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Approaching Infinity

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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only available in back issues in obscure UFO journals or in hard-to-find pdfs on the net, newsletters, and some unpublished material.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:
I've read the first few and all I can say is that they are classic Keel at his best. Keel wasn't just an original thinker, he was a great writer too - and funny. Colvin also publishes previously out-of-print titles, including several by Gray Barker, including these Jessup-related titles (relevant for when we get a bit further along in the Wave):
This one has been out for a while, but for all the Wizard of Oz fans, in 2000 a gorgeous annotated and illustrated hardcover edition was released. (The Annotated Alice [in Wonderland] is also available.) And in 2016, Steve Adams published The Wizard of Oz as a Parable. Adams has been involved in Gurdjieff work for decades, so it looks like that will inform his interpretation. From the book description:

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)
Tons more info on Ibn Arabi (including articles and more translations of shorter works) available at the website of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society website. And last year Dr. Eric Winkel started publishing what he plans to be a complete English translation of the Futuhat, projected to be 19 volumes - 13,000 pages in total! (Details available on the MIAS website.)
 
No better time to add a few more books to the bibliophiles' wishlists and stacks of books waiting to be read, right?
Thank you Approaching Infinity for taking the time and effort in compiling that "little " list. I've never actually read any of Keel's books although I've read him quoted many times by Laura and others. I think I'll start with him and also Ibn-Al-Arabi. Thanks for doing the leg work and "encouraging" me to get a move on.
 
Not that bad actually. $100 each but they're offering a 'launch' discount for volume two of $30 off. And when you consider that each volume contains two books...

I went ahead a grabbed both so as not to miss the discount on volume two.
Yep, good points. Contrast to academic books: often as expensive, or more expensive, but average in terms of length and quality. Pir Press makes high-quality, beautiful books, and these ones are like 700 pages each. A collector's item, for sure.
 
Thank you @Approaching Infinity for compiling this list of books. I have read a couple of John Keel's books and found them informative and enjoyable.

I would like to recommend three more recent books (with detailed, credible reports and cases) for those interested in the UFO and Psi phenomenon in the modern times -

UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean

Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife by Leslie Kean

UFOs for the 21st Century Mind: A Fresh Guide to an Ancient Mystery by Richard Dolan
 
I would like to recommend three more recent books (with detailed, credible reports and cases) for those interested in the UFO and Psi phenomenon in the modern times -

UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean

Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife by Leslie Kean

UFOs for the 21st Century Mind: A Fresh Guide to an Ancient Mystery by Richard Dolan

And the book on what is perhaps the most interesting and confounding places on Earth, relating UFOs with other paranormal dimensions of this phenomenon -

Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah by Colm A. Kelleher and George Knapp
 
Thank you @Approaching Infinity for compiling this list of books. I have read a couple of John Keel's books and found them informative and enjoyable.

I would like to recommend three more recent books (with detailed, credible reports and cases) for those interested in the UFO and Psi phenomenon in the modern times -

UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean

Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife by Leslie Kean

UFOs for the 21st Century Mind: A Fresh Guide to an Ancient Mystery by Richard Dolan
Good recommendations, chrismcdude. Kean's first book may not get into the high strangeness that Keel does, but it's still a solid journalistic rundown of some of the best "official" evidence on the books. A good book for those unfamiliar with the subject, even if she plays it safe. Dolan's book is more comprehensive. And Kean's Surviving Death was also surprisingly good, covering a whole range of lines of evidence for afterlife survival. She's a good writer, and intersperses her appraisal of the evidence with her own personal experiences and investigations. Not everyday you get a 'respected' journalist taking physical mediumship seriously and giving it a fair rundown.
 
Thanks for the list AI, I think I could live for 1000 years and still not get caught up on my reading list 😂
To know is to suffer! ;-D And speaking of more books, here are a few more that have caught my eye recently, this time in the history category.

First a couple new releases:
This one's been covered on SOTT here. It's a brand new, up to date overview of all the science on the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis.

And I started reading this one last week: The Return of Holy Russia: Apocalyptic History, Mystical Awakening, and the Struggle for the Soul of the World (2020) by Gary Lachman. Here's part of the book description:

A history of how mystical and spiritual influences have shaped Russia’s identity and politics and what it means for the future of world civilization

• Examines Russia’s spiritual history, from its pagan origins and Eastern Orthodox mysticism to secret societies, Rasputin, Roerich, Blavatsky, and Dostoyevsky

• Explains the visionary writings of the spiritual philosophers of Russia’s Silver Age, which greatly influence Putin today

• Explores what Russia’s unique identity and its history of messianic politics and apocalyptic thought mean for its future on the world stage

So far, so good. It not only provides a basic overview of all of Russian history, but it does so with a focus on Russia's spirituality: pagan roots, Orthodox conversion, Hesychast/monastic traditions, schisms and sects, freemasonry, etc. At the beginning he quotes Cayce's and Steiner's predictions about Russia and goes from there.

And some translations of classics that have come out in the past decade or so:

First, Caesar! Seeing as how his birthday is coming up, if you want to treat yourself to a birthday treat in his honor, you can't do better than Landmark Julius Caesar: The Complete Works (2017), translated by Kurt A. Raaflaub. It's got an extensive introduction, tons of helpful notes and illustrations, a massive chronology, and pretty much everything you'd want in a complete translation of the Gallic and Civil Wars. Obviously a labor of love!

And then there's the not quite as pretty, but still excellent Plutarch Caesar: Translated with an Introduction and Commentary (2012) by Christopher Pelling, a translation of Plutarch's bio, again with tons of helpful footnotes.

Moving on from Caesar, here's a new translation of Procopius/Prokopios's book on Justinian - the one Laura covered back in the Truth of Lies series: Prokopios: The Secret History with Related Texts (2010) - Anthony Kaldellis. Haven't read it, but it sounds like a great translation, with bonus features.

And for the King Arthur and the Holy Grail fans, Nigel Bryant has been producing high-quality, easy-to-read translations of various classic texts:
The Chretien volume is the first-ever complete translation, including all the different continuations (Perceval was left unfinished when Chretien died.)
 
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