TheSongsofDistantEarth

What Books are by Your Bed?

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I'm in school studying Chinese Medicine right now so my pile is pretty big.

 

On top of the chemistry, and anatomy textbooks I'm reading, this is my bedside stack:

 

The Yellow Emperor's Classic, translated by Maoshing Ni

Workbook of Spiritual Development, Hua Ching Ni

Chinese Herbal Medicine, Bensky

Chinese Herbology, Chen

Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (CAM)

 

 

Not for school:

 

Bagua and Tai Chi, Bruce Frantzis

The Great stillness, Bruce Frantzis

 

 

And I'm always purchasing and researching a larger stack of books to be read. . . . I just bought Wolfe Lowenthal's "Long River", "Gung Gee Fook Fu", "The Tiger Crane Form", and "Hung Gar" by Buck Sam Kong. And a few rare books by Lam Sai Wing.

 

 

My wishlist on Amazon is currently at 76 books :(

Edited by robmix

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hmm... just by the bed? limited to 5? Okay:

 

 

Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness

 

Xing Yi Nei Gong

 

Quintessential Dzogchen

 

Secret of The Vajra World.

 

Bankei Zen

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

okay, i can't just leave it so incomplete without acknowledging my MAN-CRUSH on Jerry Alan Johnson.

 

also:

 

The Essence of Internal Martial Arts, Vols I & II

by JAJ,

 

and

 

Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy Vol 5: An Energetic Approach to Oncology

also by JAJ

 

 

okay, i can rest now that i've outed myself again. :lol:

Edited by Hundun
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EDIT:

 

okay, i can't just leave it so incomplete without acknowledging my MAN-CRUSH on Jerry Alan Johnson.

 

also:

 

The Essence of Internal Martial Arts, Vols I & II

by JAJ,

 

and

 

Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy Vol 5: An Energetic Approach to Oncology

also by JAJ

 

 

okay, i can rest now that i've outed myself again. :lol:

:lol:

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Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief, by John Lamb Lash

 

And that's it. I don't keep a long list of books to read -- if I want to read a book, I read it. :)

 

I read very fast, and few books cover to cover -- 99% of all books published are too long, for commercial reasons. Most novels are really short stories. Most short stories are really one-page essays. Most one-page essays are really one-liners. I treat them as such.

 

Not so with reference literature of the dense kind. E.g., TCM Materia Medica and my herbal books and the like are re-read till they are all in a dog-eared state.

I really like John Lash's works. He is one of a kind and its too bad he's not more widely known. I have had the pleasure to attend some of his talks. And he has writings which aren't available anymore, but I imagine he has reworked into the new writings on line and in Not in His image.

 

John Lash's Quest for the Zodiac

Stephen T Chang Internal Exercises

Stephen Hwa Uncovering the Treasure

Rawn Clark A Bardon Companion

Joseph Farrel Babylon's Banksters

Georg Kuhlewind From Normal to Healthy

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche Wonders of the Natural Mind

Edited by tumoessence

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Hotel Honolulu

9 1/2 Mystics

Leg the Spread

The New Paradigm for Financial Markets

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I got a Kindle, so some of these are on it...

 

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

 

Falling Into Grace by Adyashanti

 

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

 

Spiritual Bypassing by Robert Augustus Masters

 

Under the Bleachers by Seymour Butz

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Under the Bleachers by Seymour Butz

 

Haven't heard that one for some time. :lol: It was mentioned in a Michael Douglas movie "The Game."

Edited by ralis

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I got a Kindle, so some of these are on it...

 

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

 

Falling Into Grace by Adyashanti

 

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

 

Spiritual Bypassing by Robert Augustus Masters

 

Under the Bleachers by Seymour Butz

I love the kindle. Up to 2500 books at your fingertips! Battery lasts for a LONG time. Easy to read - see a book and get it instantly.

 

Right now I only have my new book on it as I develop and upload latest edit for the kindle as I get it done. That way, when I finish hopefully this summer I just hit a button and instantly have a kindle ebook.

 

One book, fiction, that I liked for the kindle was One Second After by William R. Forstchen.

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Taoist Yoga - I probably read that whole book at least 2 times a month lol

 

Some Dutch language books.

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Just started my 6th reading of 'Radix.' Probably will read again all his other books this year.

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I have a bookshelf by my bed, however, what I'm reading right now is "The Secret and Sublime" by John Blofeld and "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy.

 

Both are excellent.

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I am transitioning into a new way of teaching-focusing on leading retreats for women so I have about 5 books on that subject.

 

I am also a big fan of kindle.

