From ancient Palestine through Europe and Asia, to America andmodern Israel, Max I. Dimont shows how the saga of the Jews isinterwoven with the story of virtually every nation on earth.--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Upanishads are mankind's oldest works of philosophy, predating the earliest Greek philosophy. They are the concluding part of the Vedas, the ancient Indian sacred literature, and mark the culmination of a tradition of speculative thought first expressed in the Rig-Veda more than 4000 years ago. Remarkable for their meditative depth, spirit of doubt and intellectual honesty, the Upanishads are concerned with the knowledge of the Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, and Man's relationship with it. The name Upanishad is derived from the face-to-face mode of imparting knowledge - in the utmost sanctity and secrecy, to prevent its trivialisation or perversion. Composed in Sanskrit between 900 and 600 BC, the Upanishads presented here are by far the oldest and most important of those that exist. Twelve were first translated more than a hundred years ago, and have been extensively revised and edited. The thirteenth is an entirely new translation by Suren Navlakha.

Neal Donald Walsch was experiencing a low periodin his life when he decided to write a letter to God, venting hisfrustrations. What he did not expect was a response. As he finishedhis letter, he was moved to continue writing - and out cameextraordinary answers to his questions. This work presents theanswers that Walsch received, helping him to change himself, hislife and the way he viewed other beings.

Shakespeare's best as chosen by the great English poet "According to most anthologies, [Shakespeare] wrote only sonnets and songs for his plays. The reason for this [is the] reluctance of anthologists to break into the sacred precincts of his drama and start looting portable chunks . . . Yet when he great speeches of his plays are taken out of context they are no more difficult to understand and appropriate than those by other great poets." This clear, compact, inviting selection of Shakespeare's verse opens the door to new readers of our greatest writer and deepens lifelong readers' understanding of his work. Ted Hughes spent his life considering Shakespeare's works and drawing on them for his own poetry; his book-length account of Shakespeare's development, Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being , was one of the most distinctive works of literary criticism of recent years. For this selection, Hughes deliberately took strong, relatively self-contained passages of Shakespeare's verse out of th

This remarkable book takes as its subject one of the most outstanding men that ever lived. The ultimate prodigy, Leonardo da Vinci was an artist of great originality and power, a scientist, and a powerful thinker. According to Sigmund Freud, he was also a flawed, repressed homosexual. The first psychosexual history to be published, Leonardo da Vinci was the only biography the great psychoanalyst wrote. When Jung first saw it, he told Freud it was 'wonderful', and it remained Freud's favourite composition. The text includes the first full emergence of the concept of narcissism and develops Freud's theories of homosexuality. While based upon controversial research, the book offers a fascinating insight into two men - the subject and the author. If you've ever wondered just what lies behind the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile, read Freud on Leonardo. It's genius on genius.

For thirty years Randy Alcorn has been encouragingpeople-young and old-to pursue the rewards of sexual purity. Toooften we settle for a compromised Christianity that's just abaptized version of the world's sad existence, rather than theabundant life to which God calls us. This book deals with - raisingchildren to embrace sexual purity - providing an example of purityin the home - protecting purity in dating (at any age) - andmaintaining purity in marriage. Biblical, practical, and concise,The Purity Principle is a one-stop handbook for individuals,families and churches.

When a preacher with a message of hope for the homeless isfound brutally executed, reporter Cindy Thomas knows the storycould be huge . Probing deeper into the victim's history, shediscovers he may not have been as saintly as everyonethought... Rich, beautiful, and powerful, Isa and Ethan Bailey were livingin the spotlight as San Francisco's perfect couple--until they arefound dead in their luxurious home. As the hunt for two criminals tests the skills of the entireWomen's Murder Club, sparks begin to fly between Detective LindsayBoxer and her partner, Rich Conklin, making it difficult to stayfocused on the case. The electrifying new chapter in the Women'sMurder Club series, THE 8TH CONFESSION serves up the mile-a-minutetwists that only James Patterson can deliver.

For centuries, The I Ching or Book of Changes has beenconsulted for sage advice at life's turning points. When its wisdomis sought with sincerity and sensitivity, this Chinese oracle willhelp to promote success and good fortune and to impart balance andperspective to your life. Its everlasting popularity lies in thelessons that it teaches about how to use your positive qualities inorder to attain life's greatest rewards-prosperity, understanding,and peace of mind. Brian Browne Walker's new, highly accessible translation of the IChing, because it is clear and direct, allows you to make thewisdom of the ancient Chinese sages your own. Brian Browne...

