The brain is a superb miracle of errors, and no one, except the brainless, is exempt."
David DiSalvo

Why do we routinely choose options that don’t meet our short-term needs and undermine our long-term goals? Why do we willingly expose ourselves to temptations that undercut our hard-fought progress to overcome addictions? Why are we prone to assigning meaning to statistically common coincidences? Why do we insist we’re right even when evidence contradicts us?

The truly privileged theories are not the ones referring to any particular scale of size or complexity, nor the ones situated at any particular level of the predictive hierarchy, but the ones that contain the deepest explanations.
David Deutsch

Throughout history, mankind has struggled to understand life's mysteries, from the mundane to the seemingly miraculous. In this important new book, David Deutsch, an award-winning pioneer in the field of quantum computation, argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe. They have unlimited scope and power to cause change, and the quest to improve them is the basic regulating principle not only of science but of all successful human endeavor. This stream of ever improving explanations has infinite reach, according to Deutsch: we are subject only to the laws of physics, and they impose no upper boundary to what we can eventually understand, control, and achieve.
In his previous book, The Fabric of Reality, Deutsch describe the four deepest strands of existing knowledge – the theories of evolution, quantum physics, knowledge, and computation-arguing jointly they reveal a unified fabric of reality. In this new book, he applies that worldview to a wide range of issues and unsolved problems, from creativity and free will to the origin and future of the human species. Filled with startling new conclusions about human choice, optimism, scientific explanation, and the evolution of culture, The Beginning of Infinity is a groundbreaking book that will become a classic of its kind. www.beginningofinfinity.com (provided) 23Dec11

The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. “Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?” he asked. “Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1870

The culmination of 30 years of research, Where Does Mind End? takes you on an inward journey through the psyche – exploring the highest states of consciousness; the insights and theories of ancient and modern philosophers, psychologists, and mystics; the power of dreams, chi energy, tarot, and kundalini yoga; and proof of telepathy and other facets of parapsychology – to explain the mystery of consciousness and construct a comprehensive model of mind and its nearly infinite possibilities.
Starting with the ancients and early philosophers such as Zoroaster, Aristotle, Descartes, and Leibniz, the author examines models of mind that take into account divine and teleological components, the problem and goal of self-understanding, the mind/body conundrum, and holographic paradigms. Seifer then moves to modern times to explain the full range of Freud’s psychoanalytic model of mind, exploring such ideas as the ego, superego, and id; the unconscious; creativity; and self-actualization. Using Freud’s psychoanalytical model as framework, he reveals an overarching theory of mind and consciousness that incorporates such diverse concepts as Jung’s collective psyche; ESP; the Kabbalah; Gurdjieff’s ideas on behaviorism and the will; the philosophies of Wilhelm Reich, P.D. Ouspensky, and Nikola Tesla; the personality redevelopment strategies of Tony Robbins; and the Dalai Lama’s and Rudolf Steiner’s ideas on the highest states of consciousness. Recasting psychology as a vehicle not for mental health but for higher consciousness, he shows that by casting off the mechanical mental operation of day-to-day life, we naturally attain the self-integration to which traditional psychology has long aspired. By entering the true path to fulfillment of the soul’s will, we help the planet by transforming ourselves and raising our energy to a higher realm. (provided) 19Dec11

