READING LIST

Some of the books I’ve read and found interesting over the years.

ESSENTIAL READING, to get started:

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own – Sandra Blakeslee

– A book entirely about “body maps” in the brain, i.e. the neuroscience of embodiment.

Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5 Billion Year History of the Human Body – Niel Shubin

– A paleontologist’s approach to “ancestral anatomy”.

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers – Robert Sapolsky

– A genius neuroscientist and master communicator’s detailed explanation of mind-body interactions, focusing specifically on the stress response.

Mindsight – Dan Siegel

– Excellent introduction to basic interactions between different parts of the brain and “interpersonal neurobiology”, how the brain develops through relationships.

Any one of these, on the science of chaos, complexity, or “dynamical systems theory”:

CHAOS – James Gleick

Chaos and the Evolving Ecological Universe – Sally Goerner

The Web of Life – Fritjof Capra

Order out of Chaos – Ilya Prigogine

The long list below I wrote from memory, at the request of my friend Dave Wardman (of Physical Alchemy).

EVOLUTION/ETHOLOGY/ANTHROPOLOGY:

The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals – Charles Darwin

Animal Ecology – Charles S. Elton

In the Beginning, Was the Worm – Andrew Brown

Nematode Behaviour – Randy Gaugler

Shapes of Time – Kenneth McNamara

Morphogenesis – John Tyler Bonner

The Evolution of Complexity – John Tyler Bonner

On Deep History and the Brain – Daniel Smail 

Darwin Machines – Henry Plotkin

 Darwin’s Cathedral – D.S. Wilson 

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers – Robert Sapolsky 

The Natural Science of the Human Species – Konrad Lorenz 

Your Inner Fish – Niel Shubin

 The Chosen Ape – Adam Kuper 

The Invention of Primitive Society – Adam Kuper

 The Lopsided Ape – Michael Corballis 

Guns Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond 

The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee – Jared Diamond 

The Naked Ape – Desmond Morris 

The Human Zoo – Desmond Morris

 Manwatching – Desmond Morris 

The Domestication of the Human Species – Peter J Wilson 

Evolution of Sickness and Healing – Horacio Fabrega 

The Spell of the Sensuous – David Abram 

Coming to Our Senses – Morris Berman

 The Re-enchantment of the World – Morris Berman 

Wandering God – Morris Berman 

Animal Wise – Virginia Morell 

Sex At Dawn – Cacilda Jethá and Christopher Ryan 

Born To Run – Christopher McDougall 

The Continuum Concept – Jean Liedloff 

The Ancestor’s Tale – Richard Dawkins 

Shamanism: Techniques of Ecstasy – Mircea Eliade 

The Book of Life – Stephen Jay Gould 

The Hero With a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell 

The Forest People – Colin Turnbull

 The Shaman’s Apprentice – Mark Plotkin 

The Cosmic Serpent – Jeremy Narby 

Shamans Through Time – Jeremy Narby 

Intelligence in Nature – Jeremy Narby 

The Way of the Shaman – Michael Harner

 The Archaic Revival – Terrence McKenna

 Singing to the Plants – Stephen Beyer 

Plants of the Gods – Richard Schultzes, Albert Hoffman 

Food of the Gods – Terrence McKenna

 Songlines – Bruce Chatwin

 DAOISM/CHINESE MEDICINE: 

Yijing – several

 Daodejing – several 

Chuang tsu – several

 Mantak Chia – The inner smile, iron shirt, daoist sexual yoga, etc

 The Secrets of Chinese Meditation – Kuan Yu Lu

 The Secret of the Golden Flower – Richard Willhelm

 Cultivating the Energy of Life – Liu Hua Yang

Immortal Sisters – Thomas Cleary 

The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine – Maoshing Ni

 In the Footsteps of the Yellow Emperor – Peter Eckman

The Secret and Sublime: Taoist Mysteries and Magic – John Blofeld

Taoism: the Quest for Immortality – John Blofeld 

An Exposition on the Eight Extraordinary Vessels – Charles Chace

 The Stone Monkey: An Alternative, Chinese Scientific, Reality – Bruce Hollbrook

 The Web That Has No Weaver – Ted Kaptchuk

 Fundamentals of Traditional Chinese Medicine – Joseph Needham 

Foundations of Traditional Chinese Medicine – Giovanni Maccioccia 

Nourishing Destiny – Lonny Jarrett 

Oriental Medicine – Edward O’Baidey 

Between Heaven and Earth – Harriet Beinfield, Efrem Korn 

The Practical Application of Meridian Style Acupuncture – John Pirog 

Japanese Classical Acupuncture – Shudo Denmei 

Traditional Acupuncture: Traditional Diagnosis – J.R. Worsley

YOGA/TANTRA/HINDUISM:

The Deeper Dimension of Yoga – Georg Feuerstein

Inner Yoga – Sri Anirvan

Philosophy of Goraknath – Akshaya Kumar Banerjea

The Trika Shavism of Kashmir – Moti Lal Pandit

The Upanishads – various translations and commentaries. 

From the Satyananda/Bihar School of Yoga: 

– Sri Vijnana Bhairava Tantra

 - Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha

 - Practical Yoga Psychology 

– Kundalini Tantra

 - Hatha Yoga Pradipika

 - Moola Bandha: The Master Key

 - Yoga Nidra

 - Yoga Darshan: Visions of the Upanishads 

– 9 Principle Upanishads

 - Dharana Darshan 

By Swami Sivananda:

 - several books but can’t remember the titles 

Yoga Therapy – A.G. and Ganesh Mohan

 Yoga for Body, Breath and Mind – A.G. Mohan 

Anatomy of Hatha Yoga – David Coulter 

Yoga Yajnavalkya – A.G. Mohan

 Introduction to Indian Philosophy – Bina Gupta 

The Yoga of Mindfulness – Asokananda

 BUDDHISM: 

The Anapanasati Sutta, different translations and commentaries by:

 - Buddhadasa Bhikkhu 

– Thanissaro Bhikkhu 

– Ven. U Vimalaramsi

 Mindfulness of Breathing – Buddhadasa Bhikku

Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator’s Handbook – Ajahn Brahm

 Mahamudra: The Moonlight – Dakpo Tashi Namgyal 

Yogins of Ladakh – John Crook and James Low 

Library of Tibetan Archives (lots of small books, all very good) 

Mindfulness in Plain English – Henepola Gunaratana

 The Bliss of Inner Fire – Lama Yeshe

Zen and the Brain – James H. Austin

 The Buddha’s Brain – Rick Hanson

MIND/BODY:

Job’s Body – Deane Juhan 

The Endless Web – Schultz 

Structural Integration – Ida Rolf 

Anatomy Trains – Thomas Myers

 Mobilization of the Nervous System – David Butler 

The Sensitive Nervous System – David Butler

 Explain Pain – David Butler, Lorimer Moseley 

Awareness Through Movement – Moshe Feldenkrais 

The Body and Mature Behaviour – Feldenkrais

 The Elusive Obvious – Feldenkrais 

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own – Sandra Blakeslee 

The Psychobiology of Mind-body Healing – Ernest Rossi 

Life On Land – Emelie Conrad 

Sensing Feeling and Action – Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen 

Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-mind Centering – Linda Hartley

How Life Moves: Explorations in Meaning and Body Awareness – Caryn McHose 

Behind the Mirror: a Butoh Manual for Students – Rhizome Lee 

Bone, Breath and Gesture – Don Johnson

 Body/Embodiment: Symbolic Interaction and the Sociology of the Body – Phillip Vanini 