A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon
Drawing comparisons to the most eloquent science writing of our day, three eminent psychiatrists tackle the difficult task of reconciling what artists and thinkers have known for thousands of years about the human heart with what has only recently been learned about the primitive functions of the human brain. The result is an original, lucid, at times moving account of the complexities of love and its essential role in human well-being.
A General Theory of Love draws on the latest scientific research to demonstrate that our nervous systems are not self-contained: from earliest childhood, our brains actually link with those of the people close to us, in a silent rhythm that alters the very structure of our brains, establishes life-long emotional patterns, and makes us, in large part, who we are.
The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom by Rod Stryker
According to ancient Yogic tradition, your soul has four distinct desires:
• The desire for purpose, the drive to become who you are meant to be
• The desire for the means (money, security, health) to prosper in this world
• The desire for pleasures like intimacy, beauty, and love
• The desire for spiritual fulfillment and lasting freedom
Learning to honor these four desires is the key to happiness, and to a complete and balanced life. But how can you discern what will truly satisfy your desires? How can you increase your capacity to achieve them? What if your desires seem to conflict with one another? Is it really possible to live a spiritual life while also wanting material pleasures and success?
Eco Barons: The New Heroes of Environmental Activism (published in hardcover as: Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet
Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Humes offers readers an eye-opening look at the remarkable philanthropists and visionaries who are devoting their lives to saving the earth from overdevelopment and destruction. In Eco Barons, Humes, the bestselling author of Mississippi Mud and Monkey Girl, gives us fascinating portraits of extraordinary men and women who are dedicated to humankind’s survival—as important a contribution to the environmental cause as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. As the New York Timespoints out, “Humes’s urgent message is clear: We must all strive to become ‘eco barons’ in our own right if we are to save Planet Earth.”