I’ve been waiting years for someone with the proper qualifications to come along and write this book. Hands down, this is the very best guide that exists on how to prepare for a safe and therapeutic psychedelic journey, with positive psychological transformation as one’s goal. It is the most important book written on the subject since The Psychedelic Experience – Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner’s classic adaptation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which was published in 1964.
Before psychologist James Fadiman’s book, this was a subject that desperately needed attention by someone who really understands what psychedelics can do to (and for) the human mind Fadiman reviews the necessary precautions and proper techniques for a beneficial journey in a straightforward manner. Drawing from his own personal experience as a psychedelic researcher, he presents the fascinating results
from his clinical studies into how psychedelics can enhance creativity and improve problemsolving abilities, in the context of a clearlyexplained guidebook.
The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide can be used as a training and reference manual by professionals in the blossoming field of psychedelic psychotherapy research, as well as by outlaw shamans who defy government regulations to engage in illegal forms of self-exploration. Anyone interested in the subject for educational purposes will find this book hard to put down. This comprehensive volume is simply overflowing with rare, valuable, and well-organized information about how to get the most from a psychedelic experience. Invaluable for dispelling the many myths and misconceptions associated with this controversial subject, this jam-packed volume provides essential guidelines for the conduct of psychedelic sessions, and presents little-known techniques for using sub-perceptual doses to improve mental functioning, along with new information from surveys, clinical studies, group sessions, and personal anecdotes. This book is absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the subject. 1 Jun 11
David Jay Brown

Based on more than forty years of the author's experience in the field and presented in a clear, easily understandable style, this book is a breath of fresh air, dispelling the mis-information that has been disseminated over many decades by sensation-hunting journalists and fear-based antidrug propaganda. The publication of The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide could not be more timely; it coincides with a major renaissance of interest in psychedelic research worldwide. The information that it provides will thus be useful not only for the hundreds of thousands of people involved in self-experimentation but also for the new generation of psychedelic researchers.
Stanislav Grof

The most radical reinterpretation of existing evidence from the disciplines of evolution, ecology, neurology, psychology and anthropology etc that finally makes sense of the ancient ‘Ages of Mankind’ traditions. These universal traditions were once the only version of history we had, they describe the onset and progression of a neurodegenerative condition that really has left us in the dark. Often considered no more than the imaginings of a primitive mind and easy to dismiss as mere myths are they in fact a more accurate natural history of humankind than modern science has thus far recognised. The book outlines the origin and nature of a condition that eventually left us blind to its existence. Evidence is cited that supports such a scenario, a means of definitively testing its validity is proposed and most importantly what can be done to treat the condition and prevent its occurrence. While this may seem a challenging prospect it promises amongst other things the restoration of phenomenal abilities, exceptional immune function and most importantly a greatly enhanced state of mind and well being only rarely glimpsed by a tiny minority. (zvg)

While this may seem a challenging prospect it promises amongst other things the restoration of phenomenal abilities, exceptional immune function and most importantly a greatly enhanced state of mind and well being only rarely glimpsed by a tiny minority. (zvg) For additional information I recommend the author's article Consciousness and the Direction of Structure about the the molecular origins of our species wide insanity and the fundamental causality of our self inflicted suffering. (dah)

The peace symbol is recognized around the globe. It has become an enduring cultural icon. For five decades, millions of people worldwide, regardless of race or religious beliefs, have looked to the peace sign to unite them. And the symbol's appeal continues with each succeeding generation. And nothing more eloquently symbolizes the counterculture era than the peace sign. How did this simple sketch become so powerful an image? This book tells the surprising story of the sign in words and pictures, from its origins in the nuclear disarmament efforts of the late 1950s to its adoption by the antiwar movement of the 1960s, through its stint as a mass-marketed commodity and its enduring relevance now.
As the symbol’s popularity blossomed, so did an entire generation, and author Ken Kolsbun’s expertly selected images—from his own collections as well as a variety of historical archives—illustrate both the sign itself and the larger history that it helped to shape. Along the way, the book recounts the controversy inspired by the peace symbol, bringing to light several trials that challenged its very existence. Drawing on exclusive archival interviews with Gerald Holtom, the late creator of the symbol, Peace recounts its birth and goes on to build a historic portrait using both iconic and rarely seen photographs. (zvg)

