Random House New Releases - Philosophy - Between November 26, 2008 and December 26, 2009.

The Circle of Fire by P.J. Mazumdar

2009-12-15T00:30:00-05:00

The Circle of Fire The Metaphysics of Yoga
Written by P.J. Mazumdar

The Circle of Fire examines the eternal metaphysical questions “What is God?” and “What is the purpose of life?” The book discusses the answers to these questions given by Western science and different schools of Indian thought, specifically detailing the answers to be found in India's two most developed atheistic traditions, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Representative of a generation of Indians who have grown up with the best in scientific education and spiritual values, author P.J. Mazumdar takes a hard look at religion, science, and how two seemingly divergent bodies of knowledge can be brought together. Like Deepak Chopra a generation earlier, Mazumdar is both a medical doctor and a member of a family steeped in Hindu tradition, and is therefore well-placed to elucidate ancient Indian philosophy to the modern analytical mind. Acknowledging the metaphysical insights to be found in both Western science and Eastern spirituality, Mazumdar pays special attention to the highest school of philosophy of Hinduism, Advaita, and its application to practical spirituality through the teachings and practice of Yoga.

The book takes its structure from the Vedas, and is similarly divided into Jnanakanda (Knowledge) and Karmakanda (Actions); the first part examines the body of knowledge from European and Indian sources addressing the question of God and the second part looks at practical ways of applying this knowledge through different schools of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. The book explores the purest form of nondual Hindu philosophy, Advaita, and points out how the theories underpinning Buddhism and Advaita, although they appear to contradict each other, are the only theories that remain consistent with the findings of modern science. The author makes the brave assertion that ultimately one or the other will be the theory realized by science as the ultimate metaphysical truth.

Like other books on the meeting of science and spirituality (Fritzjof Capra's 80s classic The Tao of Physics) and the necessity of a scientifically compatible notion of God (Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion), The Circle of Fire is ambitious in scope and a challenging, rewarding read.

Where Two Worlds Touch: Spiritual Rites of Passage by Gloria Karpinski

2009-11-04T00:30:00-05:00

Where Two Worlds Touch: Spiritual Rites of Passage
Written by Gloria Karpinski

The Cracking Tower by Jim DeKorne

2009-11-03T00:30:00-05:00

The Cracking Tower A Strategy for Transcending 2012
Written by Jim DeKorne

End-of-the-world paranoia has been with us since time immemorial. Now, with the end of the legendary Mayan “long count” calendar looming on December 21, 2012 and recent threats of a worldwide economic collapse triggering widespread apprehension and a search for answers, The Cracking Tower offers an arsenal of strategies to turn these fears into an opportunity for spiritual and personal growth.

Beginning with a lively memoir of the author’s experiences in the ’60s, the book goes on to explore apocalyptic thinking through perennial philosophy, shamanism, gnostic mysticism, the body as a vessel of consciousness (and death as “an extended out-of-body experience”), and psychedelics. Shaping the discussion is the fascinating metaphor of the cracking tower, an apparatus for distilling gasoline, as a vehicle for distilling our awareness. Rather than speculating on what might occur in 2012, DeKorne proposes vigilance of a more introspective sort. “The important thing,” he says, “is to ignore the finger and strive to comprehend the moon,” to see what our apocalyptic tendencies reveal about ourselves.

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes by Daniel L. Everett

2009-11-03T00:30:00-05:00

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle
Written by Daniel L. Everett

A riveting account of the astonishing experiences and discoveries made by linguist Daniel Everett while he lived with the Pirahã, a small tribe of Amazonian Indians in central Brazil.

Daniel Everett arrived among the Pirahã with his wife and three young children hoping to convert the tribe to Christianity. Everett quickly became obsessed with their language and its cultural and linguistic implications. The Pirahã have no counting system, no fixed terms for color, no concept of war, and no personal property. Everett was so impressed with their peaceful way of life that he eventually lost faith in the God he'd hoped to introduce to them, and instead devoted his life to the science of linguistics. Part passionate memoir, part scientific exploration, Everett's life-changing tale is riveting look into the nature of language, thought, and life itself.

