FIVE FUNDAMENTAL REALMS OF REALITY REFERENCES Cosmos

1. The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the Universe from Heraclitus to Hawking by Dennis Richard Danielson (Da Capo Press, 2001) Overview: What is the cosmos? How did it come into being? How are we related to it, and what is our place in it? The Book of the Cosmos assembles for the first time in one volume the great minds of the Western world who have considered these questions from biblical times to the present. It is a book of many authors Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Galileo are here, of course, in all their genius, but so are Edgar Allan Poe, Annie Jump Cannon (a "human computer" and lyrical classifier of stars), and Sir Martin Rees, who proposes an "ensemble of universes" of which ours happens to be among the most interesting. In these pages the universe is made and unmade in a variety of configurations; it spins along on superstrings, teems with intelligent life, and could end without warning. The Book of the Cosmos provides a thrilling read to set the heart racing and the mind soaring. 2. The First Stargazers: An Introduction to the Origins of Astronomy by James Cornell (The Athlone Press, May 1, 1981) 3. The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy by Michael Hoskin (Cambridge University Press, 1999)

Overview: Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences, and one which has repeatedly led to fundamental changes in our view of the world. This book covers the history of our study of the cosmos from prehistory to a survey of modern astronomy and astrophysics. It does not attempt to cover everything, but deliberately concentrates on the important themes and topics, including stellar astronomy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesthe source of many important concepts in modern astronomyand the Copernican revolution, which led to the challenge of ancient authorities in many areas other than astronomy. This is an essential text for students of the history of science and for students of astronomy who require a historical background to their studies. 4. The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness by K. C. Cole (Harcourt Trade Publishers, 2001) Overview: Once again, acclaimed science writer K. C. Cole brings the arcane and academic down to the level of armchair scientists in The Hole in the Universe, an entertaining and edifying search for nothing at all. Open the newspaper on any given day and you will read of a newly discovered planet, star, and so on. Yet scientists and mathematicians have spent generations searching the far reaches of the universe for that one elusive state nothingness. Although this may sound like a simple task, every time the absolute void appears within reach, something new is discovered in its place: a black hole, an undulating string, an additional dimension of space or timeeven another universe. A fascinating and literary tour de force, The Hole in the Universe is a virtual romp into the unknown that you never knew wasn't there. 5. The Magic Furnace: The Search for the Origins of Atoms by Marcus Chown (Oxford University Press, 2001) Overview: "Every breath you take contains atoms forged in the blistering furnaces deep inside stars. Every flower you pick contains atoms blasted into space by stellar explosions that blazed brighter than a billion suns." Thus begins The Magic Furnace, an eloquent, extraordinary account of how scientists unravelled the mystery of atoms, and helped to explain the dawn of life itself. The historic search for atoms and their stellar origins is truly one of the greatest detective stories of science. In effect, it offers two epics intertwined: the birth of atoms in the Big Bang and the evolution of stars and how they work. Neither could be told without the other, for the stars contain the key to unlocking the secret of atoms, and the atoms the solution to the secret of the stars. Marcus Chown leads readers through the major theories and experiments that propelled the search for atomic understanding, with engaging characterizations of the major atomic thinkersfrom Democritus in ancient Greece to Binning and Rohrer in twentieth-century New York. He clarifies the science, explaining with enthusiasm the sequence of breakthroughs that proved the existence of

