The SOUPer reading list...

[ixion]

I thought it would be kind of cool to have a running thread with a list of books that we've found helpful. Over the years, there have been many, but I thought I would list a couple here to get things started.

-- Lila, the follow up to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Author: Robert M. Pirsig
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Bantam; Reprint edition (November 1, 1992)
ISBN: 0553299611

If you haven't read the first book, you can probably get away without it, but you really should read 'Zen' first. This book explores futher Pirsig's inquiry into the true nature of Quality.


-- The Physics of Immortality

Author: Frank Tipler
Paperback: 560 pages
Publisher: Anchor (September 18, 1997)
ISBN: 0385467990

I used this book for researching a novel I wrote, and it came in very hand. It's a very detailed description (read: lots of math) describing exactly, in theory, the physics of immortality would be. A bit technical, but a good read.


-- The Age of Spiritual Machines
Author: Ray Kurzweil
Paperback: 388 pages
Publisher: Penguin Putnam (January 1, 2000)
ISBN: 0140282025
If you work with technology, this is a must read. It's a bit disturbing, because Kurzweil's thesis is that we will create the machines that will render us obsolete, but it's very well written and explores some interesting facets to our consciousness.


I'll post more here, but this ought to get things started.

[Az]

1. We prune roses to help them grow

So too must we care for our search for knowledge. Thus some books from the other side.

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan


Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins


The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore

[Maat]

2. "Conversations with God" by Neil Donald Walshe.

It is such a fascinating viewpoint.

Good thread. The worst that could happen is that we (Oh, No!) might become better educated.

[ixion]

3. Yeah, that's a good read

a different perspective. I think Walsh was really just acting as scribe for his inner voice, but it worked. :-)

[musette_sf]

4. Walsche has a new book

"Tomorrow's God", which is about how we will change our understanding of God based on what we know now of science, technology, etc.

There was an interview with him in Science of Mind magazine a few months back, discussing this book.

Amazon has it, also your local CRS bookstore may have it (mine does).

Thanks for bringing him up -- I have not yet read him, but was interested from what I had read in SOM.

(and hi Maat!)

[Maat]

5. Thanks Musette!

I just bought a book of his on how to promote peace, basically. I'll have to look up the title. I will look for "Tomorrow's God" in our church bookstore. Yep, I am a proud Religious Scientist.

His books seem so compatible with our teachings, no?

[Chovexani]

6. Here's a couple of my favorites

The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra really changed my life. It explores the connections between quantum physics and Eastern ideas about spirituality, and it is an incredibly "deep" book. I've read it about six times and I am still learning from it.

The other one is When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone. That one deals with the conflict between Judeo-Christianity and the old Goddess religions and how a lot of concepts in the Bible are specific responses to the old religions (read: an attempt to eradicate them). Her scholarship is a little iffy but Stone herself admits it, which I totally respect. At any rate, I find her work to be much more compelling and fact-based than a lot of the garbage passing itself off as "Goddess scholarship" (particularly the "Wicca was the ancient matriarchal Goddess religion of Europe" crowd that continually makes the rest of us look like buffoons). It's a very interesting read.

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. Have you read "The Chalice and the Blade?"