My list on my kindle: Just a few

 

 

The Pleasure Trap ( about the bio-psychological basics of addiction and the affect it has on our society).

 

Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman (moving to a plant based diet)

 

A Light Warrior's Guide by Michael Lomax :)

 

Exploring Chakras: Awaken Your UnTapped Energy by Susan G. Shumsky

 

Asanas, Mudrahs, and Bandhas by Yogani

 

Dream Psychology Psychoanalyis for beginners by Sigmund Freud

 

Popular Tales from the Norse by Sir George Webber Dasent (Always good to know the myths and archetypes of other cultures when working with kundalini.)

 

The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

 

Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit

 

The Woman's Bible by Elizabeth Cady Staton. Written by a suffragette during the time the women's movement was just getting started to bring voter rights to women in 1840s. This book was written by women to challenge the religious doctrine of men's right to supremacy over women by studying the historical languages of the bible and rewriting it. Liberation theology. :)

 

Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. A woman's letters starting from 1904 who settled in Burnt Fork, Wyoming to become a landowner.( My grandmother was born in 1888 and I wanted to know more about that time. Her great grand uncle, Jebediah Dickerson, retired cavalry colonel, homesteaded a ranch and farm in Missouri in the early 1800s after traveling by covered wagon from Kentucky in the company of Daniel Boone and friends. Or so the family story goes. ^_^ )

 

Susan

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I have six books next to my bed.

 

The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies

 

Ways to Better Breathing by Carola Speads

 

Relaxercise by Bersin, Bersin, and Reese

 

The Pain Free Program by Anthony Carey

 

The Healing Arts by Ted Kaptchuk

 

The Integral Yoga by Sri Aurobindo

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Most of my reads are recommendations, some from here.

 

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism: Brandon Toropov and Chad Hansen

 

365 Tao: Deng Ming-Dao

 

Buddhism Is Not What You Think: Steve Hagen

 

The Spell of the Sensuous: David Abram

 

I'm sure I'll pick up a few more, based on this thread.

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Magister Ludi by Herman Hesse

 

Magister Ludi-- Master of the Game, or The Glass Bead Game-- man, what a terrific book. I've been a lifelong admirer of Hesse and his works. He really champions the human spirit without needless decoration, taps into the universality that all artists crave (especially with the main character's short stories at the end). Hesse, after Steppenwolf and Glass Bead Game, truly deserves his place in that Pantheon of Immortals.

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I got a Kindle, so some of these are on it...

 

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

 

Falling Into Grace by Adyashanti

 

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

 

Spiritual Bypassing by Robert Augustus Masters

 

Under the Bleachers by Seymour Butz

Just finished Cloud Atlas and loved it. I have tickets to see Crime and Punishment on stage in a few weeks - great book.

I'm currently working my way towards:

Radix - Attanasio

Little Bee - Cleave

Matterhorn - Marlantes

Unbroken - Hillenbrand

Cutting for Stone - Verghese

and interspersed with the fiction, some non-fiction:

Dhammapada

The Gateless Gate - Yamada

My own martial arts notebooks - reviewing training notes and teaching methods

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Hmmm, Steve, we must be on the same wavelength. Got Radix on deck based on ralis' enthusiastic recommendation, finished Cutting For Stone, just bought Unbroken to feed to the kindle, and to be honest, I think I bought Cloud Atlas on your recommendation. :)

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I've got a book about the code of the Samurai Warrior by my bed. As well as one about Chi Gung, The Men of the Bible, and Buddhist Mindfulness applied to everyday living.

 

But I didn't finish any of them yet. The one I can't seem to put down and am definitely going to finish is called "The China Study". If you read this book, it will probably change the way you eat forever. The author is a scientist whose research is eye opening and mind boggling. The information in this book will not only help you to be more healthful and live longer, but could probably help many on their spiritual path as well.

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Hmmm, Steve, we must be on the same wavelength. Got Radix on deck based on ralis' enthusiastic recommendation, finished Cutting For Stone, just bought Unbroken to feed to the kindle, and to be honest, I think I bought Cloud Atlas on your recommendation. :)

It's a beautiful thing! I picked up Radix based on Ralis' recommendation as well.

Cloud Atlas was a challenge for me at times but completely satisfying.

What did you think of Cutting for Stone?

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I enjoyed Cutting For Stone, especially the Medicine contained within. I found Verghese to be a little workman-like in his prose, and so for me the book was good, but not great. I found the character of his twin Shiva to be underdeveloped and he seemed more like a literary device than a fully realized character.

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