Selected Dialogues of Plato by Hayden Pelliccia

2009-10-14T00:30:00-05:00

Selected Dialogues of Plato The Benjamin Jowett Translation
Written by Plato
Introduction by Hayden Pelliccia

Benjamin Jowett's translations of Plato have long been classics in their own right. In this volume, Professor Hayden Pelliccia has revised Jowett's renderings of five key
dialogues, giving us a modern Plato faithful to both Jowett's best features and Plato's own masterly style.

Gathered here are many of Plato's liveliest and richest texts. Ion takes up the question of poetry and introduces the Socratic method. Protagoras discusses poetic interpretation and shows why cross-examination is the best way to get at the truth. Phaedrus takes on the nature of rhetoric, psychology, and love, as does the famous Symposium. Finally, Apology gives us Socrates' art of persuasion put to the ultimate test--defending his own life.

Pelliccia's new Introduction to this volume clarifies its contents and addresses the challenges of translating Plato freshly and accurately. In its combination of accessibility and depth, Selected Dialogues of Plato is the ideal introduction to one of the key thinkers of all time.

From the Hardcover edition.

The Art of War by Thomas Cleary

2009-10-13T00:30:00-05:00

The Art of War
Written by Sun Tzu
Translated by Thomas Cleary

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching by Ursula K. Le Guin

2009-10-13T00:30:00-05:00

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way
Written by Ursula K. Le Guin

Left in Dark Times by Bernard-Henri Levy

2009-10-13T00:30:00-05:00

Left in Dark Times A Stand Against the New Barbarism
Written by Bernard-Henri Levy

In this unprecedented critique, Bernard-Henri Lévy revisits his political roots, scrutinizes the totalitarianisms of the past as well as those on the horizon, and argues powerfully for a new political and moral vision for our times. Are human rights Western or universal? Does anti-Semitism have a future, and, if so, what will it look like? And how is it that progressives themselves–those who in the past defended individual rights and fought fascism–have now become the breeding ground for new kinds of dangerous attitudes: an unthinking loathing of Israel; an obsessive anti-Americanism; an idea of “tolerance” that, in its justification of Islamic fanaticism, for example, could become the “cemetery of democracies”; and an indifference, masked by relativism, to the greatest human tragedies facing the world today?

At a time of ideological and political transition in America, Left in Dark Times articulates the threats we all face–in many cases without our even being aware of it–and offers a powerful new vision for progressives everywhere.

Yoga: Discipline of Freedom by Barbara Miller

2009-10-07T00:30:00-05:00

Yoga: Discipline of Freedom The Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali
Written by Barbara Miller

Dating from about the third century A.D., the Yoga Sutra distills the essence of the physical and spiritual discipline of yoga into fewer than two hundred brief aphorisms. It is the core text for any study of meditative practice, revered for centuries for its brilliant analysis of mental states and of the process by which inner liberation is achieved. Yet its difficulties are legendary, and until now, no translation has made it fully accessible.

This new translation, hailed by Yoga Journal for its "unsurpassed readability," is by one of the leading Sanskrit scholars of our time, whose Bhagavad Gita has become a recognized classic. It includes an introduction to the philosophy and psychology underlying the Yoga Sutra, the full text with explanatory commentary, and a glossary of key terms in Sanskrit and English.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Brooks Atkinson

2009-09-30T00:30:00-05:00

The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Written by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Edited by Brooks Atkinson

The definitive collection of Emerson's major speeches, essays, and poetry, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson chronicles the life's work of a true "American Scholar."

As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emerson embraced a philosophy that championed the individual, emphasized independent thought, and prized "the splendid labyrinth of one's own perceptions." More than any writer of his time, he forged a style distinct from his European predecessors and embodied and defined what it meant to be an American. Matthew Arnold called Emerson's essays "the most important work done in prose."