Different styles of martial arts offer contradictoryinformation, philosophies, and techniques for the body in combat. Apractitioner of Judo might advocate grappling, reasoning that mostfights converge into close range after a short time, when anadvocate of Tae Kwon Do would argue that one should strive tomaintain one's distance in an encounter that would allow one to usethe legs, the most powerful weapon on the human body. As a lifelong student and teacher of multiple styles of martialarts, Steven Pearlman has sought to distill from these disciplinesnot a fusion of techniques, but rather a compilation of fundamentalprinciples that can guide the individual martial artist to theideal action. Through his exploration of a set of basic principlesthat range from the physical (spinal alignment, the triangularguard, breathing) to the spiritual (the void, the body-mind, thecharacter), Pearlman arrives at a system open to all martialartists without bastardizing the techniques of the originaldisciplines.

These are passages that inform and transform: enjoy theirpoetry, study their wisdom, or use them for Easwaran's "PassageMeditation"."Timeless Wisdom", the companion volume to Easwaran's"Passage Meditation", is a rich collection of spiritual texts fromall the world's great traditions, selected by Easwaran for studyand for his method of meditation.Here are flashes of insight fromthe Hindu Upanishads; prayers of comfort from the Christian saints;psalms from the Old Testament; songs of praise from the Sufis; and,deep wisdom from the Buddhist and Taoist traditions. Some of thesepassages, such as the Prayer of St. Francis, the Buddha's "TwinVerses", and the Twenty-third Psalm, are familiar and well loved,others may be fresh discoveries - all are beautiful. Short texts,easy to read and memorize, are interspersed with longer ones, whichthe reader can study in depth." Passage Meditation", together withits companion volume, "Timeless Wisdom", are the first two books inNilgiri Press' "Essential Easwaran Library",

These easy-to-learn processes taught by Orin, a wise and gentle spirit teacher, have helped thousands take a quantum leap, accelerate their spiritual growth, and live their lives with more joy, harmony, peace, and love. Spiritual Growth teaches you how to be your Higher Self in your everyday life, create a vision of your higher purpose, and manifest what you want rapidly and easily. You will learn to work with light for healing and growth, to connect with the Universal Mind for enhanced creativity, and to link with the Higher Will to carry out your higher purpose. Spiritual Growth gives you tools to lift the veils of illusion, see truth, expand and contract time, raise your vibration, achieve higher states of consciousness, open your heart, and know yourself in new, more loving ways. Spiritual Growth teaches you to have more satisfying relationships with others by using the skills of non-attachment, right use of will, being transparent to others' energies, and communicating as your Higher Self. You wil

After a period of training with the man he calls Socrates, Dan Milman is sent away by his old mentor to apply what he has learned to everyday life. Struggling with personal failure and growing disillusion, he sets out on a worldwide quest to rediscover the sense of clarity, meaning, and purpose he found with Socrates. Then a long-forgotten memory drives Dan to seek a mysterious woman shaman in Hawaii. She is the gateway to all his hopes and fears -- and the only one who can prepare him for what may follow. Deep in a rain forest on the island of Molokai, Dan encounters mortal challenges, vivid characters, and startling revelations as he ascends the peaceful warrior's path toward the light that shines at the heart of all our lives. In this compelling tale, the author breathes new life into ancient wisdom and reminds us that all our journeys are sacred, and all our lives an adventure. The eagerly awaited sequel to the author's bestselling Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior provi

A history so funny, so true, so scary, it's bound to becalled a conspiracy. "Meticulous in its research, forensic in itsreasoning, robust in its argument, and often hilarious in itsdebunking, Voodoo Histories is a highly entertaining rumblewith the century's major conspiracy theorists and their theories"(John Lahr). From Pearl Harbor to 9/11 to the assassination of JFKto the Birthers, Aaronvitch probes and explores the majorconspiracy theories (and theorists) of our time. In doing so, heexamines why people believe these conspiracies and makes anargument for a true skepticism.

