Here are 92 books that Tales of Power fans have personally recommended if you like
Tales of Power.
Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.
As long as I can remember, I have wanted to understand how the universe works. I studied physics with a firm belief in scientific materialism, the belief that all things can or will be explained by science, including consciousness. However, after earning an advanced degree I found myself no closer to a satisfying answer to my inquiry into the relationship between consciousness and the physical world. Then, a personal experience of unembodied consciousness convinced me that my answers would have to come from a reexamination of all that I had believed, an internal journey over decades that has borne fruit in unexpected and magical ways.
Deepak Chopra has been exploring the relationship between spirituality and science for many decades, and Menas Kafatos’s peer-reviewed research on cosmology and astrophysics, among other topics, is well documented. Their work in this book makes it clear that instead of living in a material, unknowing and uncaring universe, we instead live in what they call a human universe, one that is living, conscious, and evolving. This book makes the case convincingly that we create our own reality in a conscious universe that responds to the beliefs and thoughts that reside in our minds. I have watched Mr. Chopra speak numerous times, and I appreciate his loving and gentle delivery. This book gave me a condensed and satisfying explanation of his worldview.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Deepak Chopra joins forces with leading physicist Menas Kafatos to explore some of the most important and baffling questions about our place in the world.
"A riveting and absolutely fascinating adventure that will blow your mind wide open!" —Dr. Rudolph E. Tanzi
What happens when modern science reaches a crucial turning point that challenges everything we know about reality? In this brilliant, timely, and practical work, Chopra and Kafatos tell us that we've reached just such a point. In the coming era, the universe will be completely redefined as a "human universe" radically unlike the…
As long as I can remember, I have wanted to understand how the universe works. I studied physics with a firm belief in scientific materialism, the belief that all things can or will be explained by science, including consciousness. However, after earning an advanced degree I found myself no closer to a satisfying answer to my inquiry into the relationship between consciousness and the physical world. Then, a personal experience of unembodied consciousness convinced me that my answers would have to come from a reexamination of all that I had believed, an internal journey over decades that has borne fruit in unexpected and magical ways.
As a trained physicist, I think this book contains what may be the best explanation of physics in terms non-scientists can understand, as well as how that discipline can be useful in understanding what it really is to be a human being. In particular, I found this book to be quite helpful in grasping how 20th-century physics helps illuminate extra-ordinary experiences. I had one of these experiences, which occurred outside the bounds of our common understanding of the world and of ourselves. He also helps readers understand the gradual demise of scientific materialism, the belief that all things can or will be explained by science, including consciousness. I found this book an enjoyable read and it kept my interest throughout.
“Selbie clearly describes why phenomena labeled ‘transcendent,’ ‘paranormal,’ or ‘spiritual’ are more consistent with a modern scientific understanding of reality than is commonly supposed.” —Dean Radin, PhD, chief scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences, author of Real Magic and Entangled Minds
“The book combines science and religion in a way that can change how the reader views reality, the material world, God, and how they see themselves.” —New Spirit Journal
“The Physics of God is an impressive and thought-provoking work which should be regarded as an important commentary regarding the metaphysical mysteries of life, physical reality, and human consciousness. Highly recommended!”…
As long as I can remember, I have wanted to understand how the universe works. I studied physics with a firm belief in scientific materialism, the belief that all things can or will be explained by science, including consciousness. However, after earning an advanced degree I found myself no closer to a satisfying answer to my inquiry into the relationship between consciousness and the physical world. Then, a personal experience of unembodied consciousness convinced me that my answers would have to come from a reexamination of all that I had believed, an internal journey over decades that has borne fruit in unexpected and magical ways.
I found that reading this book was challenging but ultimately extremely valuable. I really appreciate the opportunity to be guided through a tour of my own beliefs, so that I can come to more fully distinguish what's real from what everyone else has told me is real. The idea that the self is ultimately a conceptual construction without a basis in reality blew my mind wide open, in the sense that my entire conception of what is real was built on top of this basic misunderstanding. This is why I call my book list the best books to help us understand human beings.
For fans of Eckhart Tolle—a guide to mastering self-awareness through direct experience rather than old presumptions or harmful thought patterns
Through decades of martial arts and meditation practice, Peter Ralston discovered a curious and paradoxical fact: that true awareness arises from a state of not-knowing. Even the most sincere investigation of self and spirit, he says, is often sabotaged by our tendency to grab too quickly for answers and ideas as we retreat to the safety of the known.