atoms as the "alphabet of nature" and the discovery of subatomic particles and atomic energy potential. From there, he engagingly chronicles the leaps of insight that eventually revealed the elements, the universe, our world, and ourselves to be a product of two ultimate furnaces: the explosion of the Big Bang and the interior of stars such as supernovae and red giants. Chown successfully makes these massive concepts accessible for students, professionals, and science enthusiasts. His story sheds light on all of us, for in essence, we are all stardust. 6. The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life by P. C. W. Davies (Simon & Schuster, 2000) Overview: How and where did life begin? Is it a chemical fluke, unique to Earth, or the product of intriguingly biofriendly laws governing the entire universe? In his latest far-reaching book, The Fifth Miracle, internationally acclaimed physicist and writer Paul Davies confronts one of science's great outstanding mysteriesthe origin of life. Davies shows how new research hints that the crucible of life lay deep within Earth's hot crust, and not in a "warm little pond," as first suggested by Charles Darwin. Bizarre microbes discovered dwelling in the underworld and around submarine volcanic vents are thought to be living fossils. This discovery has transformed scientists' expectations for life on Mars and elsewhere in the universe. Davies stresses the key role that the bombardment of the planets by giant comets and asteroids has played in the origin and evolution of life, arguing that these "deep impacts" delivered the raw material for biology, but also kept life confined to its subterranean haven for millions of years. Recently, scientists have uncovered tantalizing clues that life may have existed and may still existelsewhere in the universe. The Fifth Miracle recounts the discovery in Antarctica of a meteorite from Mars (ALH84001) that may contain traces of life. Three and a half billion years ago, Mars resembled Earth. It was warm and wet and could have supported primitive organisms. Davies believes that the red planet may still harbour microbes in thermally heated rocks deep below the Martian permafrost. He goes on to describe a still more startling scenario: If life once existed on Mars, might it have originated there and traveled to Earth inside meteorites blasted into space by cosmic impacts? Conversely, did life spread from Earth to Mars? Could microbes have journeyed even farther afield inside comets? Davies builds on the latest scientific discoveries and theories to address the larger question: What, exactly, is life? Davies shows that the living call is an information-processing system that uses a sophisticated mathematical code, and he argues that the secret of life lies not with exotic chemistry but with the emergence of information-based complexity. He then goes on to ask: Is life the inevitable by-product of physical laws, as many scientists maintain, or an almost miraculous accident? Are we alone in the universe, or will life emerge on all Earthlike planets? And if there is life elsewhere in the universe, is it preordained to evolve toward greater complexity and intelligence? On the answers to these deep questions hinges the ultimate purpose of mankindwho we are and what our place might be in the unfolding drama of the cosmos. 7. The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things by Hannah Holmes (John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2003) Overview: Some see dust as dull and useless stuff. But in the hands of author Hannah Holmes, it becomes a dazzling and mysterious force; Dust, we discover, built the planet we walk upon. And it tinkers with the weather and spices the air we breathe. Billions of tons of it rise annually into the airthe dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, sea salt, leaf fragments, scales from butterfly wings, shreds of T-shirts, and fireplace soot. Eventually, though, all this dust must settle. The story of restless dust begins among exploding stars, then treks through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, drills into Antarctic glaciers, filters living dusts from the wind, and probes the dark underbelly of the living-room couch. Along the way, Holmes introduces a delightful cast of charactersthe scientists who study dust. Some investigate its dark side: how it killed off dinosaurs and how its industrial descendents are killing us today. Others sample the shower of Saharan dust that nourishes Caribbean jungles, or venture into the microscopic jungle of the bedroom carpet. Like The Secret Life of Dust, however, all of them unveil the mayhem and magic wrought by little things.

Geosphere
1. Earth: The Biography by Iain Steward, John Lynch (National Geographic Society, 2008)

Overview: After four and a half billion years, our planet is approaching old agethe perfect time to look back on an extraordinary life. In Earth: The Biography, renowned science writers Iain Steward and John Lynch use groundbreaking imagery and the latest scientific discoveries to tell the epic story of Earths birth, life stages, and distant future demise. Each chapter examines one of the five essential forcesmeteor impacts, plate tectonics, the ocean, the atmosphere, and icethat drive and shape our planet and determine its destiny. New imaging techniques and spectacular graphics combine to reveal hitherto hidden information about these forces, depicting them in action today as they keep the Earth alive and going back in time to show how cataclysmic events played roles in the planets development. More than 200 full-color photographs and illustrations present the familiar in a striking new light, while the authors straightforward style brings an engaging clarity to advanced scientific concepts. The National Geographic Channel television series to which Earth: The Biography is the companion volume is expected to reach a viewership of 100 million people. A timely publication as our planet adapts to a warming climate, this accessible, authoritative, and richly visual exploration is a valuable home reference for every family. 2. Earth: An Intimate History by Richard A. Fortey (Vintage Books, reprint edition, 2005)

Overview: In Earth, the acclaimed author of Trilobite! and Life takes us on a grand tour of the earths physical past, showing how the history of plate tectonics is etched in the landscape around us. Beginning with Mt. Vesuvius, whose eruption in Roman times helped spark the science of geology, and ending in a lab in the West of England where mathematical models and lab experiments replace direct observation, Richard Fortey tells us what the present says about ancient geologic processes. He shows how plate tectonics came to rule the geophysical landscape and how the evidence is written in the hills and in the stones. And in the process, he takes us on a wonderful journey around the globe to visit some of the most fascinating and intriguing spots on the planet. 3. Gaia: a new look at life on earth by James Lovelock (Oxford University Press, 3rd Edition, reissued, 2000) Overview: In this classic work that continues to inspire its many readers, James Lovelock deftly explains his idea that life on earth functions as a single organism. Written for the non-scientist, Gaia is a journey through time and space in search of evidence with which to support a new and radically different model of our planet. In contrast to conventional belief that living matter is passive in the face of threats to its existence, the book explores the hypothesis that the earth's living matterair, ocean, and land surfacesforms a complex system that has the capacity to keep the Earth a fit place for life. Since Gaia was first published, many of Jim Lovelock's predictions have come true, and his theory has become a hotly argued topic in scientific circles. Here, in a new Preface, Lovelock outlines his present state of the debate. 4. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard Dawkins, Yan Wong (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, reprint edition, 2005) Overview: With unparalleled wit, clarity, and intelligence, Richard Dawkins, one of the world's most renowned evolutionary biologists, has introduced countless readers to the wonders of science in works such as The Selfish Gene. Now, in The Ancestor's Tale, Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and a riveting read.

5. Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science by Curtis Ebbesmeyer, Eric Scigliano (HarperCollins, 2009) Overview: Pioneering oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer unravels the mystery of marine currents, uncovers the astonishing story of flotsam, and changes the world's view of trash, the ocean, and our global environment. Curtis Ebbesmeyer is no ordinary scientist. He's been a consulting oceanographer for multinational firms and a lead scientist on international research expeditions, but he's never held a conventional academic appointment. He seized the world's imagination as no other scientist could when he and his worldwide network of beachcomber volunteers traced the ocean's currents using thousands of sneakers and plastic bath toys spilled from storm-tossed freighters. Now, for the first time, Ebbesmeyer tells the story of his lifelong struggle to solve the sea's mysteries while sharing his most surprising discoveries. He recounts how flotsam has changed the course of history-leading Viking mariners to safe harbours, Columbus to the New World, and Japan to open up to the Westand how it may even have made the origin of life possible. He chases icebergs and floating islands; investigates ocean mysteries from ghost ships to a spate of washed-up severed feet on Canadian beaches; and explores the enormous floating "garbage patches" and waste-heaped "junk beaches" that collect the flotsam and jetsam of industrial society. Finally, Ebbesmeyer reveals the rhythmic and harmonic order in the vast oceanic currents called gyres"the heartbeat of the world "and the threats that global warming and disintegrating plastic waste pose to the seas . . . and to us. 6. The end of evolution: dinosaurs, mass extinction and biodiversity by Peter Ward (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1995) Overview: A controversial account of the complex issues surrounding the three mass extinctions found in the geological record. The author concludes that the most recent extinction which began at the end of the last Ice Age is directly caused by humans. 7. The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth by Tim Flannery (Grove Press, reprint edition, 2006) Overview: An international best seller embraced and endorsed by policy makers, scientists, writers and energy industry executives from around the world, Tim Flannerys The Weather Makers contributed in bringing the topic of global warming to national prominence. For the first time, a scientist provided an accessible and comprehensive account of the history, current status, and future impact of climate change, writing what has been acclaimed by reviewers everywhere as the definitive book on global warming. With one out of every five living things on this planet committed to extinction by the levels of greenhouse gases that will accumulate in the next few decades, we are reaching a global climatic tipping point. The Weather Makers is both an urgent warning and a call to arms, outlining the history of climate change, how it will unfold over the next century, and what we can do to prevent a cataclysmic future. Originally somewhat of a global warming sceptic, Tim Flannery spent several years researching the topic and offers a connect-the- dots approach for a reading public who has received patchy or misleading information on the subject. Pulling on his expertise as a scientist to discuss climate change from a historical perspective, Flannery also explains how climate change is interconnected across the planet. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.

Biosphere
1. The cooperative gene: how Mendel's demon explains the evolution of complex beings by Mark Ridley (Free Press, 2001) Overview: Why isn't all life pond-scum? Why are there multimillion-celled, long-lived monsters like us, built from tens of thousands of cooperating genes? Mark Ridley presents a new explanation of how complex large life forms like ourselves came to exist, showing that the answer to the greatest mystery of evolution for modern science is not the selfish gene; it is the cooperative gene. In this thought-provoking book, Ridley breaks down how two major biological hurdles had to be overcome in order to allow living complexity to evolve: the proliferation of genes and gene-selfishness. Because complex life has more genes than simple life, the increase in gene numbers poses a particular problem for complex beings. The more genes, the more chance for copying error; it is far easier to make a mistake copying the Bible than it is copying an advertising slogan. To add to the difficulty, Darwin's concept of natural selection encourages genes that look out for themselves, selfish genes that could easily evolve to sabotage the development of complex life forms. By retracing the history of life on our

planetfrom the initial wobbly, replicating molecules, through microbes, worms, and flies, and on to humans Ridley reveals how life evolved as a series of steps to manage error and to coerce genes to cooperate within each body. Like a benign and unseen handwhat Ridley calls "Mendel's Demon"the combination of these strategies enacts Austrian monk Gregor Mendel's fundamental laws of inheritance. This demon offers startling new perspectives on issues from curing AIDS, the origins of sex and gender, and cloning, to the genetics of angels. Indeed, if we are ever to understand the biology of other planets, we will need more than Darwin; we will need to understand how Mendel's Demon made the cooperative gene into the fundamental element of life. What does the cooperative gene tell us about our future? With genetic technology burgeoning around the world, we must ask whether life will evolve to be even more complex than we already are. Human beings, Ridley concludes, may be near the limit of the possible, at least for earthly genetic mechanisms. But in the future, new genetic and reproductive biosystems could allow our descendants to increase their gene numbers and therefore their complexity. This process, he speculates, could lead to the evolution of life forms far stranger and more interesting than anything humanly discovered or imagined so far. Written with uncommon energy, force, and clarity, The Cooperative Gene is essential reading for anyone wishing to see behind the headlines of our genetic age. It is an eye-opening invitation to the biotech adventure humanity has already embarked upon. 2. Dr. Tatianas sex advice to all creation by Olivia Judson (Metropolitan Books, 2002)

