Inprint - New Books of interest by Jeanne Spiro

A Persistent Peace: One Man’s Struggle for a Nonviolent World by John Dear, S.J. (Loyola Press, $22.95, Hardcover.)

How does a spoiled, wealthy frat boy go from beer-chugging contests to peace activism and more than 75 arrests in the name of the nonviolent Jesus? John Dear, S.J. tells his story in A Persistent Peace: One Man’s Struggle for a Nonviolent World.

Dear experienced a profound transformation during college that began with the musical and spiritual mentorship of the late jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams. He was also rocked to the core by biographies of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.; compelled by their compassion and commitment to nonviolence. His aspirations for success as a rock star, lawyer, or in the family trade of newspaper publishing gave way to the priesthood and a life dedicated to stopping war.

Dear has organized hundreds of demonstrations against war and nuclear weapons. His work has taken him to war zones around the world, including Iraq, where he led a delegation of Nobel Peace Prize winners to witness the effects of sanctions on Iraqi children, and to Haiti, Guatemala, Philippines, Nicaragua, Northern Ireland, Columbia and the Mideast. It hasn’t been an easy life. His activism was not generally supported by his superiors. His fellow priests often dismissed him as an eccentric who harangued incessantly about war. He was considered unmissionable and disobedient by one Jesuit provincial. For Dear, however, commitment to nonviolence is an all or nothing proposition. A Persistent Peace is the story of his consistent and tireless work for peace. He makes it clear that the peace cause is an urgent one that concerns each of us.

Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes—A Year Alone in the Patagonia Wildnerness by Robert Kull. (New World Library, $23.95, Hardcover.)

Years after a motorcycle accident left him with one leg, Bob Kull traveled to a remote island in the Patagonia wilderness with supplies to live completely alone for a year. He sought to explore the effects of deep solitude on the body and mind and to find answers to the spiritual questions that had plagued him his entire life. With only a cat and his thoughts as companions, he wrestled with inner storms while the wild forces of nature raged around him. The physical challenges were immense, but the struggles of mind and spirit pushed him even further.

Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes contains Kull’s diary from his tumultuous year. Filled with details of a life distilled to its unadulterated essence, it is also a meditation on the tensions between nature and technology, isolation and society. With humor and brutal honesty, Kull explores the pain and longing we typically avoid in our frantically busy lives as well as the peace and wonder that arise once we strip away our distractions. He describes the enormous Patagonia wilderness with poetic attention, transporting us directly into both his inner and outer experiences.

Kull went into solitude fishing for enlightenment, seeking the Answer, but came back empty-handed. Wilderness, he found, is a place to clearly see the insanity of denying that the world is as it is. He discovered that life itself teaches us all we need to know—once we pause to really listen.

Create the Space You Deserve: An Artistic Journey to Expressing Yourself Through Your Home by Jill Butler. (Skirt! Books, $24.95, Hardcover.)

Our home is more than just a roof over our head ... and Create the Space You Deserve is much more than just another home design guide.

Jill Butler is a successful artist, illustrator, designer, business woman and author. She uses her bold and captivating artwork, along with stunning photography of her nothing-special-turned-dream-cottage to inspire us to do more with our living spaces, and in turn, more with our lives. Part guide to creating the space we want to live in, part journal to help reevaluate, reinvent, and revitalize, Create the Space You Deserve is a launching pad to access our creative self and express our personality into our living space.

Butler offers the tools and tips to help us create a balanced, serene and thoughtful home. With chapters such as “Clearing the Crud,” “Asking for Help,” “Imagining the Possibilities,” and “Finding Places and Spaces,” she leads us through the design process and offers ideas and gives examples of how to make conscious design choices. Hundreds of decorating tips and ideas are accompanied by mind-maps and other illustrations reflecting the myriad of decisions, emotions, and questions this creation demands.

Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence by Matthew Sanford. (Rodale, $14.95, Paperback.)