This book is about the history and future of civilization from a unique perspective: the evolution of the human sense of self. It describes how all the expressions of our civilization—its miraculous technology as well as the pillage of earth, culture, goodness, and beauty—arise from our identity, our way of being, "the discrete and separate self". The gathering crises of our age demonstrate that this way of being is on the verge of collapse. And this collapse is setting the stage for a revolution in human beingness whose stirrings we already begin to feel.
The Ascent of Humanity is about Separation: its origins, its evolution, its ideology, its effects, its consummation and resolution, and its cosmic purpose. What is the purpose of the grandeur and the ruin we have wrought? If civilization is to collapse, Why? and What for? Will we then go back to the Stone Age, or will we be born into something entirely new? This book draws from mythological sources, as well as natural processes of birth and transformation, to offer a narrative framework for the majesty and madness of human civilization.
More than anything, The Ascent of Humanity is about how to create the more beautiful world our hearts tell us is possible. I have long found most prescriptions for "what you can do" to reverse humanity's trajectory of ruin quite empty. Recycle your bottles and turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth. Write your Congressman. What are these tiny individual actions against the juggernaut of destruction that consumes oceans, trees, soil, and culture? This book offers an entirely different approach that begins with the reconception of our very selves. It invalidates the logic of despair that so many activists have felt, that arises inescapably from the conception of ourselves as discrete and separate subjects in a world of other. This is the ideology of separation. The ideology that has created the human realm we know is the same ideology that has us despair we can ever change it. Wait, did I say "we"? I mean actually "you" and "I". "We" is often disempowering too, because it leads us to wish, "Oh if only everyone would get it, then we would have a better government, better laws, and stop being so greedy." But they don't—how could I make them?—and the despair comes back. Helplessness. Frustration. This may be the only book you have ever read that fully gets the enormity of the crises facing us, yet responds neither with despair nor with fantasy suggestions about what "we" should do about it. (zvg)

Brilliant and original, with great depth of insight and understanding, Eisenstein’s Ascent of Humanity easily ranks with the works of such giants of our age as David Bohm, Julian Jaynes, Jean Gebser, Whitehead. It is a profoundly serious, indeed somber portrait of our times, even as it opens a door of honest hope amidst the dark destiny we have woven about us. Accept the challenge of this major accomplishment and discover the light shining within it.
Joseph Chilton Pearce

Global warming is contentious and difficult to measure, even among the majority of scientists who agree that it is taking place. Will temperatures rise by 2oC or 8oC over the next hundred years? Will sea levels rise by 2 or 30 feet? The only way that we can accurately answer questions like these is by looking into the distant past, for a comparison with the world long before the rise of mankind.
We may currently believe that atmospheric shifts, like global warming, result from our impact on the planet, but the earth's atmosphere has been dramatically shifting since its creation. This book reveals the crucial role that plants have played in determining atmospheric change - and hence the conditions on the planet we know today. Along the way a number of fascinating puzzles arise: Why did plants evolve leaves? When and how did forests once grow on Antarctica? How did prehistoric insects manage to grow so large? The answers show the extraordinary amount plants can tell us about the history of the planet -- something that has often been overlooked amongst the preoccuputations with dinosaur bones and animal fossils.
David Beerling's surprising conclusions are teased out from various lines of scientific enquiry, with evidence being brought to bear from fossil plants and animals, computer models of the atmosphere, and experimental studies. Intimately bound up with the narrative describing the dynamic evolution of climate and life through Earth's history, we find Victorian fossil hunters, intrepid polar explorers and pioneering chemists, alongside wallowing hippos, belching volcanoes, and restless landmasses. (zvg)

As Gandhi observed, our fork can be a weapon of violence. Will Tuttle, pianist, composer and teacher, embraces this simple truth by keeping violence off his plate and adopting a vegan way of being in the world. He expresses the heart and soul of the animal liberation and compassionate living movement with insights that prove how inextricably linked is the suffering of animals with the war, violence and terrorism we currently face on earth when he says, "If we cause war against animals we will cause war against ourselves." From mythology, religion, and human systems, Tuttle offers a set of universal principles for all people of conscience to show how we as a species can move our consciousness forward - allowing us to become more free, more intelligent, more loving, and happier in the choices we make. (zvg)