This "Hitchhiker’s Guide to Awareness" provides helpful guideposts along an experiential journey for those Western minds predisposed to wandering off to…
As long as I can remember, I have wanted to understand how the universe works. I studied physics with a firm belief in scientific materialism, the belief that all things can or will be explained by science, including consciousness. However, after earning an advanced degree I found myself no closer to a satisfying answer to my inquiry into the relationship between consciousness and the physical world. Then, a personal experience of unembodied consciousness convinced me that my answers would have to come from a reexamination of all that I had believed, an internal journey over decades that has borne fruit in unexpected and magical ways.
I fell in love with the Dalai Lama while reading this book. While telling his own story, he makes it clear that the most important knowledge a human being can have is not amenable to the usual idea of scientific inquiry, which typically involves analyzing external phenomena. I learned about how inner awareness yields to contemplative investigation in the Buddhist tradition, enabled by the development of refined attention through meditation. As I read this book, I could feel the love that remains when all judgment about ourselves and others is finally released.
Gallileo, Copernicus, Newton, Niels Bohr, Einstein. Their insights shook our perception of who we are and where we stand in the world and in their wake have left an uneasy co-existence: science vs. religion, faith vs. empirical enquiry. Which is the keeper of truth? Which is the true path to understanding reality?
After forty years of study with some of the greatest scientific minds as well as a lifetime of meditative, spiritual and philosophical study, the Dalai Lama presents a brilliant analysis of why both disciplines must be pursued in order to arrive at a complete picture of the truth.…
I am an archaeologist dealing with prehistoric societies for the last 30 years. For many hundreds of thousands of years, our ancestors worldwide practiced shamanism and altered states of consciousness. I think this is what makes us human and what allows the persistence and success of our genus. The more I learn about these two subjects, the more I understand their importance and relevance to us today. There is a lesson sent to us by past societies: Pay respect to the world. Respectful behavior is assisted by shamanism and altered states of consciousness. We can be better, feel better, and do better, and the books I recommended are the beginning of this wonderful way.
I read this wonderful book when I was a teenager, and it had a lot of influence on me. I still read it again and again and gain a lot from it.
This is one of the earliest descriptions available of a meeting with a Mexican shaman, and the teachings of that shaman. It vividly describes the way the shaman acts, thinks and operates, and this is so remote and alien from modern Western thinking that it made me realize that alternative ways of perceiving realities do exist.
Regardless of what some say, I am confident it really happened and that the descriptions are coherent and true. What a book! This is really a book for departure.
I spent all my teenage years daydreaming about being magical (cue a handful of sparkling glitter). Even as an adult, those daydreams haven’t stopped. Magic promises the ability to change the story. I revisit those teen years when I can because ultimately, what each of these stories of magic offer is a coming-of-age story. The struggle of being pulled between two different worlds has always felt familiar to me, whether those worlds are literally different worlds (magical vs non-magical) or figurative (childhood vs adulthood). I’ve felt some version of that struggle my whole life, and I think I always will, which is why these stories will always feel like home.
I fell totally in love with this book! This is the story of Gemma and Oliver, two best friends about to be separated by the gift Gemma has been waiting for her whole life, which is also the biggest and only secret she’s ever kept from Oliver. On the night of her 17th birthday, she will be claimed by one of three branches of magic.
This story is everything that is wonderful about being seventeen, falling in love, and figuring out where you fit in the world, especially when you feel so tied to two completely different worlds. A Tangle of Dreams is part one in a duology that kept me up into the wee hours of the morning because I needed so desperately to read “one more chapter”!
Gemma and Oliver have been best friends their entire lives. But no matter how well Ollie thinks he knows Gemma, there’s one secret standing between them, one secret she swore she’d never tell: magic is real. And she’s waited her whole life to have it. On their seventeenth birthday, Gemma and her twin brother, Milo, will be Claimed by one of the three branches of magic. Only then will they have access to the power they’ve always seen but been unable to touch.
Gemma’s counting down the days until she becomes one of the…
I've loved books and reading from an early age. My family and I go to the library nearly every week to check out books, do research, or attend library programs like storytime. My interest in libraries led me to read books about libraries and write one of my own. I’m a children’s book author living in North Carolina with my husband and two book-devouring kids. I Want My Book Back is my second book, following my debut, Teach Your Giraffe to Ski. When I’m not reading or writing, I like hanging out with my family, being outdoors, and going on everyday adventures.
The first thing that attracted me to this book is the terrific title – and the cover illustration. My kids and I enjoyed the humor, adventure, and unexpected twists in this entertaining tale about a barbarian clan that finds a treasure box of books. I’m not sure what made the kids giggle more – the fact that barbarians make terribly odd library patrons, or the little flyers and other details in the illustrations. (Definitely don’t miss reading the little flyers in the illustrations!)
