The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault

Cynthia Bourgeault is an Episcopal priest, a contemplative, and a renown writer and teacher of spirituality. Her book The Wisdom Jesus incorporates the most progressive thought about the nature of Jesus and what he taught. One interesting aspect is that Bourgeault tries (unsuccessfully, I believe) to marry modern thought to the Episcopalianism she loves. She starts off with the Nicene Creed and I couldn't help thinking, "Oh, the Bishop made her put it there," because she moves right into what you could call new age thought, the liberal religious tradition, metaphysical Christianity, mysticism (ancient and modern) or just plain spirituality. She even admits that "... Christianity was changed into a religion about Jesus rather than a religion of Jesus" which is what the liberal Christian tradition has said all along. Like Bishop John Shelby Spong, she seems to want to rescue her church from becoming obsolete by coaxing it beyond literal interpretation of creeds and Bible stories into a sophisticated spirituality (what Dawkins calls "Einsteinian religion") that doesn't expect logical and sensible people to park their intelligence at the door when they come to church. The Wisdom Jesus is a wonderful, wonderful book, well written in a thoughtful and erudite manner, yet very accessible.

Tiger for Breakfast by Michel Peissel

Michel Peissel's biography of Boris Lissanevitch is a wonderful evocation of Kathmandu in the mid-twentieth century. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1905, Boris was lured into a career in ballet to prevent his being shanghaied into the Russian army. He became a renowned dancer who travelled widely and wound up as a hotelier and restaurateur in Kathmandu which was his home from 1951 until the end of his life in 1985. He established the famous Yak and Yeti Hotel and Restaurant and was witness to the opening up of the closed country of Nepal. He met major historical figures and watched tourism, and and especially mountain climbing, grow there. Peissel knew Boris personally and his book is more an "I knew him when..." narrative than a deep reconstruction of Boris's life. Now out of print, Tiger for Breakfast is one of few existing resources on what was a full and fascinating life.

The Thought Exchange by David Friedman

David Friedman has had a successful career as a musician (conductor, composer, singer) and has also developed a technique called "thought exchange"for managing your mind and emotions He gives talks and seminars on the technique which involves recognizing your emotions, paying attention to them and replacing their underlying thought with a different thought. His book, subtitled "Overcoming Our Resistance to Living a Sensational Life," explains the technique and is filled with wonderful examples of how it works. However the book is also very repetitive and could really have been written in about half the 473 pages he published. Nevertheless it has been inspirational and  led to some very good discussions in my metaphysics class.