Since a lot of us are rereading the Wave, I want to share some books on related subjects that have been published since the Wave was written. No better time to add a few more books to the bibliophiles' wishlists and stacks of books waiting to be read, right? I may also use this thread to post news about other books I discover that may be of interest, not specifically in relation to the Wave. Disclaimer: I haven't read all the books listed, so I can't necessarily recommend them all. Consider it a rundown of book news to give an idea of what kind of stuff is out there, with occasional reviews. And if anyone sees anything that strikes their fancy, please feel free to let us all know what you think of the book(s) in question! Some would make good gift ideas too, depending on the tastes of your friends and family. ;)
To begin with, starting in 2013 Andrew Colvin has been doing history a great service by collecting and publishing a ton of material by John Keel that otherwise would have been lost or forgotten. This includes articles previously only available in back issues in obscure UFO journals or in hard-to-find pdfs on the net, newsletters, and some unpublished material. Here are the volumes he has released over the last several years:
The Ra Material was republished in 2018, in two volumes, as The Ra Contact (here and here). The editor re-listened to all the original tapes, so this version is a verbatim transcript, with corrections and minus the editing that went into the previously published versions, restoring all the material that had been excluded originally (including some questions and answers that weren't even included in book 5).
There are also some independent publishers that have sprung up who are publishing interesting books related to Gurdjieff and Ibn Arabi.
First up is Book Studio. They were the first to publish the Transcripts of Gurdjieff’s Meetings 1941-1946 back in 2009. Since then they have published several other Gurdjieff-related books, including reprints of some previously out-of-print memoirs (like those of Kathryn Hulme and Georgette LeBlanc), as well as transcripts of Orage's talks, C. Daly King's book The Oragean Version, and most importantly IMO, Gurdjieff's Early Talks, which includes all the talks that were included in Views from the Real World in their unedited form, and lots more that were not published; and facsimiles of original manuscripts of Life Is Real Only Then, When "I Am" (i.e., without the edits made by the Foundation for its official publication). Those MSS come from the papers of Solita Solano, JG Bennett, and others. The Gurdjieff Foundation, via Dolmen Meadows, also published all the 1943 talks (several of which were included in Transcripts of Gurdjieff’s Meetings) in 2017. Unfortunately, as with all other "official" publications, they're obviously edited, with some 'controversial' material excised. But at least it includes way more material that hadn't yet been published. They also say that there are plans to publish more of the Paris talks transcripts in the future. (Also, JG Bennett's estate has been republishing all Bennett's works, and several others which were previously unpublished.)
And last for this post is Anqa Publishing. They've been around for 22 years, and since 2006 have specialized in publishing translations of some of Ibn al-Arabi's shorter works. (See the MindMatters interview with Stephen Hirtenstein, one of the guys involved, and author of Unlimited Mercifier, a biography of Ibn Arabi.) Some of their IA translations:
To begin with, starting in 2013 Andrew Colvin has been doing history a great service by collecting and publishing a ton of material by John Keel that otherwise would have been lost or forgotten. This includes articles previously only available in back issues in obscure UFO journals or in hard-to-find pdfs on the net, newsletters, and some unpublished material. Here are the volumes he has released over the last several years:
- Flying Saucer to the Center of Your Mind: Selected Writings of John A. Keel
- The Outer Limits of the Twilight Zone: Selected Writings of John A. Keel
- Searching For the String: Selected Writings of John A. Keel
- The Book of Mothman (as far as I can tell, all but one of the articles in this one are included in other volumes - it just collects the Mothman-related titles)
- The Great Phonograph in the Sky: Selected Writings of John A. Keel
- The Passionate Percipient: Illusions I Have Known And Loved - Selected Writings of John A. Keel
- The Perspicacious Percipient: How to Investigate UFOs and Other Insane Urges - Selected Writings of John A. Keel
- Pursuing the Addenda: Supernatural Reports From the Natural World
- I Never Would Have Slept With You If I Had Known You Were a Giant Birdman From Outer Space: Ancient Aliens and Other Mysteries of the Modern Mind
- The Big Breakthrough: Confronting UFOs, Men in Black, Mothman, and Mysterious Humanoids - Trojan Horses of a Breakaway Civilization?
- The Big Blackout: A True Tale of Ultraterrestrial Terror
- The Strange Case of Dr. M.K. Jessup by Gray Barker
- The Jessup Dimension by Anna Genzlinger
- The Case for the UFO (the original edition, not the annotated one)
PUT YOURSELF IN DOROTHY’S SHOES… Can “The Wizard of Oz” story be used as an allegory of the spiritual path with enough depth and universality to embody core spiritual truths common to all faiths? This book says “yes!” The author invents the concept of the “spiritual monomyth” and builds one on a story that is not offensive to any religion and therefore can serve all of them. The result is a journey of finding common ground and mutual understanding so desperately needed in the world today. And that journey is a journey you take within yourself.
The Ra Material was republished in 2018, in two volumes, as The Ra Contact (here and here). The editor re-listened to all the original tapes, so this version is a verbatim transcript, with corrections and minus the editing that went into the previously published versions, restoring all the material that had been excluded originally (including some questions and answers that weren't even included in book 5).
There are also some independent publishers that have sprung up who are publishing interesting books related to Gurdjieff and Ibn Arabi.
First up is Book Studio. They were the first to publish the Transcripts of Gurdjieff’s Meetings 1941-1946 back in 2009. Since then they have published several other Gurdjieff-related books, including reprints of some previously out-of-print memoirs (like those of Kathryn Hulme and Georgette LeBlanc), as well as transcripts of Orage's talks, C. Daly King's book The Oragean Version, and most importantly IMO, Gurdjieff's Early Talks, which includes all the talks that were included in Views from the Real World in their unedited form, and lots more that were not published; and facsimiles of original manuscripts of Life Is Real Only Then, When "I Am" (i.e., without the edits made by the Foundation for its official publication). Those MSS come from the papers of Solita Solano, JG Bennett, and others. The Gurdjieff Foundation, via Dolmen Meadows, also published all the 1943 talks (several of which were included in Transcripts of Gurdjieff’s Meetings) in 2017. Unfortunately, as with all other "official" publications, they're obviously edited, with some 'controversial' material excised. But at least it includes way more material that hadn't yet been published. They also say that there are plans to publish more of the Paris talks transcripts in the future. (Also, JG Bennett's estate has been republishing all Bennett's works, and several others which were previously unpublished.)
And last for this post is Anqa Publishing. They've been around for 22 years, and since 2006 have specialized in publishing translations of some of Ibn al-Arabi's shorter works. (See the MindMatters interview with Stephen Hirtenstein, one of the guys involved, and author of Unlimited Mercifier, a biography of Ibn Arabi.) Some of their IA translations:
- The Universal Tree and the Four Birds (2006)
- A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection (2007)
- Contemplation of Holy Mysteries (2008)
- The Seven Days of the Heart: Prayers for the Nights and Days of the Week (2008)
- The Four Pillars of Spiritual Transformation (2009)
- The Secrets of Voyaging (2015)
- The Alchemy of Human Happiness (2019 - one chapter from the Futuhat, the massive work only bits of which were translated by Chittick in Sufi Path of Knowledge)