Inprint - New Books of interest by Jeanne Spiro

After 50 It’s Up to Us by George H. Schofield, Ph.D. (The Clarity Group, $14.95, Paperback.)

By 2015, 77 million Americans will be 50 to 69 years old. As the first generation to be so long-lived, we face the challenge of taking personal responsibility for the quality of our extended lives. We’ll be long-term pioneers, making the second part of our lives as rich and rewarding as the first, if not more so. But aging isn’t the point. The point is lifelong development—our ability to live skillfully each day with the opportunities, choices, and changes that will happen inside and outside of our plans; it’s knowing what we’ll have to be great at beyond fifty to lead vigorous, creative lives in our eighties and nineties.

Based on numerous in-depth interviews with Americans between the ages of fifty and ninety-seven, Dr. Schofield weaves new frameworks for thinking and provides tools for clear communication. He makes wisdom accessible, revealing rare insights and mind-opening possibilities. In After 50 It’s Up to Us, Schofield offers ten tips to negotiating through this uncharted territory. This is a vital resource for 77 million Americans who want to embrace life and invest in themselves and their futures now.

See You in a Hundred Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America by Logan Ward. (Independent Publishers Group, $24,00, Hardcover.)

“The basic premise is this: If it didn’t exist in 1900, we will do without.” See You in a Hundred Years is the story of one family’s year in a farmhouse in Swoope , Virginia , living as if it were 1900 and trying to simplify their lives. Years of working long hours surrounded by technology, stress, and strangers had taken their toll on Logan Ward and his wife Heather, and to save their marriage and their sanity, Logan and Heather sold their belongings, packed up their two-year-old son, and moved to a rundown farmhouse in the country without any plans past surviving the year.

Adventure travel writer Logan Ward chronicles their year in 1900—what the move solved and what it didn’t, what they lost and what they gained. As they struggle with recalcitrant livestock and garden-destroying bugs, rain that won’t come and their own insecurities, they discover a sense of community and a sense of themselves that changes not only their marriage, but the entire Swoope , Virginia community.

See You in a Hundred Years is a memoir for our modern age that struggles with today’s growing sense of disassociation and yearning to escape the frenetic pace of daily life. It’s a different kind of travel narrative, detailing not the dislocation of place, but time, and taking us to what may be the most lost world of all—our own past.

Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries by Noah Levine. (Harper San Francisco , $13.95, Paperback.)

In 1988, at age seventeen, Noah Levine woke up in a padded cell, addicted to drugs, committed to a life of crime and violence, and wanting to die. Until that day, he had seen himself as a rebel, a success at defying authority and society through a haze of drug-induced self-destruction. Waking up as a prisoner in juvenile hall began a spiritual awakening for him. After years of following a punk ethic and blaming the world for his problems, Noah began to accept responsibility for the consequences of his actions. He began to explore the possibility of finding a spiritual solution to living in crisis. He began to seriously consider something he had always dismissed as a waste of time: meditation. The practice gave him a reason for living and led him to studying and embracing the teachings of the rebel saint, “Sid”—Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.

Levine tells us that Buddha was a revolutionary. His practice was subversive; his message, seditious. His enlightened point of view went against the norms of his day, in his words, “against the stream.” His teachings changed the world, and now they can change yours, too. Levine presents the basics of Buddhism with personal anecdotes, exercises, and guided meditations, and guides us along a spiritual path that has led to freedom from suffering, and has saved lives for 2500 years.

Lucid Dreaming for Beginners: Simple Techniques for Creating Interactive Dreams by Mark McElroy. (Llewellyn Worldwide, $13.95, Paperback.)

We spend one third of our lives asleep, time that is pent in an ever changing dreamscape where we seem to have little or no control over the outcome. But it is possible to train ourselves to become aware that we are dreaming, and to even take control of our dreams, essentially directing the setting and the action. This state is known as lucid dreaming. Lucid Dreaming for Beginners presents a simple ninety-day plan for achieving lucid dreams.

Why would we want to have lucid dreams? There are many reasons, from simply fun—imagine being able to safely live out fantasies in our sleep—to practical, including problem solving, controlling nightmares, and even augmenting physical healing.

The simple plan in this book covers everything needed to experience lucid dreaming, including tips for better sleep, how to recognize the signs that we are dreaming and not awake while we are dreaming, and even tips for interpreting both lucid and regular dreams.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Heart: Reflections on Seven Stages of Spiritual Development by Patricia Romano McGraw, Ph.D. (Bahá’í Publishing, $15.95, Paperback.)

Looking for the keys to true happiness and fulfillment? Join author and therapist Patricia Romano McGraw on a journey toward a deeper, more intimate knowledge of your spiritual self. Through reflections, questions, and personal stories, Dr. McGraw leads us on a journey toward enlightenment by narrating her own search for spiritual meaning as she reads, reflects, and writes in her personal journal about the Seven Valleys, an important work about spiritual development written by Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í faith.

Seeking the Wisdom of the Heart has two sections. The first is a discussion of the concept of states of consciousness: how belief, intention, attention, and action play pivotal roles in moving one from lower states of consciousness to higher states that are associated with spiritual enlightenment, lasting happiness, health, and service to humanity. The second is an exploration of each of the Seven Valleys and Dr. McGraw’s journal response to each Valley, along with questions to ponder regarding issues raised in the journal.

By sharing her experiences, Dr. McGraw helps us to answer some of our own questions, such as: How can someone heal when there is no one around to help? Does healing necessarily require a relationship with a therapist? How do we take personal responsibility for our own inner healing?

Energy Work: The Secret of Healing and Spiritual Development by Robert Bruce. ( Hampton Roads, $15.95, Paperback.)

Feeling stuck in your yoga practice? Got the sniffles—again? Ready to replace that zapped feeling with a little more zip? Robert Bruce has developed a highly effective method for accelerating progress in many spiritual practices. This method delivers benefits such as improved immune system function and healing from everyday ailments, enhanced vitality, easier weight management, increased development of spiritual abilities, and enhanced feelings of well-being and overall enjoyment of life.

Easy to learn, Bruce’s method is a simple step-by-step approach that puts readers in touch with their energy bodies instantly. Learn how to awaken your energy centers and move life enhancing, vital energy throughout your body. Energy Work incorporates practices and exercises that encourage safe, rapid results. Presented in easy to understand language and embellished with easy to follow illustrations, it is a valuable guide for anyone seeking to take charge of their energy body, transcend spiritual plateaus, and escalate evolution as a spiritual being.

Save Your Hearing Now: The Revolutionary Program that Can Prevent and May Even Reverse Hearing Loss by Michael D. Seidman, MD, FACS, and Marie Moneysmith. (Warner Wellness, $14.99, Paperback.)

Do you find yourself constantly turning up the TV volume? Do you have trouble hearing conversations in loud places? Don’t despair, you can save your hearing now. After twenty years of research, leading otolaryngologist Michael Seidman has developed the first all natural treatment plan to battle hearing loss safely and effectively. Instead of simply managing your problem with hearing aids, you can now help prevent, stop, and possibly even reverse hearing loss naturally.

Dr. Seidman’s proven four step program incorporates a combination of antioxidants and nutritional supplements, along with lifestyle changes that fit easily into your everyday life. In this comprehensive, easy-to-follow guidebook, you’ll discover a simple assessment test to identify the type, severity, and prognosis of your hearing loss. Find practical advice on diet, exercise, nutritional supplements, and lifestyle decisions that can make a difference. Discover the latest research on natural remedies, surgical options, and environmental concerns that everyone should address. Teens are especially vulnerable to hearing loss, Dr. Seidman recommends ways to protect them.