Cult and Culture

NewYorker.com · In August 2009, Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis left the Church of Scientology after 25 years of committed involvement. Lawrence Wright's remarkable cover story chronicles the bizarre evolution of Scientology and its followers, including Hollywood elites like Haggis himself. Carefully researched, the disturbing story of this uniquely American cult itself reads like something only possible in the movies...

Books Behind Bars

Prisonbookprogram.org · I recently donated books and a year's magazines to a nearby penitentiary, and learned that there is constant demand for quality reading materials in prison libraries across the country. Many regional nonprofits help provide books to prisoners, so check this list for one near you. Or contact prisons directly; though dated, this info may be a good place to start. Donating was easier than I thought, and much appreciated. Books can be mailed cheaply via USPS Media Mail. Send yours today!

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Factmag.com · This groundbreaking 1981 album by Brian Eno and David Byrne introduced some of the first sample-based music, and is probably my most exciting musical discovery this year. Reissued in 2006, My Life is remarkably contemporary, combining densely layered rhythms with found voice recordings to create a haunting, compelling trip...

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts at Wikipedia | 'Making of' essay by David Byrne

The Return of Psychedelics Research

TTBOOK, 06.06.2010 · Timothy Leary probably did more than anyone to popularize LSD in the 1960's, but this indiscriminate promotion of mind-altering substances created a backlash, making scientific study almost impossible. Now a new generation of scientists is studying psychedelics' potential for treating problems and illuminating consciousness. This hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge explores the cutting edge of this new research.

TTBOOK's 'Psychedelics' Episode and Real Audio | (Click here for MP3)
Related New York Times Article: 'Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again'

The Future of Books and Publishing

Bob Edwards Weekend · This engaging series investigates how the publishing industry is changing in the digital age. In his conversations with writers, readers, publishers and media theorists, host Bob Edwards explores the increasingly dramatic effects of technology on the future of reading, writing, and selling books. Listen now:

The Future of Publishing Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Featured: Richard Nash, Future of the Book and Jason Epstein's Essay

'A Novel Approach' to Consciousness

CBC Radio, 02.11.2010 · How does what we read shape how we see ourselves and our world? Writers of fiction often explore why we think the way we do by attempting to convey some sense of the mind’s inner workings. In this provocative episode of CBC Radio's Ideas, Hassan Santur inquires about how literary novels, alongside neuroscience and psychology, inform our understanding of consciousness and perception.

Streaming Audio at CBC Radio's Ideas site | Ideas Podcast Listen and Download
Featured: David Lodge, Jeff Warren and Galen Strawson

The Holy Grail of the Unconscious

NY Times, 09.20.2009 · When Carl Jung embarked on an extended self-exploration he called his "confrontation with the unconscious," the heart of it was The Red Book, a large, illustrated personal journal he created between 1914 and 1930. Here he developed the theories that transformed psychotherapy. Yet while Jung considered The Red Book to be his most important work, only a handful of people have ever seen it. Now, in a complete facsimile and translation, it is being published for the first time.

Read the New York Times Article | The Book at Amazon <<

Content: Selected Essays by Cory Doctorow

Craphound.com · In this collection of 28 essays, Sci-fi writer and net activist Cory Doctorow examines "everything from copyright and DRM to the layout of phone-keypads, the nature of futurism, the necessity of privacy in a digital world, the reason to love Wikipedia, and many other subjects." The essay Free(konomic) E-books, about how free ebooks help sales of print books, is especially recommended.

Download the book for FREE in many formats, including audiobook. <<

Food as a National Security Issue

Fresh Air, 10.20.2008 · In an open letter to the next president, Michael Pollan explains how the nation's food policy has a fundamental impact on a wide range of major issues, including national security, climate change, energy independence and health care — and warns that "the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close."

Listen to the 40min. NPR interview HERE <<
Read Pollan's NY Times open letter to the President-Elect HERE <<

The Giant Pool of Money

thislife.org · This American Life presents an excellent program about the subprime lending crisis, produced in special collaboration with NPR News. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.

Listen to the Episode HERE | Don't Miss Part 2 HERE <<
See Also More Links at FudoMouth: Myspace <<

Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization

Adbusters · In this telling essay, Douglas Haddow makes an earnest attempt to express the unease felt by anyone observing modern youth culture in any western city: "We've reached a point in our civilization where counterculture has mutated into a self-obsessed aesthetic vacuum. So while hipsterdom is the end product of all prior countercultures, it's been stripped of its subversion and originality."

Read the full Adbusters Magazine article HERE <<

Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness

Random House · The Head Trip is an excellent recent book surveying the various states of consciousness by Jeff Warren: "With roots in a long literary tradition and continuous reference to current scientific study, Warren embarks on an admirable attempt to get his head around his own head, and his thoroughly researched journeys are rich with insight and provocative potential..." Read this book. Highly recommended.

The Head Trip Official Site | The Head Trip at Amazon <<

THE DHAMMA BROTHERS: DOCUMENTARY NOW ON DVD

Dhammabrothers.com · East meets West in the Deep South. An overcrowded prison is forever changed when it becomes the first maximum-security facility in North America to hold an extended Vipassana retreat, an emotionally and physically demanding course of silent meditation lasting ten days. The film closely follows and documents the stories of the prison inmates who enter into this intensive program, and tells a dramatic tale of human potential and transformation.

Dhamma Brothers Official Site | Read the New York Times Feature <<

CANCEL THE APOCALYPSE

Burning Man 2006 · In this straight-forward public talk, author Daniel Pinchbeck explains his work exploring the evolution of consciousness as it relates to global warming and the climate crisis. Pinchbeck contextualizes his writings about psychedelics and the prophetic year 2012 by offering them as a thought experiment, one means among many for assessing our relationship with ourselves and our planet. Highly recommended.

Download the Hour-Long Podcast HERE <<

São Paulo NO LOGO

On the Media from NPR, April 20, 2007 · In January, South America's largest city officially banned outdoor advertising. Billboards, neon signs, bus-stop ads, even the Goodyear blimp — all were suddenly illegal. Reporter Vinicius Galvao describes seeing his city as though for the first time. "They uncovered a lot of problems the city had that we never realized."

Listen to the NPR Interview HERE  |  See Tony de Marco's Photos HERE