In 1202, zealous western Christians gathered in Venicedetermined to liberate Jerusalem from the grip of Islam. But thecrusaders never made it to the Holy Land. Steered forward by theshrewd Venetian doge, they descended instead on Constantinople,wreaking devastation so terrible and inflicting scars so deep thatas recently as 2001 Pope John Paul II offered an apology to theGreek Orthodox Church. The crusaders spared no one: They raped and massacred thousands,plundered churches, and torched the lavish city. A prostitutedanced on the altar of the ravaged Hagia Sophia. And by 1204,barbarism masquerading as piety had shattered one of the greatcivilizations of history. Here, on the eight hundredth anniversaryof the sack, is the extraordinary story of this epic catastrophe,told for the first time outside of academia by Jonathan Phillips, aleading expert on the crusades. Knights and commoners, monastic chroniclers, courtly troubadours,survivors of the carnage, and even Pope Innocent III left vividac

Raja and Nilu are fated to fall in love. They both have been abandoned—he through his mother’s suicide inthe public pond, she through her mother’s constant escape intodrink. He has grown up on the streets, she in a crumbling mansion.And yet, they find each other, again and again. First when they arechildren. Then when they are young lovers. And finally after theyboth fear they have lost their marriage. But the events of thepast, even those we are ignorant of, inevitably haunt the present.And Raja and Nilu’s story is not only their own. Using Nepal’s political upheavals as a backdrop to demonstratehow we are irreparably connected to past and home, Buddha’s Orphansis an engrossing, unconventional love story, a seductive,transporting read, and further evidence that Samrat Upadhyay is oneof our finest writers, thoroughly deserving of his acclaim as “theBuddhist Chekhov” and comparisons to Amitav Ghosh, William Trevor,and Jhumpa Lahiri.

In Coming to Our Senses, internationally renowned author JonKabat-Zinn wrote the definitive book for our time on the connectionbetween mindfulness and our physical and spiritual wellbeing.Arriving at Your Own Door is the perfect gift for his many fans: abeautifully illustrated collection of 108 verses excerpted fromthat acclaimed work. These gems of knowledge provide simple,intuitive ways to achieve deeper understanding of our genius, ourbeauty and our life path in a complicated and rapidly changingworld.

For many years, Parker Palmer has worked on behalf of teachers and others who choose their vocations for reasons of the heart but may lose heart because of the troubled, sometimes toxic systems in which they work. Hundreds of thousands of readers have benefited from his approach in The Courage to Teach , which takes teachers on an inner journey toward reconnecting with themselves, their students, their colleagues, and their vocations, and reclaiming their passion for one of the most challenging and important of human endeavors.This book builds on a simple premise: good teaching cannot be reduced to technique but is rooted in the identity and integrity of the teacher. Good teaching takes myriad forms but good teachers share one trait: they are authentically present in the classroom, in community with their students and their subject. They possess 'a capacity for connectedness' and are able to weave a complex web of connections between themselves, their subjects, and their students, helping their student

Jerusalem: The Saga of the Holy City is for lovers ofancient maps and world history. Jerusalem is among the most ancientof cities, a city of sanctity and refuge that the world's majorreligions venerate. Jerusalem is the city of faith. In 1954 threeeminent Israeli archaeological scholars from the Hebrew Universitypublished an encyclopedic compendium of Jerusalem's history andgeography, from prehistoric times to 1947. Now, Overlook presents this richly linen bound book with fullcolor illustrations and a slipcase. Jerusalem: The Saga of theHoly City chronicles the rich history of this city in concise,straightforward segments. The ten color plates of maps that depictthe city through the centuries are extraordinary works of art,dazzling in their detail. Two additional freestanding maps arepocketed in the back. One is a large map of the Old City, the othera map showing the city's principal Jewish, Christian, and Moslemholy places.

Holman Bible Publishers is pleased to offer its first student Bible featuring the popular Holman Christian Standard Bible translation, combining biblical accuracy with modern readability like never before. A visually driven product for a visually driven culture, The Holman Student Bible enhances the study of God's Word with colorful page designs, explanatory sidebars, engaging study questions, and many other reading helps that are especially relevant to the development of true faith among this new generation.

In this remarkable book, Martin Buber presents the essential teachings of Hasidism, the mystical Jewish movement which swept Eastern Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Told through stories of imagination and spirit, together with his own unique insights, Buber offers us a way of understanding ourselves and our place in a spiritual world. Challenging us to recognize our own potential and to reach our true goal, this is a life-enhancing book.