Overview: A sex guide for all living things and a hilarious natural history in the form of letters to and answersfrom the preeminent sexpert in all creation. Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation is a unique guidebook to sex. It reveals, for example, when necrophilia is acceptable and who should commit bestiality with whom. It discloses the best time to have a sex change, how to have a virgin birth, and when to eat your lover. It also advises on more mundane matters such as male pregnancy and the joys of a detachable penis. Entertaining, funny, and marvellously illuminating, the book comprises letters from all creatures worried about their bizarre sex lives to the wise Dr. Tatiana, the only sex columnist in creation with a prodigious knowledge of evolutionary biology. Fusing natural history with advice to the lovelorn, blending wit and rigor, she is able to reassure her anxious correspondents that although the acts they describe might sound appalling and unnatural, they are all perfectly normalso long as you are not a human. In the process, she explains the science behind it all, from Darwin's theory of sexual selection to why sexual reproduction exists at all. Applying human standards to the natural world, in the end she reveals the wonders of both. 3. The Female Animal by Irene Elia (H. Holt, 1988)

Overview: Examines the sexual lives and behavioural traits of the female of all species, arguing that the embryo of most mammals is pre-programmed female, that individuation for mothering purposes among females is a relatively recent development, and that selection for mothering traits is linked to intelligence. 4. The Presence of the Past by Rupert Sheldrake (Harpercollins (P), reprint edition, 1989)

Overview: This book develops the revolutionary theory that behaviour and social systems are not only governed by immutable and mechanistic laws, which is the traditional viewpoint, but also by habits transmitted by natures inherent memory. Rupert Sheldrake also wrote A New Science of Life. 5. The Design of Animal Communication by Marc D. Hauser, Mark Konishi (MIT Press, reprint edition, 2003) Overview: When animals, including humans, communicate, they convey information and express their perceptions of the world. Because different organisms are able to produce and perceive different signals, the animal world contains a diversity of communication systems. Based on the approach laid out in the 1950s by Nobel laureate Nikolaas Tinbergen, this book looks at animal communication from the four perspectives of mechanisms, ontogeny, function, and phylogeny. 6. On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins, Sandra Blakeslee (Times Books, 2004)

Overview: From the inventor of the PalmPilot comes a new and compelling theory of intelligence, brain function, and the future of intelligent machines.

Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself. Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines. The brain is not a computer, but a memory system that stores experiences in a way that reflects the true structure of the world, remembering sequences of events and their nested relationships and making predictions based on those memories. It is this memory-prediction system that forms the basis of intelligence, perception, creativity, and even consciousness. In an engaging style that will captivate audiences from the merely curious to the professional scientist, Hawkins shows how a clear understanding of how the brain works will make it possible for us to build intelligent machines, in silicon, that will exceed our human ability in surprising ways. Written with acclaimed science writer Sandra Blakeslee, On Intelligence promises to completely transfigure the possibilities of the technology age. It is a landmark book in its scope and clarity. 7. Nature via nurture: genes, experience, and what makes us human by Matt Ridley (HarperCollins, 2003) Overview: Following his highly praised and bestselling book Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, Matt Ridley has written a brilliant and profound book about the roots of human behaviour. Nature via Nurture explores the complex and endlessly intriguing question of what makes us who we are. In February 2001 it was announced that the human genome contains not 100,000 genes, as originally postulated, but only 30,000. This startling revision led some scientists to conclude that there are simply not enough human genes to account for all the different ways people behave: we must be made by nurture, not nature. Yet again biology was to be stretched on the Procrustean bed of the nature-nurture debate. Matt Ridley argues that the emerging truth is far more interesting than this myth. Nurture depends on genes, too, and genes need nurture. Genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain, they also absorb formative experiences, react to social cues, and even run memory. They are consequences as well as causes of the will. Published fifty years after the discovery of the double helix of DNA, Nature via Nurture chronicles a revolution in our understanding of genes. Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature and nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free- willed and motivated by instinct and culture. Nature via Nurture is an enthralling, up-to-the-minute account of how genes build brains to absorb experience.

