Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Politics & Social Sciences

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few. So begins this most beloved of all American Zen works. Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as this famous opening line of Shunryu Suzuki's classic. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what it's all about. An instant teaching in the first minutes. And that's just the beginning.

Charles Bowden writes, “this book is not about how the world ends but how a new world is being born.” Murder City explores this new world, focusing on the idea that Mexico is collapsing into a permanent culture of violence. Bowden focuses on Ciudad Juarez, which lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. Infamously known as the place where women disappear, last year alone 1,607 people were murdered, a number that is set to accelerate in 2009.

Perhaps no figure in biblical scholarship has been the subject of more controversy and debate than Mary Magdalene. Although she is discussed in the gospels of Philip, Thomas, Peter, and Bartholomew in the collection of writings known as the Gnostic gospels that were rejected by the early Christian church, there is no better insight into this mysterious and influential woman than Mary's own gospel.

Dogen (1200-1253 C.E.) founded the Soto school of Zen Buddhism in Japan. His teachings are the very embodiment of the paradoxical blend of mystery and clarity that characterizes Zen. Dogen's approach to meditation has become perhaps the most influential Eastern spiritual practice in the Western world. The selections in this program are from Moon in a Dewdrop.

Political provocateur Bill Maher tells it like it is in a useful and hilarious guide for the many Americans who want to do more here at home to help in the war effort, but are at a loss as to how. Says Maher, "Traveling the country, I find that people want to do more here at home, but are at a loss as to what. Even when the government issues a Terrorism Advisory, it's maddeningly vague - 'Terrorist alert today! Code Burnt Orange!' 'And what?' I always want to ask, "Bring a sweater?'"

At the age of 48, film critic David Denby returned to his alma mater, Columbia University, to re-experience the core humanities courses he had taken as a freshman 30 years before. Facing the question of what he really knows, Denby re-examines the besieged Western classics, ranging from Homer, Sappho, and Sophocles to Dante, Nietzsche, and Woolf. What relevance do the writers and thinkers of the past have to our current life? The answer surprised Denby and will surprise and enlighten his listeners.

We have always identified trends as bad (loosening of the moral fiber) or good (better ethnic eating in urban areas). But Stephen Jay Gould argues that this mode of interpretation is a bias that needs correcting. In Full House, Gould presents the truth about progress, evolution, and excellence, as well as a different way to understand trends other than as entities moving in a definite direction.

In this inspiring work, Dominique Lapierre tells stories of extraordinary love and heroism - performed by ordinary people. Deep within one of the poorest sections of Calcutta, Lapierre found that this city, which produced Mother Teresa, had many other selfless inhabitants.

The American guy is not to be confused with a husband, father, hunk, or intellectual, says guy expert Dave Barry. Published just in time (the American guy faces extinction due to feminism, the men's movement, and stricter sanitation laws), this guide gives women helpful advice for understanding Him (or It) and offers men useful tips on remembering the names of their children and other dilemmas of life.

Fed up with the Republican Right? Then you'll love Al Franken's scathingly hilarious look at America's largest talk show host and his conservative cronies. Funny yet uncompromisingly fair, Franken tackles the issues - and the politicians - in ways few have dared.

Humans have long sought to comprehend the enormities of cosmic space and time. Here, best selling science writer Timothy Ferris tells the story of that quest. He interweaves the majestic themes of astronomy, physics, religion, and philosophy with fresh and lasting portraits of the men and women who created what has been called our society's most precious treasure - its conception of the universe at large.

From Carlos Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don Juan to The Power of Silence, millions of readers have long enjoyed the fantastic teachings of don Juan Matus, the Yaqui shaman from northern Mexico. Here, Victor Sanchez offers practical techniques based on Castaneda's writings, including experiencing the body as a field of energy, the not-doings of the personal self, stopping the internal dialogue, the magic of attention, setting up dreaming, the warrior's greatest love, and more.

The Tao Te Ching, a 6th century B.C. Chinese masterpiece, is one of the world's most revered sources of spiritual wisdom. This authoritative translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English captures the essence of Lao Tsu's language, bringing the Tao Te Ching's powerful message to a whole new generation of students.

In this essay collection, Stephen Jay Gould examines the puzzles and paradoxes great and small that build nature's and humanity's diversity and order. He formulates a humanistic natural history, one that considers how humans have learned to study and understand nature, rather than a history of nature itself.

Richard Nixon said he wanted administration to be "the best chronicled in history". But when Alexander Butterfield disclosed the existence of a voice-activated tapind system to a Senate committee in July 1973, Nixon's White House and its recordings quickly became the most infamous in American history. Only 60 hours were actually made public in the 1970s. Many thousands of hours remained secret and Nixon's hands, and he fought fiercely to keep them that way right up to his death.

This engaging and authoritative portrait of animals' emotional lives is as groundbreaking as Darwin's Origin of Species in the facts and insights it presents about the animal kingdom. You'll meet an Indian elephant known for his facial expressions, a shy gorilla who is proficient in sign language and loves to play house with dolls, and an African grey parrot who, when left at the veterinarian's, cried, "Come here! I love you. I'm sorry. I want to go back."

Conspiracy buff or not, who can resist a book that blows the lid off some of our time's most controversial issues? For example, if astronauts, pilots, and nearly every culture since time immemorial believe UFOs exists, why does the U.S. government deny it? And just how could the President of the United States die of a frontal would inflicted by a sniper shooting from behind?

In 1968, with the publication of Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan, the spiritual search was revealed to be as incredibly exciting as any death-defying adventure which human beings may be drawn to undertake. As the years have passed, Dr. Castaneda has come to be seen as an anthropologist of the soul, showing us that the inner world has its own inaccessible mountains, forbidding deserts, and awesomely beautiful dangers which we are all called to confront.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few. So begins this most beloved of all American Zen works....

Stephen Mitchell brings to life his acclaimed translation of these most famous and revered Hindu scriptures - the timeless story of the paths of knowledge, devotion, action, and meditation.