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are, 15th Anniversary Edition by Bob Frissell

2009-09-29T00:30:00-05:00

Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are, 15th Anniversary Edition
Written by Bob Frissell

Nothing in This Book Is True, But It’s Exactly How Things Are is an account of humankind’s function within the grand celestial battle between internal and external knowledge. Author Bob Frissell gives a compelling account of our planetary ascent into higher consciousness, presenting a big-screen view of the Earth through the experience of the Ascended Masters, Thoth, Babaji, and Drunvalo Melchizedek.

Pulling in all manner of conspiracy theories from the Secret Government to the Philadelphia Experiment, Frissell proposes both a core transdimensional shift based on the Mayan calendar and a personal Rapture mediated through the connected, affirmed breaths of rebirthing that his teacher Melchizedek used to travel from the other side of the universe to here—breathing your own spacecraft (merkaba) out of and around your aura in order to travel through the astral realms.

The 15th anniversary edition of this cult classic is revised and expanded with new illustrations and 50 pages of important new information on the Lucifer Rebellion, the solar storm, and the final three breaths of the merkaba meditation.

The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

2009-09-22T00:30:00-05:00

The Case for God
Written by Karen Armstrong

Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. Why has God become unbelievable? Why is it that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God in a way that veers so profoundly from the thinking of our ancestors?

Answering these questions with the same depth of knowledge and profound insight that have marked all her acclaimed books, Armstrong makes clear how the changing face of the world has necessarily changed the importance of religion at both the societal and the individual level. And she makes a powerful, convincing argument for drawing on the insights of the past in order to build a faith that speaks to the needs of our dangerously polarized age. Yet she cautions us that religion was never supposed to provide answers that lie within the competence of human reason; that, she says, is the role of logos. The task of religion is “to help us live creatively, peacefully, and even joyously with realities for which there are no easy explanations.” She emphasizes, too, that religion will not work automatically. It is, she says, a practical discipline: its insights are derived not from abstract speculation but from “dedicated intellectual endeavor” and a “compassionate lifestyle that enables us to break out of the prism of selfhood.”

The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

2009-09-22T00:30:00-05:00

The Case for God
Written by Karen Armstrong

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

2009-09-16T00:30:00-05:00

Meditations
Written by Marcus Aurelius

A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. Marcus’s insights and advice—on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others—have made the Meditations required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style.

In Gregory Hays’s new translation—the first in a generation—Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy: never before have they been so directly and powerfully presented.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das

2009-09-01T00:30:00-05:00

Awakening the Buddha Within Eight Steps to Enlightenment
Written by Lama Surya Das

Lama Surya Das, the most highly trained American lama in the Tibetan tradition, presents the definitive book on Western Buddhism for the modern-day spiritual seeker.

The radical and compelling message of Buddhism tells us that each of us has the wisdom, awareness, love, and power of the Buddha within; yet most of us are too often like sleeping Buddhas. In Awakening the Buddha Within, Surya Das shows how we can awaken to who we really are in order to lead a more compassionate, enlightened, and balanced life. It illuminates the guidelines and key principles embodied in the noble Eight-Fold Path and the traditional Three Enlightenment Trainings common to all schools of Buddhism:

Wisdom Training: Developing clear vision, insight, and inner understanding -- seeing reality and ourselves as we really are.
Ethics Training: Cultivating virtue, self-discipline, and compassion in what we say and do.
Meditation Training: Practicing mindfulness, concentration, and awareness of the present moment.

With lively stories, meditations, and spiritual practices, Awakening the Buddha Within is an invaluable text for the novice and experienced student of Buddhism alike.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Conversations with Elie Wiesel by Richard D. Heffner

2009-08-26T00:30:00-05:00

Conversations with Elie Wiesel
Written by Elie Wiesel and Richard D. Heffner

Conversations with Elie Wiesel is a far-ranging dialogue with the Nobel Peace Prize-winner on the major issues of our time and on life’s timeless questions.

In open and lively responses to the probing questions and provocative comments of Richard D. Heffner—American historian, noted public television moderator/producer, and Rutgers University professor—Elie Wiesel covers fascinating and often perilous political and spiritual ground, expounding on issues global and local, individual and universal, often drawing anecdotally on his own life experience.

