Readings

This is by no means an exhaustive list, even of recent reading, for this life-long bookworm.

What I share here are the works which seem to be most influencing my thought in recent years.

For a broader reading list, visit this page on the Peace and Social Concerns website of the Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

Note: The image is Nautilus Color Wheel, by Jay Gross.

Faith and Practice

• Karen Armstrong
  • The History of God
  • The Battle for God
  • Islam: A Short History
  • The Great Transformation: The World in the Time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah
• Resa Aslan, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

• James Breech, The Silence of Jesus: The Authentic Voice of the Historical Man

• Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons

• James P. Carse, The Religious Case Against Belief

• John Dominic Crossan
  • The Historical Jesus: The life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant
  • Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography
  • The Birth of Christianity: Discovering what happened in the years immediately after the execution of Jesus
  • In Search of Paul: How Jesus’s Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom
  • God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now
  • The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon (coauthored by Marcus J. Borg)
  • The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord’s Prayer
• Ram Dass
  • How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service (with Paul Gorman)
  • Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying
• Stephen Finlan
  • Problems with Atonement: The Origins of, and Controversy about, the Atonement Doctrine
  • Options on Atonement in Christian Thought
  • The Apostle Paul and the Pauline Tradition
• Richard Q. Ford, The Parables of Jesus: Recovering the Art of Listening

• Douglas Gwyn
  • Apocalypse of the Word : The Life and Message of George Fox
  • The Covenant Crucified : Quakers and the Rise of Capitalism
  • Seekers Found : Atonement in Early Quaker Experience
  • Unmasking the Idols : A Journey Among Friends
• Hafiz of Shiraz, 14th century Persian Sufi poet, exemplified by Daniel Ladinsky’s versions of selected poems, The Subject Tonight is Love

• Joyce and River Higginbotham
  • Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions
  • Pagan Spirituality: A Guide to Personal Transformation
• H. Larry Ingle
  • First Among Friends: George Fox & the Creation of Quakerism
  • Quakers in Conflict: The Hicksite Reformation
• Jon D. Levenson
  • Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life
  • The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity

• George MacDonald, George MacDonald: An anthology, edited by C.S. Lewis

• Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

• Robert J. Miller, editor, The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version

• Wapola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught

• Katsuki Sekida, Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy

• Geza Vermes
  • Jesus the Jew: A Historian’s Reading of the Gospels
  • Jesus and the World of Judaism
  • The Religion of Jesus the Jew

Science and History

• Antonio Damasio
  • Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
  • The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness
  • Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain
  • Self Comes to Mind: Construction the Conscious Brain

• Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

• Stephen Jay Gould
  • Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History
  • The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History
  • Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History
  • The Flamingo’s Smile: Reflections in Natural History
  • An Urchin in the Storm: Essays about Books and Ideas
  • Bully for Brontosaurus
  • Dinosaur in a Haystack
  • The Lying Stones of Marrakech
  • Rocks of Ages

• Jeremy W. Hayward, Perceiving Ordinary Magic: Science & Intuitive Wisdom

• Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Fiction

• John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Chronicles
• Volume I: The Forsyte Saga [1906-21]
  • The Man of Property [1906]
  • Interlude: Indian Summer of a Forsyte (1918?)
  • In Chancery [1920]
  • Interlude: Awakening [1920]
  • To Let [1921]
  • On Forsyte ’Change [1930]
• Volume II: A Modern Comedy [1924-1928]
  • The White Monkey [1924]
  • Interlude: A Silent Wooing
  • The Silver Spoon [1926]
  • Interlude: Passers By
  • Swan Song [1928]
• Volume III: End of the Chapter [1931-1933, published posthumously]
  • Maid In Waiting [1931]
  • Flowering Wilderness [1932]
  • Over the River [1933]

• William Gibson, the works

• Frank Herbert, the works, especially the six original Dune books
  [but not his son Brian, who inherited his daddy's notes but not his talent]

• Doris Lessing, the works, especially the Canopus in Argos series

• Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The Mars trilogy
  • The Years of Rice and Salt
  • The Science in the Capitol series
  • Galileo’s Dream

• Neal Stephenson
  • Cryptonomicon
  • The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World
  • Anathem

• John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the works
  [and kudos to his son Christopher, who inherited his daddy's notes and knew what to do with them]