Book Review: The Great Unknown by Marcus Du Sautoy (Affiliate link)
In this book the author explores the frontiers of science and shares what we know and more importantly what we don’t know about those frontiers. It’s a fascinating book that explores the frontiers of physics, math, biology and more. I found it to be an interesting book if not quite as engaging as some of his works on mathematics. Nonetheless its a good introduction to the frontiers of science.
Book Review: Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday (Affiliate link)
This is a must read book for anyone because it explores how our egos get in the way of our work. The author provides historical examples of people who’ve either managed to avoid letting their ego get the best of them or have allowed their ego to cause them to fall. The examples help to illustrate the principles of this book, but even without them you only have to look at your own life to see where sometimes you’ve fallen off the right path because of your ego. This book has been a transformative read in my life and is one I will come back to frequently.
Book Review: The Phenomenon of Life by Christopher Alexander (Affiliate link)
This is as fascinating book that explores how life shows up in building design. The author presents a holistic and dare I say spiritual approach to building design that is eye-opening. The various examples and case studies illustrate the principles he discusses. What I found really helpful was how this book helped me further revise my own understanding and experience of space and how we live in space.
Book Review: The Inner Life of the Earth edited by Paul O’Leary (Affiliate link)
This is a collection of articles that focuses on elemental magic and the alchemy of the Earth. Mixed in with these articles is a focus on Christian mysticism. Some of the articles are useful and others less so. As with any anthology the articles are a mixed bag. I did find the collection interesting and would recommend it if you’re wanting to explore Christian mysticism and elemental magic.
Book Review: Emergent Magick by Threskiornis and Zentra El (Affiliate link)
Emergent Magick is essentially a recruitment manual for a magical organization. The book provides a foundational definition of magic as well as the specific practices that are done within this organization as well as how sub-communities are organized. The book also attempts to present what’ shared as a new paradigm, but it doesn’t strike me as significantly different from other magical organizations or currents of thought and practice. With that said, if you’re looking for a model of a magical community, this is a good model to draw upon. I don’t agree with all the perspectives shared on magic in this book, but if nothing else it may provide you consideration of what you’d like to see in your own magical group.
Book Review: Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings by Marko Pogacnik (Affiliate link)
This is an intriguing book about elemental magic and nature spirits. It’s an earlier book, with some commentary provided at a later date, which makes for a fascinating read because you get to contrast the earlier perspectives with the later awareness of the author. I also like that the author shares drawings of the elemental spirits. About the only thing I don’t care for is the tendency to link Christian mythos with the interactions he has, but I recognize that some of what the author is sharing is filtered through the spiritual path he walks, so I recognize in turn that informs his writing and experiences of the spirits. Overall its a fascinating exploration of elemental magic.
Book Review: The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris (Affiliate link)
This is a must read book for anyone who struggles with feeling their emotions and compartmentalizes their experiences. I found that reading this book and practicing the exercises within it helped me immensely when it came to working with difficult emotions. Just as importantly I’ve learned tools for communicating with my partner about my emotions, as well as being more present when my partner shares their emotions. This book is a life changer and since I started reading it and implementing it I’ve felt a deeper level of contentment than I’ve ever felt before and been more in touch with my emotions than I previously was.
Book Review: GPT-3 Techgnosis by Alley Wurds (affiliate link)
This is a grimoire of sorts, where the author has written the book with an AI and treated the AI as an entity. It’s a fascinating experiment with writing and magic, and the author does explain how they edited the AI response in order to focus the content of the book. At times the content is scattered and it doesn’t read like a typical magical book. With that said there are some gems in the book and if you’re someone interesting in writing magic, it may be a fascinating book for you to explore.