Will Tuttle brings a priceless perspective—not only to the planetary crisis confronting us all, but also to powerful ways we each can affect it. This book is radiant with his learning and his compassion.
Joanna Macy

A world at once familiar and unimaginably strange exists all around us–and within us. It is the world of consciousness, a protean mental landscape that each of us knows intimately in bits and pieces yet understands in its totality scarcely at all. Tied to the body and the brain, consciousness is nonetheless beyond our ability to measure or quantify. Despite the attempts of scientists and mystics, poets and dreamers, crackpots and geniuses, to map its contours and explain its secret workings, the mind remains mysterious. And the more we learn about it, the more mysterious it becomes.
But that is not to say that we know nothing about consciousness. In fact, as gonzo science journalist Jeff Warren demonstrates in this provocative, often hilarious, and always fascinating synthesis of cutting-edge research and personal experience, just how much we do know is little short of astonishing. And when Warren fits the pieces together, the implications of that knowledge are, well, mind-blowing.
Warren begins with the insight that consciousness is not a simple on-off proposition, with rigid demarcations separating waking awareness from the murky depths of sleep, but rather a round-the-clock continuum regulated by natural biorhythms. He then sets out to explore, and to experience for himself, the seemingly miraculous, all-but-untapped potential of the human mind.
From the full-immersion virtual realities of lucid dreaming to the esoteric disciplines of Eastern meditative practices that have reached outposts of consciousness far beyond the grasp of Western science, from techniques of hypnosis and neurofeedback to such exotic states of awareness as the Watch and the Pure Conscious Event, Warren takes us on an incredible journey through our own heads–a journey conducted with the adventurous spirit and intellectual curiosity of a Darwin coupled with the sensibility of a stand-up comedian.
Part user’s manual and part travel guide, The Head Trip is an instant classic, a brilliant summation of consciousness studies that is also a practical guide to enhancing creativity, mental health, and the experience of what it means to be human. Many books claim that they will change you. This one gives you the tools to change yourself. (zvg)

This book addresses the role and significance of consciousness expansion in the psychospiritual transformations of the individual, and in the transformations of culture and society associated with the 1960s. Both texts have been written for the international symposium "LSD – Problem Child and Wonder Drug", presented by the Gaia Media Foundation in January 2006.
In the first part, Metzner describes how the holistic transformation teachings of alchemy, originating in the sacred science of ancient Egypt, persecuted by the Church in the Middle Ages, and ridiculed by scientific modernism, were revived in the 20th century by the work of two Swiss scientists: C.G. Jung, who identified alchemical symbolism as the objective language of the psyche; and Albert Hofmann, who, with the discovery of LSD reconnected the broken link between Spirit and Matter, the mysterious link known traditionally as the Philosophers' Stone.
In the second part, he describse how the introduction of consciousness expanding substances into Western culture, synchronous with the invention of the atomic bomb at the height of World War II, was followed by the socio-cultural upheavals of the 1960s. These social transformation movements can be seen as a response of the collective psyche to the unprecedented challenges to civilization posed by nuclear war, environmental destruction and rampant population growth. Though seemingly "counter-cultural" in that they countered the domination agenda of the power-elites, they were really the attempt to articulate an expanded consciousness and a vision of society centered around humane, ecological, creative and spiritual values. (zvg)

