10 books like Science and Human Transformation

I attended Caltech my freshman year of college, expecting to learn the tools to help me find the answer to any question I had about the nature of reality. Before the first quarter started, I purchased a copy of Gödel’s Proof. This describes that given any logical system at least as complex as the axioms for arithmetic, there will be at least one statement that makes perfect sense that can neither be proven nor disproven from the axioms of that system. Some axioms for arithmetic, for example, are that for any two numbers a and b, a=a and a+b=b+a. This was mind-blowing to me. Gödel proved that there will always be things that can neither be proven nor disproven in any system based on a series of axioms. I thought there must be some way to understand the deeper nature of reality, and began my path of spiritual exploration,… show more.

This book contains numerous research studies on subtle energy, energy medicine, and new technologies to measure phenomena that have generally been thought of as outside of the realm of Western science. What I learned from the research in this book is that it is possible to conclusively prove that the world we live in is much more interconnected than we realize. Theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and explanations are available that challenge our usual notions of time, space, and non-locality. Reading this book will show any open-minded readers that a dualistic frame of reference will never enable us to understand the universe that each of us is an integral part of.

This book spoke to me as a scholar of systems theory and due to my upbringing in Buddhist culture. Macy discusses how core teachings of interdependence in Buddhism and the mutual causation concept of general systems theory are similar. This book emphasizes the interdependent relationships among different people, things, societies, and ecosystems as mutually affecting and not unidirectional, leading to and encouraging collective action toward mutual benefits. I also love this book because it can introduce readers to philosophical thoughts that are other than Western, which we tend to be bombarded with in academic publications and education in the US. 

This book was very inspiring to me, and reinforces the idea that each of us is a unique and integral part of an evolving universe. The future is not fixed, and as we awaken to our higher possibilities, what becomes possible for everything is augmented. We live in a purpose-driven universe, and not the one described for centuries as a clockwork universe. 

I vividly remember reading this book some years ago. You probably don’t remember it at all, even if you’re going to take my advice and read it tomorrow. That’s pretty odd when you think about. Why should we remember the past but not the future?

It does no good to echo platitudes like “the future hasn’t happened yet”. You could as well say “the past is already over”, which is equally true and equally irrelevant. The laws of physics tie the past to the present and the future to the present in exactly the same way. Any process that can run one direction in time can run in the other. So if the past can leave imprints on our memory, why can’t the future?

David Albert wants to make you appreciate the question, and then he wants to tell you the answer. Albert is that rarest of birds: A philosopher… show more.

Imagine being able to feel a peace so deep that you never knew existed; a love so profound that it transforms you and your whole life… Well, by reading the wonderful words of Dr. Wayne Dyer and by following his wise guidance, you will get to experience all of that and even more. In fact, at the end of the book you will have this profound feeling that you no longer are the same person you were when you first started reading this book and that you have become better, wiser, more peaceful, and far more loving and trusting than you used to be.

This book by the revered Buddhist teacher was a balm to my soul at a time when I’d left all my previous religious beliefs behind and was searching for ways to think about good and bad, right and wrong. I did not become a Buddhist but here I discovered practical techniques, guided meditations, stories, and other gems of wisdom that eased my journey through the world.

This is one of the two books that defined the entire era of hippies and flower children in the sixties and seventies. (The other is The Whole Earth Catalog by Stewart Brand.)

The first part of the book is a highly readable first-person account of how Richard Alpert, Harvard psychologist, went to India, met his guru, and became Ram Dass. The next section has hundreds of cryptic sayings in artistic depictions on brown paper.

These are drawn from Eastern traditions and challenge your notions of what is ‘real’. The third and final section is a series of essays on topics like happiness, yoga, transmuting energy, and so on.

Thirty-five years after Coleman’s publication, the late USC philosophy professor and spirituality maven Dallas Willard wrote his most influential work. The Divine Conspiracy is nothing less than a sober attempt to turn upside down—or perhaps right-side up—everything most people, including Christians, think Christianity is.

Along the way, however, Willard composed a trenchant manifesto for making disciples as Jesus intended. This remark is typical: “The fact is that there now is lacking a serious and expectant intention to bring Jesus’ people into obedience and abundance through training. That would be discipleship as he gave it to us.”

Buddhism is still misunderstood in the modern world. It can seem all fuzzy ‘being-in-the-moment’ meditation or a rather cold, analytical non-self philosophy. Sangharakshita is the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and my own teacher (I knew him personally). This book collects together some of his essential teaching and thought, illuminating ancient Buddhism wisdom for a modern world.