We hear from Wiesel on subjects that include the moral responsibility of both individuals and governments; the role of the state in our lives; the anatomy of hate; the threat of technology; religion, politics, and tolerance; nationalism; capital punishment, compassion, and mercy; and the essential role of historical memory.

These conversations present a valuable and thought-provoking distillation of the thinking of one of the world’s most important and respected figures—a man who has become a moral beacon for our time.

From the Hardcover edition.

The Basic Works of Aristotle by Richard McKeon

2009-08-19T00:30:00-05:00

The Basic Works of Aristotle
Written by Aristotle
Edited by Richard McKeon

Preserved by Arabic mathematicians and canonized by Christian scholars, Aristotle’s works have shaped Western thought, science, and religion for nearly two thousand years. Richard McKeon’s The Basic Works of Aristotle–constituted out of the definitive Oxford translation and in print as a Random House hardcover for sixty years–has long been considered the best available one-volume Aristotle. Appearing in paperback at long last, this edition includes selections from the Organon, On the Heavens, The Short Physical Treatises, Rhetoric, among others, and On the Soul, On Generation and Corruption, Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Poetics in their entirety.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Ayn Rand For Beginners by Owen Brozman

2009-08-18T00:30:00-05:00

Ayn Rand For Beginners
Written by Andrew Bernstein
Illustrated by Owen Brozman

Ayn Rand, author of the best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, is beloved by millions of readers, and equally despised by a significant number of detractors. Her novels and her revolutionary philosophy of Objectivism have acquired a world-wide following. They have also created legions of readers who are hungry for a deeper understanding of her writings.

Despite her undeniably significant contributions to the literary canon and the progression of philosophy, there has been no simple, comprehensive introduction to Rand’s books and ideas, until now. Ayn Rand For Beginners sheds new light on Rand’s monumental works and robust philosophy. In clear, down-to-earth language, it explains Rand to a new generation of readers in a manner that is entertaining, and easy to read and comprehend.

Zinn For Beginners by Joe Lee

2009-08-18T00:30:00-05:00

Zinn For Beginners
Written by David Cogswell
Illustrated by Joe Lee

Zinn For Beginners describes the life and work of the most vital historian of our time. Howard Zinn led a revolution in the writing of history by telling the story not from the standpoint of conquerors and rulers, but from the side of the ordinary people who always bear the brunt of the ambitions of tyrants.
Zinn tells the story of Columbus’ discovery of America from the standpoint of the native people whose hands Columbus cut off to terrorize them into giving him gold. He tells the story of the Civil War not from the point of view of the great generals who directed the slaughter, but from that of the slaves and from the ordinary people who gave up their lives in the struggle. It tells of the Spanish-American War from the point of view of Mark Twain, who wrote, “When the smoke was over, the dead buried, and the cost of the war came back to the people … it suddenly dawned on us that the cause of the Spanish-American war was the price of sugar … that the lives, blood, and money of the American people were used to protect the interest of the American capitalists.”
Howard Zinn’s fresh look at history has earned him a devoted following. Zinn For Beginners tells the story of where Zinn came from, what events shaped his life, and walks through the main points of his major works.

Basic Writings of Nietzsche by Peter Gay

2009-08-05T00:30:00-05:00

Basic Writings of Nietzsche
Written by Friedrich Nietzsche
Introduction by Peter Gay

One hundred years after his death, Friedrich Nietzsche remains the most influential philosopher of the modern era. Basic Writings of Nietzsche gathers the complete texts of five of Nietzsche's most important works, from his first book to his last: The Birth of Tragedy; Beyond Good and Evil; On the Genealogy of Morals; The Case of Wagner; and Ecce Homo. Edited and translated by the great Nietzsche scholar Walter Kaufmann, this volume provides a definitive guide to the full range of Nietzsche's thought.

Included also are seventy-five aphorisms, selections from Nietzsche's correspondence, and variants from drafts for Ecce Homo.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Random House New Releases - Philosophy - Between November 26, 2008 and December 26, 2009.