Noosphere
1. The prehistory of the mind: the cognitive origins of art, religion and science by Steven J. Mithen (Thames and Hudson, 1999) Overview: On the way to showing how the world of our ancient ancestors shaped our modern modular mind, Mithen shares one provocative insight after another as he answers a series of fascinating questions. 2. The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (HarperCollins, 1975)

Overview: Pierre Teilhard De Chardin was one of the most distinguished thinkers and scientists of our time. He fits into no familiar category for he was at once a biologist and a palaeontologist of world renown, and also a Jesuit priest. He applied his whole life, his tremendous intellect and his great spiritual faith to building a philosophy that would reconcile Christian theology with the scientific theory of evolution, to relate the facts of religious experience to those of natural science. The Phenomenon of Man, the first of his writings to appear in America, Pierre Teilhard's most important book and contains the quintessence of his thought. When published in France it was the best-selling nonfiction book

of the year. 3. Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way by Mary Catherine Bateson (HarperCollins Publishers, 1994) Overview: The author of Composing a Life provides a thought-provoking study of the art of learning that explains how a continuation of the learning process throughout a lifetime adds pleasure and understanding to human life and helps ensure the future. 4. A passion for wisdom: a very brief history of philosophy by Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins (Oxford University Press US, 1998) Overview: Readers eager to acquire a basic familiarity with the history of philosophy but intimidated by the task will find in A Passion for Wisdom a lively, accessible, and highly enjoyable tour of the world's great ideas. Here, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins tell the story of philosophy's development with great clarity and refreshing wit. The authors begin with the most ancient religious beliefs of the east and west and bring us right up to the feminist and multicultural philosophies of the present. Along the way, they highlight major philosophers, from Plato and the Buddha to William James and Simone de Beauvoir, and explore major categories, from metaphysics and ethics to politics and logic. The book is enlivened as well by telling anecdotes and sparkling quotations. Among many memorable observations, we're treated to Thomas Hobbes' assessment that life is "nasty, brutish, and short" and Hegel's description of Napoleon as "world history on horseback." Engaging, comprehensive, and delightfully written, A Passion for Wisdom is a splendid introduction to an intellectual tradition that reaches back over three thousand years. 5. The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance by Anthony Gottlieb (W. W. Norton & Company, reprint edition, 2002) Overview: In this landmark new study of Western thought, Gottlieb approaches philosophy through its primary sources, questions many pieces of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with clarity. From the preSocratic philosophers, Plato, and Aristotle to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus, philosophy emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one principle. 6. Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution by Lisa Jardine (Nan A. Talese, 1999)

Overview: The author of the critically acclaimed Worldly Goods presents a thoughtful reassessment of the Renaissance in terms of its influence on the history of science, relating the era's imaginative, artistic endeavours to the creative inspiration behind the scientific discoveries of the period. 7. Exuberance: The Passion for Life by Kay R. Jamison (A.A. Knopf, 2004)

Overview: The author of the bestselling An Unquiet Mindand internationally renowned authority on mood disordersnow gives us something wonderfully different: an exploration of exuberance and how it fuels our most important creative and scientific achievements. John Muirs lifelong passion to save Americas wild places, Wilson Bentleys legendary obsession to record for posterity the beauty of individual snowflakes, the boundless scientific curiosity behind Watson and Cricks discovery of DNA, sea lions that surf and porcupines that danceKay Redfield Jamison shows how these and many more examples both human and animal define the nature of exuberance, and how this exuberance relates to intellectual searching, risk-taking, creativity, and survival itself. She examines the hereditary predisposition to exuberance; the role of the brain chemical dopamine; the connection between positive moods and psychological resilience; and the differences between exuberance and mania. She delves into some of the phenomena of exuberancethe contagiousness of laughter, the giddiness of new love, the intoxicating effects of music and of religious ecstasywhile also addressing the dangerous desire to simulate exuberance by using drugs or alcohol. In a fascinating and intimate coda to the rest of the book, renowned scientists, writers, and politicians share their thoughts on the forms and role of exuberance in their own lives. Original, inspiring, authoritative, Exuberance brims with the very energy and passion that it celebrates.

Diosphere
1. Shamanism: an expanded view of reality by Shirley J. Nicholson (Quest Books, 2nd Edition, 1987)

Overview: Essays discuss ancient cultures, magic, modern shamanism, healing, dreams, ESP, prayer pipes, mysticism, alchemy, and the future of shamanism. 2. The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong (Random House of Canada, 2007) Overview: From one of the worlds leading writers on religion and the highly acclaimed author of the bestselling A History of God, The Battle for God and The Spiral Staircase, comes a major new work: a chronicle of one of the most important intellectual revolutions in world history and its relevance to our own time. In one astonishing, short periodthe ninth century BCEthe peoples of four distinct regions of the civilized world created the religious and philosophical traditions that have continued to nourish humanity into the present day: Confucianism and Daoism in China; Hinduism and Buddhism in India; monotheism in Israel; and philosophical rationalism in Greece. Historians call this the Axial Age because of its central importance to humanitys spiritual development. Now, Karen Armstrong traces the rise and development of this transformative moment in history, examining the brilliant contributions to these traditions made by such figures as the Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Ezekiel. Armstrong makes clear that despite some differences of emphasis, there was remarkable consensus among these religions and philosophies: each insisted on the primacy of compassion over hatred and violence. She illuminates what this family resemblance reveals about the religious impulse and quest of humankind. And she goes beyond spiritual archaeology, delving into the ways in which these Axial Age beliefs can present an instructive and thought-provoking challenge to the ways we think about and practice religion today. A revelation of humankinds early shared imperatives, yearnings and inspired solutionsas salutary as it is fascinating. 3. Huston Smith: Essays on World Religion by Huston Smith, M. Darrol Bryant (Paragon House, 1995)