First published in 1971, it almost immediately became the must-have philosophy book of its generation. The impact of "The Guide" elevated its author, Thaddeus Golas, from a bit part in the Beat and Psychedelic movements to a lead role. The Guide is not currently in print, but do not despair: a recording of this classic book, read by the author, is now available as a remastered, quality 2-disc CD. In this audio book, Golas updated his original text for a newer audience. He removed drug references that were unnecessary to his philosophy. He also clarified numerous passages on the advice of his many readers. This booklet in this deluxe CD package highlights Golas' own updates and revisions. All told, the recording is a lovely testament, and a rare chance to hear Thaddeus Golas' voice preserved in this new stereo digital mix. Until The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment returns in print, this is your only opportunity to experience this transformative book. And best of all, having the book read to you, by the author, is even lazier. www.evenlazier.com (zvg)

This final volume of the highly acclaimed Pharmako trilogy covers the visionary plants: the contemporary uses of plant poisons, historic cultural lore, and shamanic rites. It presents the author's poetic study of botany, chemistry, spirituality, psychology and history, covering the composition and uses of visionary plants. This work contains chapters, including Phantastica, Hypnotica and Telephorica that explore the hallucinogenic plants, the bringers of sleep and the bearers of distance. (zvg)

"Pendell's ongoing subjects are the botanical 'allies' humans have always associated with, and the 'pharmakon,' the drug that is both poison and cure. A poet, ethnobotanist, and amateur chemist, he's the best writer on drugs to come along since the late Terence McKenna."
The Village Voice

Here a leading neurobiologist investigates the phenomenon of mindfulness—the paying attention to life in the present moment—as it impacts our daily lives, offering readers insight into personal relationships, emotional behaviour, parenting and work. (zvg)

A brilliant and visionary wedding of mindfulness and neurobiology. Siegel's book stands out for its skillful weaving together of the interpersonal, the inner world, the latest science, and practical applications, all envisioned as a whole.
Jack Kornfield

This book marks a major landmark in the emerging field of contemplative neuroscience. Daniel Siegel offers a provocative, highly original and brilliant theory integrating mindfulness meditation with brain research, one that will shape thinking in the field for years to come. A must-read for anyone interested in the science of mind and mindfulness.
Daniel Goleman

This original research monograph investigates and re examines the ideas generated by the Hermetic tradition. The work discusses the effects of the tradition on modern philosophy and science and assays the influence of hermetic imaginary on areas such as AI, Cybernetics, Cyberspace as well as Leibnitz and Fludd that have been influential in modern philosophy and science. (zvg)

The book is rated higher than it deserves, there are many errors in the story, but since it is about the only history of the subject. Now again available as a reprint it remains popular and by default, "authoritative". (dah)

This title does not only sound like a whole program. There's enough material to fill three books, and very convincing material it is indeed.
What we were taught in school is wrong, or at least incomplete: Dionysos and his maenads were inebriated by something stronger than wine alone! Everywhere in Arcadia we find fungal and herbal ecstasy, as a plethora of artifacts shown by the author demonstrates.
It is because the classical Greeks are not given much attention in an ordinary curriculum anymore that these obviously facts were not disclosed before – or only very disparately, for scholars only? Carl Ruck is precisely such a scholar, and he has devoted the research of a lifetime to this astonishing little book that certainly deserves more space in future editions.
In his preface, the eminent religious philosopher Huston Smith points to the universal grammar of revelatory plants, while the evidence gathered by thoroughly conscientious Ruck bridges an important gap on the entheogenic map.
Starting with a discussion of mystery cults in general, we are taken on a botanical journey through the ancient world, revealing hitherto largely ignored plants with a great variety of psychoactive properties. Thus the potion given Achilles may have contained mind altering drugs leading him to fear nothing and no one at the moment of battle, High Priestess Medea held her spell over Jason by many a magic concoction, and the Goddess Demeter lost her daughter Persephone to Hades due to a poppy seed, keeping the Kore spellbound in the underworld during the dark months of the year.
Thus, as has been the case with fly agaric in the Middle East and throughout the European continent, many Greek myths find a new reading.
Susanne Seiler

Only a new Eleusis could help mankind to survive the threatening catastrophe in Nature and human society and bring a new period of happiness.
Albert Hofmann