Together, Charles E. Zecher and Sondra Perlin Zecher have nearly 100 years of experience studying the metaphysical and the paranormal. Over the years, they would meet with their colleagues in the Coral Spring (FL) Metaphysical Group where esteemed clairvoyant Sondra, would enter a deep trance and channel her spirit guide. Members of the group would communicate directly with the spirit guide, asking questions on some of the universe’s greatest mysteries. The information received from the guide’s answers to more than 2500 questions provided the basis for this book. These sessions covered a variety of topics that will intrigue readers including: reincarnation, karma, human evolution, life after death, ghosts, angels, the future, religion, God, creation, unsolved mysteries, the prehistoric world, extraterrestrials, the unseen, Atlantis, current world events, conspiracies, secret societies etc. The responses do not necessarily echo the authors’ beliefs. Instead, they simply showcase the information that was channeled through Sondra. Many will be surprised by the answers they find in Knowledge from the World Beyond. Hopefully many assumptions, concerns and skepticisms will be laid to rest. Likewise, as the book is read, the reader will be left with many new unanswered questions. Sondra is probably best known as "The "Son of Sam Psychic". Years ago she provided law enforcement with the information that enabled them to apprehend David Berkowitz.

From Matthew Crawford comes 'The World Beyond Your Head' - a hugely ambitious manifesto on flourishing in the modern world. In this brilliant follow-up to 'The Case for Working with Your Hands', Crawford investigates the challenge of mastering one's own mind. With ever-increasing demands on our attention, how do we focus on what's really important in our lives? Exploring the intense focus of ice-hockey players, the zoned-out behaviour of gambling addicts, and the inherited craft of building pipe organs, Crawford argues that our current crisis of attention is the result of long-held assumptions in Western culture and that in order to flourish, we need to establish meaningful connections with the world, the people around us and the historical moment we live in.

Describes the practice of Maum Meditation.

How did life start? Is the evolution of life describable by any physics-like laws? Stuart Kauffman's latest book offers an explanation-beyond what the laws of physics can explain-of the progression from a complex chemical environment to molecular reproduction, metabolism and to early protocells, and further evolution to what we recognize as life. Among the estimated one hundred billion solar systems in the known universe, evolving life is surely abundant. That evolution is a process of "becoming" in each case. Since Newton, we have turned to physics to assess reality. But physics alone cannot tell us where we came from, how we arrived, and why our world has evolved past the point of unicellular organisms to an extremely complex biosphere. Building on concepts from his work as a complex systems researcher at the Santa Fe Institute, Kauffman focuses in particular on the idea of cells constructing themselves and introduces concepts such as "constraint closure." Living systems are defined by the concept of "organization" which has not been focused on in enough in previous works. Cells are autopoetic systems that build themselves: they literally construct their own constraints on the release of energy into a few degrees of freedom that constitutes the very thermodynamic work by which they build their own self creating constraints. Living cells are "machines" that construct and assemble their own working parts. The emergence of such systems-the origin of life problem-was probably a spontaneous phase transition to self-reproduction in complex enough prebiotic systems. The resulting protocells were capable of Darwin's heritable variation, hence open-ended evolution by natural selection. Evolution propagates this burgeoning organization. Evolving living creatures, by existing, create new niches into which yet further new creatures can emerge. If life is abundant in the universe, this self-constructing, propagating, exploding diversity takes us beyond physics to biospheres everywhere.

Is what science tells us about the world determined unambiguously by facts, or does the content of any scientific theory in some way depend on the human condition. Sokal's hoax attacked the mere seriousness of post-modern views of science and shifted this controversial debate to a new level, which very quickly came to be known as "Science Wars." This book examines the broad range of philosophical positions on this issue to expound the epistemic merits of science and to tackle the central question: in what sense can science justifiably claim to provide a truthful portrait of reality?