Overview: In this challenging and provocative collection of 19 essays on comparative philosophy, religion and culture, one of the foremost thinkers of our time provides his most insightful and important reflections on the state of humans' spiritual life. 4. States of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age by Charlene Spretnak (HarperOne, 1991) Overview: Shares the views of the Buddha on the nature of mind, native American spirituality on our relationship with nature, Goddess spirituality on the sacredness of the body, and Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on social justice. 5. Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing by Rosemary Radford Ruether (HarperSanFrancisco, reprint edition, 1994) Overview: Internationally acclaimed author and teacher Rosemary Radford Ruether presents a sweeping ecofeminist theology that illuminates a path toward "earth-healing"--a whole relationship between men and women, communities and nations. 6. The greening of faith: God, the environment, and the good life by John Edward Carroll, Paul T. Brockelman, Mary Westfall (UPNE, 1997) Overview: No one argues that continuing depredation of our environment threatens our planet and our existence on it, but conflict arises in finding a solution to the problem. Suggesting that the panacea offered by science and technology is too narrow, 15 philosophers, theologians, and environmentalists argue for a response to ecology that recognizes the tools of science but includes a more spiritual approach-one with a more humanistic, holistic view based on inherent reverence toward the natural world. Writers whose orientations range from Buddhism to evangelical Christianity to Catholicism to Native American beliefs explore ways to achieve this paradigm shift and suggest that "the environment is not only a spiritual issue, but the spiritual issue of our time."

7. Belonging to the universe: explorations on the frontiers of science and spirituality by Fritjof Capra, David Steindl-Rast, Thomas Matus Overview: In this remarkable work, bestselling author Capra and Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk renown for making fresh sense of Christian faith, share insights into how science and religion seek to make us at home in the universe. A remarkably compatible view of the universe.

DEFINITION OF NOESPHERE Noetic The word noetic comes from Greek , for intellective or of the intellect (ultimately derived from the [1] Greek word , nos, is intellect, higher mind, thought). It is associated with the direct knowing or intuition of noesis. Noetic meaning having the ability to understand. In the Philokalia noetic is used as a translation of [2] intellectual. Noetic theory is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of mind and intuition. Among its principal purposes one can mention the study of non-rational ways of knowing and how they relate to reason; it also refers to the study of relationships between human and divine intuition. That is why noetic theory often had very close links with metaphysics. In the Western tradition and Arab philosophy noetic theory was strongly influenced by the theories of philosophers such as Anaxagoras, Plato and Aristotle. In modern dictionaries, noetic is often defined as meaning intellect, whereas "noesis" is translated as insight or intellection. This practice derives from medieval theologians and philosophers who used the Latin word intellectus - but for them, this typically meant what we today would call intuition. 1. OED entries noetic -adjective relating to mental activity or the intellect. ORIGIN Greek from Greek noetos () intellectual and nous - noun 1 Brit. informal practical intelligence. 2 Philosophy the mind or intellect. ORIGIN Greek, mind, intelligence. 2. The Philokalia Volume Four Palmer, G.E.H; Sherrard; Ware, Kallistos (Timothy) Publisher Faber and Faber ISBN 0-571-19382-X from glossary noetic pg. 433. noetic ( - noeticos): that which belongs to or is characteristic of the intellect (q.v.). See also intellection. Source: Wikipedia: Noetic Consciousness

noetic: From the Greek nosis / notikos, meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing, or subjective understanding. science: Systems of acquiring knowledge that use observation, experimentation, and replication to describe and explain natural phenomena. noetic sciences: A multidisciplinary field that brings objective scientific tools and techniques together with subjective inner knowing to study the full range of human experiences. For centuries, philosophers from Plato forward have used the term noetic to refer to experiences that pioneering psychologist William James (1902) described as: states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule they carry with them a curious sense of authority. The term noetic sciences was first coined in 1973 when the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) was founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who two years earlier became the sixth man to walk on the moon. Ironically, it was the trip back home that Mitchell recalls most, during which he felt a profound sense of universal connectednesswhat he later described as a samadhi experience. In Mitchells own words, The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes. . . .The knowledge came to me directly. It led him to conclude that reality is more complex, subtle, and mysterious than conventional science had led him to believe. Perhaps a deeper understanding of consciousness (inner space) could lead to a new and expanded understanding of reality in which objective and subjective, outer and inner, are understood as co-equal aspects of the miracle of being. It was this intersection of knowledge systems that led Dr. Mitchell to launch the interdisciplinary field of noetic sciences. Source: Institute of Noetic Sciences

