“No-Nonsense Zen for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions About Core Zen Teachings” by Jason Quinn

"What is Zen? Are there different types? How can you make it part of everyday life? No-Nonsense Zen for Beginners offers an easy starting point to living more intentionally through Zen. Starting with the basics―like what Zen is and how it spread across the globe―experienced Zen instructor Jason Quinn teaches and explores how anyone can use it to live a life filled with more clarity, love, and compassion. Go beyond other meditation books with: A four-part approach―Take things one step at a time as you learn about the history of Zen, important concepts, core teachings, and essential practices. Straightforward Q&A―Understand the basics of Zen with a simple format that...>>

“Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment” by John Horgan

"John Horgan, author of the best-selling The End of Science, chronicles the most advanced research into the mechanics—and meaning—of mystical experiences. How do trances, visions, prayer, satori, and other mystical experiences “work”? What induces and defines them? Is there a scientific explanation for religious mysteries and transcendent meditation? John Horgan investigates a wide range of fields — chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, theology, and more — to narrow the gap between reason and mystical phenomena. As both a seeker and an award-winning journalist, Horgan consulted a wide range of experts, including theologian Huston Smith, spiritual heir to Joseph Campbell; Andrew Newberg, the scientist whose quest for the “God module” was the focus of a Newsweek...>>

“The End of Science” by John Horgan (2015 edition)

"As staff writer for Scientific American, John Horgan has a window on contemporary science unsurpassed in all the world. Who else routinely interviews the likes of Lynn Margulis, Roger Penrose, Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins, Freeman Dyson, Murray Gell-Mann, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Kuhn, Chris Langton, Karl Popper, Stephen Weinberg, and E.O. Wilson, with the freedom to probe their innermost thoughts? In The End Of Science, Horgan displays his genius for getting these larger-than-life figures to be simply human, and scientists, he writes, "are rarely so human . . . so at there mercy of their fears and desires, as when they are confronting the limits of knowledge." This is the secret fear...>>

“A Mystical Practical Guide to Magic: Instructions for Seekers, Witches & Other Spiritual Misfits” by Aliza Einhorn

"Are you on a spiritual path? These paths are as unique as the people who walk them. Part grimoire, part handbook, and part spiritual travelogue, A Mystical Practical Guide to Magic is a personal and practical compendium for creating your own magical life. The author writes from real life experience, as practitioner and teacher, sharing field notes and anecdotes from the magical practices that inspired her, and so many others, over the decades: astrology, tarot, witchery, writing, meditation, improving intuition, mediumship, and more, including her own system for emotional regeneration, Moon Pluto Magic. The book has stories to tell and homework to give and city streets to take you down. The topics and practices traversed herein...>>