At age thirteen, Matthew Sanford’s world turned upside-down when a devastating car accident killed his father and sister and left him paralyzed from the chest down. Advice from his doctors to forget his lower body, however, was what really crippled Sanford, leading him to ignore his once-athletic body, until at age 25 he discovered yoga and the healing power of the mind-body connection.

Now 42 and still paralyzed, Sanford is a nationally recognized yoga teacher, author, founder of a non-profit, and a leading voice in the integrative health movement who has inspired and enhanced the lives of thousands. His pioneering work with yoga, paralysis and disability has led to inspirational yet practical insights about how to live in our bodies that apply to all.

In Waking, Sanford shares his philosophy on the power of the mind-body relationship. He also chronicles his story and sheds light on our inner capacity for survival, grace, acceptance and healing. He wants us to know that healing is possible, even when curing is not.

Soul Shift: Finding Where the Dead Go by Mark Ireland. (Frog Books, $16.95, Paperback.)

Despite being the son of Hollywood psychic Dr. Richard Ireland, Mark Ireland’s life took a more conventional path until the unexpected death of his son Brandon plunged him into the world of mediums and psychics. Soul Shift is an intimate, personal account of a father’s unbearable loss, and his journey toward a better understanding of death, and an acceptance of his son’s fate.

While Ireland loved his father, he chose to pursue a career as in advertising, rejecting spiritualism in favor of a pragmatic approach to life. On the day of his son’s death, Ireland was disturbed by premonitions of his son. With his worst fears later confirmed, he reentered his father’s world, intent on connecting with the realms of spirit, and consulted a number of well-known psychics including Allison Dubois, the subject of the hit show Medium. Proceeding with modest expectations, he was struck by the remarkably accurate information provided in the readings.

Soul Shift is an amazing story of psychic communication, which will bring comfort to the bereaved and cause even the most skeptical to broaden their views. The author’s exploration of paranormal phenomena and evidence of life after death, and his moving attempts to contact the dead are touching and may change perspectives, our perspectives on death.

The Silent Questions: A Spiritual Odyssey by Doug Marman. (Spiritual Dialogues Project, $18.95, Paperback.)

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? This book is not about answers. It is about the power hidden behind questions that have haunted people since the beginning of time. The Silent Questions begins with a life altering dream experience, followed by a series of unexplainable events that propel author Doug Marman into a quest for truth.

“Originally, I thought I needed answers. I was lost without them. I felt compelled to search for some kind of map that would explain everything. However, changes entered my life like new ocean currents that took me far from where I expected to go ... I soon learned I was not chasing something fixed and easy to nail down. I was hunting something alive: a reality that unfolded its depth the further I pursued it.”

Drawn on by the need to know, Doug set out on an adventure that carried him into personal experiences with death, out-of-body travels into other dimensions of consciousness, and meetings with spiritual masters. He looks behind the masks of God and sees a reality subtler than he ever imagined. Over and over, just when he is ready to declare victory with his discoveries, along come new realizations that shake the foundation of everything he knows.

This personal, first hand account spans more than forty years, showing how every aspect of life is changed for those who cannot resist the call of the silent questions.

Unleashing Genius: Leading Yourself, Teams, and Corporations by Paul David Walker. (Morgan • James, $29.95, Hardcover.)

In Unleashing Genius, Paul David Walker uncovers the internal and philosophical structure of the process of unleashing genius. Most leadership and management books focus on frameworks that were successful. Because of the movement of time and market dynamics, a framework that worked last year just does not work this year. A framework that worked for one leader will not work for another. In other words, the frameworks of yesterday cannot be successful today. However, understanding how to unleash genius, and consistently discovering new realities, is essential. Walker takes us into the heart of how to actually unleash the genius that creates successful ideas and frameworks.

Drawing from his 25 years of experience working with CEOs and executive leaders, Walker shares the foundational element of the secret to unleashing individual genius and team wisdom. He draws us into an explorative adventure that expands the understanding of how to extend present reality into a successful future. Our understanding of leadership, ourselves and our businesses will take a quantum leap.