From Knowledge to Wisdom

Central to a noetic exploration is the use of particular knowledge banks as currently understood. I have selected nine knowledges which I regard as particularly important: 1. Paleanthropology. An interdisciplinary (paleontology, physical anthropology, ethnobotany, molecular biology and mineralogy) approach to understanding the earliest manifestations of humankind physically, socially, and by indirect evidence, culturally. 2. Archaeology. The study of prehistory in all corners of the world and throughout a considerable span of time before human beings invented writing and related forms of communication. 3. History. An evolution from the type of historical record typified by Heroditis and Tacitus, which relied on verbal traditions and such sources as accounts of travellers not always verifiable. Evolving to such contemporary historians as Toynbee, Roberts, and Landes, the rigour of scholarship is applied to today's system of history, requiring evidence, verification, and proof that historical material will stand up over time. 4. Cultural Anthropology. Cultural anthropology is as much an exploration of the human mind and the web of culture created by the human mind, as it is an analysis of macro and micro social systems including exploring peasant societies, urban life, and wide range of humanity around the globe. 5. Political Economy. A field of economic analysis invented by the British approximately 200 years ago. It provides a means to relate economic institution with political institutions. 6. Geography. Geography is a "descriptive science dealing with the surface of the earth, its divisions into continents and countries, and the climate, plants, animals, natural resources, inhabitants and industries of the various divisions" (Friend & Guralnik, 1957, p. 605). It straddles areas of physical science as well as areas of social science. 7. Environmental Studies. Environmental studies cover ways in which human activities interact with other forms of life. The issues raised by scientific work relevant to environmental problems are central to a grand strategy for survival for the entire planet. 8. Health Sciences. It is a broad concept, which includes more than medicine. It deals with the overall health of the entire population. As with many knowledges, the health sciences are in wide-ranging and fundamental upheaval. 9. Formal Education (kindergarten to advanced degree). Education is "the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind, character, etc., especially by formal schooling; teaching; training" (Friend & Guralnik, 1957, p. 461). A grand strategy for survival through investment in human capital is the central business of formal education. The following books are particularly useful in exploring the manner in which wisdom emerges from knowledge. http://books.google.ca/books?id=uUOdAQAACAAJ&dq

From Knowledge to Wisdom by Nicholas Maxwell (Pentire Press, 2007)

From Knowledge to Wisdom argues that there is an urgent need, for both intellectual and humanitarian reasons, to bring about a revolution in science and the humanities. The outcome would be a kind of academic inquiry rationally devoted to helping humanity learn how to create a better world. The basic intellectual aim of inquiry would be to seek and promote wisdom - wisdom being the capacity to realize what is of value in life for oneself and others, thus including knowledge and technological know-how, but much else besides. * "There are altogether too many symptoms of malaise in our science-based society for Nicholas Maxwell's diagnosis to be ignored." Professor Christopher Longuet-Higgins, Nature. * "a strong effort is needed if one is to stand back and clearly state the objections to the whole enormous tangle of misconceptions which surround the notion of science to-day. Maxwell has made that effort in this powerful, profound and important book." Dr. Mary Midgley, University Quarterly. * "The essential idea is really so simple, so transparently right ... It is a profound book, refreshingly unpretentious, and deserves to be read, refined and implemented." Dr. Stewart Richards, Annals of Science. This second edition is revised throughout, has additional material and three new chapters.

The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance by Anthony Gottlieb (W. W. Norton & Company, 2002)

Already a classic in its first year of publication, this landmark study of Western thought takes a fresh look at the writings of the great thinkers of classic philosophy and questions many pieces of conventional wisdom. The book invites comparison with Bertrand Russell's monumental History of Western Philosophy, "but Gottlieb's book is less idiosyncratic and based on more recent scholarship" (Colin McGinn, Los Angeles Times). A New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Best Book, and a Times Literary Supplement Best Book of 2001.

Return to Reason by Stephen Edelston Toulmin (Harvard University Press, 2001)

The turmoil and brutality of the twentieth century have made it increasingly difficult to maintain faith in the ability of reason to fashion a stable and peaceful world. After the ravages of global conflict and a Cold War that divided the world's loyalties, how are we to master our doubts and face the twenty-first century with hope? In Return to Reason, Stephen Toulmin argues that the potential for reason to improve our lives has been hampered by a serious imbalance in our pursuit of knowledge. The centuries-old dominance of rationality, a mathematical mode of reasoning modeled on theory and universal certainties, has diminished the value of reasonableness, a system of humane judgments based on personal experience and practice. To this day, academic disciplines such as economics and professions such as law and medicine often value expert knowledge and abstract models above the testimony of diverse cultures and the practical experience of individuals. Now, at the beginning of a new century, Toulmin sums up a lifetime of distinguished work and issues a powerful call to redress the balance between rationality and reasonableness. His vision does not reject the valuable fruits of science and technology, but requires awareness of the human consequences of our discoveries. Toulmin argues for the need to confront the challenge of an uncertain and unpredictable world, not with inflexible ideologies and abstract theories, but by returning to a more humane and compassionate form of reason, one that accepts the diversity and complexity that is human nature as an essential beginning for all intellectual inquiry.