An intensive global search is on for the "rule of law," the holy grail of good governance, which has led to a dramatic increase in judicial reform activities in developing countries. Very little attention, however, has been paid to the widening gap between theory and practice, or to the ongoing disconnect between stated project goals and actual funded activities. Beyond Common Knowledge examines the standard methods of legal and judicial reform. Taking stock of international experience in legal and judicial reform in Latin America, Europe, India, and China, this volume answers key questions in the judicial reform debate: What are the common assumptions about the role of the courts in improving economic growth and democratic politics? Do we expect too much from the formal legal system? Is investing in judicial reform projects a good strategy for getting at the problems of governance that beset many developing countries? If not, what are we missing?

An entertaining guide to the exotic sensory abilities of the Earth's nonhuman creatures. Certain insects and animals such as bees, birds, bats, fish, and dolphins possess senses that lie far beyond the realm of human experience. Examples include echolocation, internal navigation systems, and systems based on bioelectricity. In this book Howard C. Hughes tells the story of these "exotic" senses. He tells not only what has been discovered but how it was discovered—including historical misinterpretations of animal perception that we now view with amusement. The book is divided into four parts: biosonar, biological compasses, electroperception, and chemical communication. Although it is filled with fascinating descriptions of animal sensitivities—the sonar system of a bat, for example, rivals that of the most sophisticated human-made devices—the author's goal is to explain the anatomical and physiological principles that underlie them. Knowledge of these mechanisms has practical applications in areas as diverse as marine navigation, the biomedical sciences, and nontoxic pest control. It can also help us to obtain a deeper understanding of more familiar sensory systems and the brain in general. Written in an entertaining, accessible style, the book recounts a tale of wonder that continues today—for who knows what sensory marvels still await discovery or what kind of creatures will provide the insights?

In the words of Michael Laitman, "It is beyond human comprehension to understand the essence of such spiritual qualities as total altruism and love. This is for the simple reason that human beings cannot comprehend how such feelings can exist at all, as everyone seemingly requires an incentive to perform any act; without some personal gain, people are not prepared to extend themselves. That is why a quality such as altruism can only be imparted to a person from Above, and only those who have experienced it can understand it." Attaining The Worlds Beyond is a first step toward discovering the ultimate fulfillment of spiritual ascent in our lifetime. This book reaches out to all those who are searching for answers, who are seeking a logical and reliable way to understand the world's phenomena. This magnificent introduction to the wisdom of Kabbalah provides a new kind of awareness that enlightens the mind, invigorates the heart, and moves the reader to the depths of their soul.

This is the third volume of the series Reinventing Social Emancipation: Towards New Manifestoes. Another Knowledge Is Possible explores the struggles against moral and cultural imperialism and neoliberal globalization that have taken place over the past few decades, and the alternatives that have emerged in countries throughout the developing world from Brazil and Colombia, to India, South Africa and Mozambique. In particular it looks at the issue of biodiversity, the confrontation between scientific and non-scientific knowledges, and the increasing difficulty experienced by great numbers of people in accessing information and scientific-technological knowledge.

In his bestselling book Shop Class as Soulcraft, Matthew B. Crawford explored the ethical and practical importance of manual competence, as expressed through mastery of our physical environment. In his brilliant follow-up, The World Beyond Your Head, Crawford investigates the challenge of mastering one's own mind. We often complain about our fractured mental lives and feel beset by outside forces that destroy our focus and disrupt our peace of mind. Any defense against this, Crawford argues, requires that we reckon with the way attention sculpts the self. Crawford investigates the intense focus of ice hockey players and short-order chefs, the quasi-autistic behavior of gambling addicts, the familiar hassles of daily life, and the deep, slow craft of building pipe organs. He shows that our current crisis of attention is only superficially the result of digital technology, and becomes more comprehensible when understood as the coming to fruition of certain assumptions at the root of Western culture that are profoundly at odds with human nature. The World Beyond Your Head makes sense of an astonishing array of common experience, from the frustrations of airport security to the rise of the hipster. With implications for the way we raise our children, the design of public spaces, and democracy itself, this is a book of urgent relevance to contemporary life.