Books in Brief
The Etiquette of Freedom: Gary Snyder, Jim Harrison
and The Practice of the Wild
Edited by Paul Ebenkamp
Counterpoint, 2010; 160 pp.,
$28 (cloth) The lion’s share of The Etiquette of Freedom is
transcribed conversations between two of America’s literary giants:
Gary Snyder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet often associated with the
Beats, and Jim Harrison, the author of more than thirty books, including
the novel, Legends of the Fall.
Snyder and Harrison consistently offer an intimate look at their lives
and thoughts during talks that touch on such topics as poetry, eating
bear meat, and Zen. The book comes with a DVD that features The Practice of the Wild documentary about the writers as well as more than an hour of outtakes.
Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
By Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung
HarperOne, 2010; 304 pp., $25.99 (cloth) This isn’t a diet book, not in the classic sense. Savor is teaching mindfulness and—with two out of three adults in the U.S. overweight—this book is also addressing suffering head on. Sure, it’s a personal decision whether to scarf down gummy bears and chocolate cupcakes, and then skip the gym. But world-renowned Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and Harvard nutritionist Lilian Cheung say the way to shed pounds permanently is to take into account the societal and biological forces that drive us to eat too much and move too little—only then can we stop the cycle of shame and guilt, and start changing our habits.
Fearless: The 7 Principles of Peace of
Mind
By Brenda Shoshanna
Sterling, 2010; 224 pp.,
$22.95 (cloth)
“Many
of us depend on fear, thinking it protects us,” says Zen practitioner
Brenda Shoshanna in her latest book. But it doesn’t. Fear is fueled by
self-hatred and it destroys our basic sense of confidence and
well-being. It takes us off track and makes us prey to those who wish to
control or harm us. Fearless
gives us an intellectual understanding of fear and offers tools to help
us let go of this negative emotion. “Contrary to popular belief,
letting it go is not difficult to do,” Shoshanna continues. “The truth
is that fear is a bully: When you turn around and face it head-on, it
becomes powerless. As you do so, you see that the very thing that once
seemed so terrifying is simply made of dust and dreams.” Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change
By Adam Kahane
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2010; 168 pp., $16.95 (paper) Typically,
when we want to solve thorny group or societal issues, we either go to
war—pushing for what we want at all costs—or we sweep problems under the
rug of superficial peace. But Adam Kahane says there is a better way.
First, we must understand that these two approaches reflect fundamental
human drives: love (the drive to unity) and power (the drive to
self-realization). Then we can learn to synthesize love and power and
discover the ways in which they complement each other. Kahane has spent
twenty years helping leaders around the world tackle
daunting problems such as implementing peace accords that ended civil
war in Guatemala and addressing critical development issues in South
Africa. The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook: A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Best Teas
By Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss
Ten Speed Press, 2010; 200 pp., $16.99 (cloth) Buddhists
often talk about how we do not and cannot have independent existence.
We may drink our cup of tea in solitude but we can only do so because
it’s connected to so many people and conditions: the tea sowers and
pluckers and sellers, the sun, rain, and soil. To delve into all that
goes into our teapot, I recommend The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook;
it unpacks the beverage from a multitude of angles—its history, its
production, its various classes or types, and the myriad of factors that
determine its flavor. The authors have been tea retailers since 1974
and the text is steeped in their extensive knowledge of the subject, as
well as their passion for it. The sensual descriptions of leaf and bud
had me putting on the kettle.
From the November 2010 issue of the Shambhala Sun.
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