A Passion for Wisdom by Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins (Oxford University Press US, 1998

Readers eager to acquire a basic familiarity with the history of philosophy but intimidated by the task will find in A Passion for Wisdom a lively, accessible, and highly enjoyable tour of the world's great ideas. Here, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins tell the story of philosophy's development with great clarity and refreshing wit. The authors begin with the most ancient religious beliefs of the east and west and bring us right up to the feminist and multicultural philosophies of the present. Along the way, they highlight major philosophers, from Plato and the Buddha to William James and Simone de Beauvoir, and explore major categories, from metaphysics and ethics to politics and logic. The book is enlivened as well by telling anecdotes and sparkling quotations. Among many memorable observations, we're treated to Thomas Hobbes' assessment that life is "nasty, brutish, and short" and Hegel's description of Napoleon as "world history on horseback." Engaging, comprehensive, and delightfully written, A Passion for Wisdom is a splendid introduction to an intellectual tradition that reaches back over three thousand years.

MIND AS METAPHOR: THE ESSENCE OF HUMAN CULTURE

There is a false distinction that has plagued Western culture for centuries, if not for millennia, dealing with the dichotomy between that which is metaphoric and that which is literal. In our common-sense traditions we are sure that some words and some ideas represent reality in a literal meaning in that there is no doubt about the connection between the object and the idea. Ordinary language philosophy has provided a twentieth-century academic justification for this point of view. The corollary to this idea is that some words and some ideas represent reality only as metaphor. That is, the connection between the object and the idea is an indirect, symbolic connection. The colour black in China has a very different symbolic significance than the same colour has in Canada. The maple leaf in Canada possesses a very different symbolic charge than it would have in China. There are those who would see some passages in the Bible as a careful recounting of point-bypoint events while others would regard the same passages as an allegorical lesson. Disputes over biblical interpretation can give real poignancy to the distinction between literal and metaphoric accounts. However, the world of mathematics can provide a more objective look at this distinction. Algebraicformulasarenotandcannotbealiteralrenderingoftheobjective environment. Even arithmeticcalculationsofanaccountantarenotandcannotbealiteralrepresentation of the environment. These systems are culturally agreed upon systems of symbols that are by their nature arbitrary and conventional and therefore utterly without literal representation. If symbols lack widespread conventional understanding, then they seem esoteric or, if you will, metaphoric. If an individual is highly innovative, then by definition this person is introducing symbolic references that have not established a high level of group acceptance and understanding. The issue here is not a distinction between the literalness of ideas and the metaphoric nature of ideas but rather the nature of acceptance of symbolic reference points. The argument boils down to this point: the human mind operates in terms of symbolsnew and old. The symbolic content of the mind is therefore a metaphoric representation of external objects and events. Therefore mind is metaphor and there is no distinction between literal representation and metaphoric representation. There may be distinctions at the symbolic level between the simple and the complex, the generally accepted and innovative, the routine and the bizarre, and many other such distinctions. Yet all remains metaphor. This point becomes important in the way training is done in any organization or certainly in the implications for organizational development. Often in training the technique of role-play is used. The technique has been used for countless years with widespread acceptance. However, there is a danger in the technique in that it can become clich-ridden and extremely predictable. On the other hand, if improvisational dramatic techniques are introduced, by its nature innovation occurs and the process becomes less predictable. The process of improvisation seems to some as metaphorical or allegorical when, in fact, the real issue is that it is innovative. Innovation gives freshness to a process because the individuals involved must engage in establishing commonality of meaning and agreement regarding symbols. The innovative process of improvisation theatre elevates role-play to a symbolically richer process. Many would argue that the symbolically richer process provides a more creative climate for learning, which can result in more effective training. The same point can be made regarding the process of brainstorming. Hanging charts on the wall

and allowing people to make lists on those charts often is highly conventional and extremely predictable. Regardless of the situation, the same old words and the same old lists can occur over and over. The predictability of the process drastically diminishes the effectiveness of time spent doing it. Utility is lost in predictability. However, if the group is encouraged to consciously and deliberately engage in a synectic approach then predictability is exchanged for innovation. That is, the persons involved are encouraged to use metaphor in the process, which means that the connection between symbols and events becomes more removed. The freshness of the symbolic content necessitates a mental process of reaching for understanding and groping for mutuality that may emerge. This deliberate use of metaphor breaks the process of literal-mindedness and conventionality. If trainers accept the idea that mind is metaphor and they consciously use the metaphoric potential of group interaction then innovation can occur. Utility is enhanced at the expense of predictability. There are some hazards in deliberately and purposefully using innovative techniques for purposes of organizational development or even of training. Many people are afraid of exposure or afraid of rejection. Such people believe they can protect themselves from these fears by routine, predictable behaviour. Consequently, the demand for innovation precipitates exposure and leaves the issue of acceptance more than a little open. Those who govern their lives by fear do feel precarious in the midst of innovative processes. However, if an organization governs its internal dynamics through the shared fear of its members then that organization runs the risk of sterility and complacency.