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A humorous history of the Yiddish language from the middle ages to today traces the origins of numerous everyday terms, citing events throughout the past one thousand years that contributed to Jewish European communication practices while offering insight into Yiddish relationships with nature, sex, food, and more.
Tagged: Language, Non-fiction
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Kingsley aims primarily to situate properly the spiritual teaching and practice of Parmenides and his successors in ancient Creek wisdom traditions. This fifth-century BCE philosopher is commonly described as the “father of Western metaphysics and logic” because he was the first thinker formally to discuss the nature of being. Recent archaeological discoveries indicate that this same Parmenides was a priest in the cult of Apollo the Healer. Kingsley argues that the magical and ecstatic aspects of this healing cult–incubation, meditative quieting of the mind, dream interpretation, and shamanic journeys to other worlds, all rooted in the Anatolian Apollo cult–made up the practical, experiential foundations of Parmenides’ philosophy. This book is a marvelous paradox: despite its overtly scholarly aim (20 pages of dense notes at the end), it is paced like a detective thriller; yet the central aim is to awaken the longing for self-transcendence.
Tagged: Non-fiction, Philosophy, Religion
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A leading female preacher chronicles her personal odyssey of faith and the tensions of her religious life, a conflict that leads her to leave the church in order to maintain her relationship with God and that takes her on an unexpected path of belief.
Tagged: Memoir, Non-fiction, Religion
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Honest, engaging and witty letters by essayist, children’s author and poet, E.B. White. Includes letters from White’s childhood until just before his death. This book of letters paints an incredibly intimate portrait of White’s relationships with his friends, family and co-workers. Farm animals, dogs, New York City and rural Maine are featured prominently as well.
Tagged: Letters, Non-fiction
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If you often find yourself at odds with conventional wisdom or society this book is a worthwhile read. Hitchens offers useful advice on how to think about this condition. There is no better purveyor of erudition.
Tagged: Non-fiction
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This book details the fascinating life of John Elder Robison growing up with Asperger’s syndrome, before it had a name. As if that weren’t hard enough, he does this with Augusten Burroughs parents. True, John Elder Robison is Augusten’s brother. His life is just as exciting with a stint as a sound magician for KISS, fiery inferno bathtubs and wacky stunts, I couldn’t put it down.
Tagged: Autism spectrum, Memoir, Non-fiction
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This is a very engaging and readable recounting of the Pilgrims’ trip to America and their early years in Plymouth. It gives a vivid account of what life was like and the issues they had to deal with.
Tagged: History, Non-fiction
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As an expecting first time parent, this book was recommended to me and it is just superb. Lamott, in her honest and insightful way, journals the first year of life with her son. She writes about all the fears and frustrations of raising a baby (in her case as a single parent) that most people are afraid to talk about. It is very encouraging and funny.
Tagged: Babies, Memoir, Motherhood, Non-fiction
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Emerson is considered to be a man of mythic proportions. His influence on his era was incalculable and extends forward into our own. What made a man who was unremarkable and uninspired into a legend who started a philosophy (Transcendentalism) and spurred others into action on large causes (women’s suffrage, anti-slavery, etc…)? Gougeon explores these tantalizing questions.
Tagged: Biography, Non-fiction
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A practical and funny memoir of an ex-suburbanite’s adventures creating a sustainable lifestyle in New Mexico, living “off the grid” with dairy goats, monsoons, and biofuels.
Tagged: Memoir, Non-fiction
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A brief but hilarious introduction to Western philosophy as told through jokes. Learn while you laugh.
Tagged: Humor, Non-fiction, Philosophy
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A close look into the intriguing Amish practice of “turning loose” their youth at 16, and its results. Included is the author’s perspective on this society within a society and what that could mean to us.
Tagged: Non-fiction, Sociology