This humorous picture book from sister duo Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie and illustrator Victoria Maderna follows Ronan the Barbarian as he he grows from being just a rough-and-tumble warrior to Ronan the Librarian--a rough-and-tumble warrior who loves books.
Ronan was a mighty barbarian. He invaded. He raided. And back home, he traded. He always found the greatest treasures. Until one day, Ronan found something no barbarian wants: A BOOK.
At first, his fellow barbarians are skeptical of his newfound passion for reading, but in the end, even they aren't immune to the charms of a good book.
I vividly remember the first time a book transported me—it was in Mrs. Paul’s second-grade math class, and I was reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader under the desk. It carried me away to a different world. I’ve been looking for that same magic in every book since, hoping to fall into a picture or open a wardrobe door to another place and time. This list contains a few of my favorites, the stories that have earned permanent spots on my shelves, the ones that get pulled down when I need some enchantment in my life. (And don’t we all need a little magic these days?)
Its allegiance shifts and changes over time. To hold it, Houses of Magic put on an epic tournament at every Turning, where their best and brightest act as champions in battle. But what the champions don’t know, because their elders have never taught them, is that the magic itself draws from a dark source, and that source is crumbling.
Powerful magician Sydney has emerged from The House of Shadows to fight for a sponsor who wishes to establish his own house. But Sydney has first-hand experience with the darkness.
And she doesn’t want to help restore the establishment. She wants to burn it to the ground.
"A remarkable writer." -Neil Gaiman, bestselling author of American Gods
An Alex Award Winner
There is a dark secret that is hiding at the heart of New York City and diminishing the city's magicians' power in this fantasy thriller by acclaimed author Kat Howard.
In New York City, magic controls everything. But the power of magic is fading. No one knows what is happening, except for Sydney-a new, rare magician with incredible power that has been unmatched in decades, and she may be the only person who is able to stop the darkness that is weakening the magic. But Sydney…
I’ve always been a fan of swords and sorcery, but Urban Fantasy brings those elements into a more relatable field, turning real-world locations into sandboxes filled with magic and monsters. I might love Aragorn as a character, but I can’t fully relate to him. Now, give me an “average” guy with real-world problems, running around a modern metropolis, slinging spells, and fighting monsters in dark alleys, and I’m right there with him. Urban Fantasy opens up the imagination to anything you want. Dragons in New York? Sure. Giants using the Eiffel Tower as a baseball bat? Why the hell not? Nothing is off-limits. It’s just pure, unadulterated fun.
An immortal druid and a talking dog. What’s not to love?
Think American Gods, but funnier. In the Iron Druid Chronicles, the gods are real, and Atticus O’Sullivan loves to piss them off. The immediate blending of humor and suspense pulled me in right from the start, and I didn’t stop reading until well beyond this book and only took a breath when I ran out of books.
The first novel in the New York Times bestselling Iron Druid Chronicles—the hilarious, action-packed tales of a two-thousand-year-old Druid pursued by ancient gods in the modern world
“A page-turning and often laugh-out-loud-funny caper through a mix of the modern and the mythic.”—Ari Marmell, author of The Warlord’s Legacy
Atticus O’Sullivan is the last of the ancient druids. He has been on the run for more than two thousand years and he’s tired of it. The Irish gods who want to kill him are after an enchanted sword he stole in a first-century battle, and when they find him managing an…
I'm a speculative fiction writer who often works within the genre of "climate fiction." I grew up in southern Appalachia; my hometown is a lovely place, surrounded by the beauty and wildness of the Smoky Mountains. It also happens to be centered around a chemical company where a large portion of the town works, including my father and, for a brief time, myself. I've been fascinated with the dichotomy of nature and industry for a long time, and have spent years exploring these themes in my own work.
My favorite fantasy books are always ones that use the lens of genre to help us better understand the world we live in, and Master of Poisons accomplishes this with bells on. An epic fantasy set in a world where climate disaster looms, Master of Poisons draws from Hairston's extensive research and experience in West African, African-American, and Indigenous cultures to weave a rich narrative tapestry that casts an unflinching eye on sources of evil and cruelty, while still always finding a way to offer hope.
“This is a prayer hymn, a battle cry, a love song, a legendary call and response bonfire talisman tale. This is medicine for a broken world." —Daniel José Older
Named a Best of 2020 Pick for Kirkus Review's Best Books of 2020
Award-winning author Andrea Hairston weaves together African folktales and postcolonial literature into unforgettable fantasy in Master of Poisons
The world is changing. Poison desert eats good farmland. Once-sweet water turns foul. The wind blows sand and sadness across the Empire. To get caught in a storm is death. To live and do nothing is death. There is magic…
