Operating Instructions: The True Biotechnologies (The Bioneers Series). Interested in hearing more from JP? He will be at the Open Center in NYC on Friday, June 22^nd for a booksigning & evening lecture.

“The one thing, on which we can all agree, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor. God is in the slums and in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. 6,500 Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about Justice and Equality.”

–Bono

This small book, based upon the speech given by Bono at the 2006 NPB, delivers an inspiring and powerful message. Here, in Bono’s own words, is a reflection on his own faith and a challenge to people of all faiths to reach across boundaries and come together on behalf of what the Scriptures call “the least of these.”

SEE ON THE MOVE

BUY ON THE MOVE

BUDDHA
A Story of Enlightenment
By Deepak Chopra
Harper Collins

Deepak Chopra has just written his latest…offering his remarkable insights on the inspiring life of the Buddha. In the book, Chopra shows the iconic journey of Prince Siddhartha who abandons the palace and all noble and worldly
titles to find the true self. In this process, he transcends bodily pain to reach the highest state of learning — Enlightenment. Chopra beautifully reminds us how the lessons of Buddha continue to influence every corner of the world.

Read an Excerpt

With its breezy reviews and insightful advice, 100 Places Every Woman Should Go encourages women of any age to see the world  in a group, with a friend, or solo  and inspires them to create their own list of dreams. Based on her own explorations of many countries, award-winning author Stephanie Elizondo Griest highlights 100 special destinations and challenging activities  from diving for pearls in Bahrain to racing a camel, yak, or pony across Mongolia; to dancing with voodoo priestesses in Benin and urban cowboys in Texas; to taking a mud bath in a volcano off the coast of
Colombia. Divided into such sections as Places Where Women Made History, Places of Indulgence, and Places of Adventure, this guidebook includes timely contact information, resources, and recommended reading.

Ten Tips For Wandering Women features safety precautions plus pointers on haggling, packing, and staying parasite-free. Vivid portraits of free spirits like Frida Kahlo (A tequila-slamming, dirty joke-telling smoker, this famous artist was bisexual and beautiful) help travelers expand their experience. (via Amazon)