The Circle of Fire by P.J. Mazumdar

The Circle of Fire The Metaphysics of YogaWritten by P.J. Mazumdar

Where Two Worlds Touch: Spiritual Rites of Passage by Gloria Karpinski

Where Two Worlds Touch: Spiritual Rites of Passage Written by Gloria Karpinski

The Cracking Tower by Jim DeKorne

The Cracking Tower A Strategy for Transcending 2012Written by Jim DeKorne

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes by Daniel L. Everett

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes Life and Language in the Amazonian JungleWritten by Daniel L. Everett

Selected Dialogues of Plato by Hayden Pelliccia

Selected Dialogues of Plato The Benjamin Jowett TranslationWritten by Plato Introduction by Hayden Pelliccia

The Art of War by Thomas Cleary

The Art of War Written by Sun Tzu Translated by Thomas Cleary

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching by Ursula K. Le Guin

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching A Book about the Way and the Power of the WayWritten by Ursula K. Le Guin

Left in Dark Times by Bernard-Henri Levy

Left in Dark Times A Stand Against the New BarbarismWritten by Bernard-Henri Levy

Yoga: Discipline of Freedom by Barbara Miller

Yoga: Discipline of Freedom The Yoga Sutra Attributed to PatanjaliWritten by Barbara Miller

The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Brooks Atkinson

The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Written by Ralph Waldo Emerson Edited by Brooks Atkinson

Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are, 15th Anniversary Edition by Bob Frissell

Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are, 15th Anniversary Edition Written by Bob Frissell

The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

The Case for God Written by Karen Armstrong

The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

The Case for God Written by Karen Armstrong

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Meditations Written by Marcus Aurelius

Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das

Awakening the Buddha Within Eight Steps to EnlightenmentWritten by Lama Surya Das

Conversations with Elie Wiesel by Richard D. Heffner

Conversations with Elie Wiesel Written by Elie Wiesel and Richard D. Heffner

The Basic Works of Aristotle by Richard McKeon

The Basic Works of Aristotle Written by Aristotle Edited by Richard McKeon

Ayn Rand For Beginners by Owen Brozman

Ayn Rand For Beginners Written by Andrew Bernstein Illustrated by Owen Brozman

Zinn For Beginners by Joe Lee

Zinn For Beginners Written by David Cogswell Illustrated by Joe Lee

Basic Writings of Nietzsche by Peter Gay

Basic Writings of Nietzsche Written by Friedrich Nietzsche Introduction by Peter Gay

The Circle of Fire The Metaphysics of Yoga
Written by P.J. Mazumdar

Where Two Worlds Touch: Spiritual Rites of Passage
Written by Gloria Karpinski

The Cracking Tower A Strategy for Transcending 2012
Written by Jim DeKorne

Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle
Written by Daniel L. Everett

Selected Dialogues of Plato The Benjamin Jowett Translation
Written by Plato
Introduction by Hayden Pelliccia

The Art of War
Written by Sun Tzu
Translated by Thomas Cleary

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way
Written by Ursula K. Le Guin

Left in Dark Times A Stand Against the New Barbarism
Written by Bernard-Henri Levy

Yoga: Discipline of Freedom The Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali
Written by Barbara Miller

The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Written by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Edited by Brooks Atkinson

Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are, 15th Anniversary Edition
Written by Bob Frissell

The Case for God
Written by Karen Armstrong

The Case for God
Written by Karen Armstrong

Meditations
Written by Marcus Aurelius

Awakening the Buddha Within Eight Steps to Enlightenment
Written by Lama Surya Das

Conversations with Elie Wiesel
Written by Elie Wiesel and Richard D. Heffner

The Basic Works of Aristotle
Written by Aristotle
Edited by Richard McKeon

Ayn Rand For Beginners
Written by Andrew Bernstein
Illustrated by Owen Brozman

Zinn For Beginners
Written by David Cogswell
Illustrated by Joe Lee

Basic Writings of Nietzsche
Written by Friedrich Nietzsche
Introduction by Peter Gay