When Things Fall Apart -

by Pema Chodron

There is a fundamental happiness right within our reach, y et we usually miss it --ironically, while caught up in attempts to escape pain and suffering. Pema Chodron's radical and compassionate advice for what to do when things fall apart in our lives goes against the grain of our usual habits and expectations and confronts us with traditional Buddhist wisdom. Included in the book are:

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Start Where You Are

by Pema Chodron

This is an indispensable handbook for cultivating fearlessness and awakening a compassionate heart. Chodrom provides us down-to-earth guidance on how to make friends with ourselves and develop genuine compassion toward others. Among the maxims covered in this book:

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Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal

Rachel Naomi Remem, M.D.

"Despite the awesome powers of technology, many of us still do not live well," says Dr. Rachel Remen. "We need to listen to one another's stories again." Dr. Remem, a physician, professor of medicine, therapist, and long-term survivor of chronic illness, invites us to listen from the soul. This remarkable collection of true stories draws on the concept of "kitchen table wisdom" - the human tradition of shared experience that shows us life in all its power and mystery and reminds us that the things we cannot measure may be the things that ultimately sustain and enrich our lives.

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The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation

by Thich Nhat Hanh

. . .gentle anecdotes and practical exercises for being mindful .. from washing the dishes to answering the telephone to drinking tea.

Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

by Thich Nhat Hanh

. . commentaries and mediations and stories . exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace.

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Call to Connection: Bringing Sacred Tribal Values into Modern Life

by Carole Kammen & Jodi Gold

"Call to Connection is an important book for our times. It reminds us how far we have strayed from our essential need for community and then gives us the keys we need to recreate it for ourselves, our families, and each other." In these modern and complex times, many of us feel isolated and alone. Much of society has lost the sense of belonging, a feeling of connectedness to community, to the earth and to the sacred. Many of us long for simpler times when people lived in villages, depended on one another, engaged in sacred rituals, and honored the spirit of life.

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Saving Face: America and the Politics of Shame

by Stuart Schneiderman

In this original and timely book, Stuart Schneiderman explores and analyzes the forces of shame (when you do not do something your are supposed to do) as opposed to guilt (when you do something that you are not supposed to do), and shows how both crucially affect a culture, a society, and institution, a marriage, the self:

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Crazy Time: Surviving Divorce and Building a New Life

by Abigail Trafford

In this intelligent and insightful book, Abigail Trafford charts the emotional journey, identifying the common phases in the evolution from marriage to separation to divorce, and eventually to a new life. Based upon her personal experience, extensive research, and interviews with hundreds of divorced men and women.

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We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy and World's Getting Worse

by James Hillman and Michael Ventura

This furious, trenchant, and audacious series of interrelated dialogues and letters takes a searing look at not only the legacy of psychotherapy, but also practically every aspect of contemporary living--from sexuality to politics, media, the environment, and life in the city.

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Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life

by Sissela Bok

A penetrating and thoughtful examination of lying -- in both private and public life. She looks at everything from white lies, lies to the sick and dying, lies of parents to children, lies to enemies, to lies to protect clients and peers. The consequences of such lies are then explored through a number of concrete situation in which people are involved, either as liars or as the victims of the lie.

Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation

by Sissela Bok

What kinds of moral issues are raised when we have closely guarded secrets -- either as individuals, families, or a nation? She asks such questions as: Under what circumstances is it wrong to pry into secrets? Are there times when a promise of secrecy must be broken? What about journalists' protection of sources, government suppression of information, covert police activity, scientific secrecy?

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The 48 Laws of Power

by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

"For those who want power, watch power, or want to arm themselves against power .. ."Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, The 48 Laws of Power is a piercing distillation of three thousand years of the history of power. From such thinkers, rulers as Sun-tzu, Machiavelli, Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, P.T. Barnum. Example: Conceal you intentions; Learn to keep people dependent on you; When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude; Know who you're dealing with, do not offend the wrong person; Play a sucker to catch a sucker -- seem dumber than your mark; Use the surrender tactic: Transform weakness into power; Never appear too perfect; Master the art of timing .. and many more.

A great read. Instructive, fascinating, and highly useful in arming yourself against power, or getting power for yourself.

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Where to find these books?

Orr Books -  (612) 823-2408
3043 Hennepin Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55408