The Roots of the Self: Unraveling the Mystery of Who We Are

An exploration of why individuals are the way they are illuminates the complex forces that shape humans from womb to grave, arming readers with facts about genetics, environment, psychology, creativity, and higher consciousness

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Robert Ornstein

Psychology & Counseling

Ishk Book Service

The Mind Field: A Personal Essay

Hardcover and dust jacket, as pictured; book and dust jacket are in excellent condition, but text is tanned (but very readable) (med)

Literature & Fiction

Ornstein, Robert E.

Essays & Correspondence

Today we find him in a high-level physics report, illustrating phenomena that can't be described in ordinary technical terms. He appears in psychology textbooks, illuminating the workings of the mind in a way no straightforward explanation can. 
In three definitive volumes (The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin and The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin) Idries Shah takes us to the very heart of this mysterious mentor, the Mulla Nasrudin. Skillful contemporary retellings of hundreds of collected stories and sayings bring the unmistakable - often backhanded - wisdom, wit and charm of the timeless jokester to life. 
The Mulla and his stories appear in literature and oral traditions from the Middle East to Greece, Russia, France - even China. Many nations claim Nasrudin as a native son, but nobody really knows who he was or where he came from. 
According to a legend dating from at least the 13th century, Nasrudin was snatched as a schoolboy from the clutches of the "Old Villain" - the crude system of thought that ensnares man - to carry through the ages the message of how to escape. He was chosen because he could make people laugh, and humor has a way of slipping through the cracks of the most rigid thinking habits. 
Acclaimed as humorous masterpieces, as collections of the finest jokes, as priceless gift books, and for hundreds "enchanted tales", this folklore figure's antics have also been divined as "mirroring the antics of the mind". The jokes are, as Idries Shah notes, "perfectly designed models for isolating and holding distortions of the mind which so often pass for reasonable behavior". Therefore they have a double use: when the jokes have been enjoyed, their psychological significance starts to sink in. 
In fact, for many centuries they have been studied in Sufi circles for their hidden wisdom. They are used as teaching exercises, in part to momentarily "freeze" situations in which states of mind can be recognized. The key to the philosophic significance of the Nasrudin jokes is given in Idries Shah's book "The Sufis" and a complete system of mystical training based upon them was described in the Hibbert Journal. 
In these delightful volumes, Shah not only gives the Mulla a proper vehicle for our times, he proves that the centuries-old stories and quips of Nasrudin are still some of the funniest jokes in the world.

The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin

SHAH, IDRIES

Short Stories & Anthologies

The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin

"Perfectly designed models for isolating and holding distortions of the mind which so often pass for reasonable behavior." --Idries Shah 
Today we find him in a high-level physics report, illustrating phenomena that can't be described in ordinary technical terms. He appears in psychology textbooks, illuminating the workings of the mind in a way no straightforward explanation can. 
Here, in three definitive volumes, Idries Shah takes us to the very heart of this mysterious mentor, the Mulla Nasrudin. Skillful contemporary retellings of hundreds of collected stories and sayings bring the unmistakable--often backhanded--wisdom, wit and charm of the timeless jokester to life. 
The Mulla and his stories appear in literature and oral traditions from the Middle East to Greece, Russia, France--even China. Many nations claim Nasrudin as a native son, the Turks going so far as to exhibit a grave with his date of death as 386. But nobody really knows who he was or where he came from. 
According to a legend dating from at least the 13th century, Nasrudin was snatched as a schoolboy from the clutches of the "Old Villain"--the crude system of thought that ensnares man--to carry through the ages the message of how to escape. He was chosen because he could make people laugh, and humor has a way of slipping through the cracks of the most rigid thinking habits. 
Today--as they have for centuries--the Sufis use these stories as teaching exercises, in part to momentarily "freeze" situations in which states of mind can be recognized. In these delightful volumes, Shah not only gives the Mulla a proper vehicle for our times, he proves that the centuries-old stories and quips of Nasrudin are still some of the funniest jokes in the world.

Politics & Social Sciences

IDRIES SHAH

Philosophy

Almost every social system throughout history has produced its secret societies. Here is a unique study of such societies from earliest recorded times to the present, along with an analysis of their forms, rituals, and beliefs. The author has traveled extensively to gather documentation. The Charcoal Burners of Italy, the Castrators of Russia, the Old Man of the Mountains, and the Gnostics are but a few of the many described.

A History of Secret Societies

Daraul, Arkon

Are biological evolution and human history directed by a hierarchy of Intelligences, the lowest level of which makes physical contact with mankind? Do invisible guardians of this planet "seed" ideas into the earth's culture to prepare human beings for huge steps in their development? The author suggests not only that it may be so, but that it may also be possible to recognize these "People of the Secret."

The People of the Secret

SCOTT, ERNEST

The Bostan is a mine of proverbs, quotations and practical wisdom. But unlike the Gulistan (The Rose Garden) it contains far more than moralistic aphorisms and teaching stories. The Bostan is recognized by eminent Sufis as concealing the whole range of the deepest Sufi knowledge which can be committed to writing.

The Bostan of Saadi (The Orchard), Books I and II

Sheikh Muslihu-d-Din Sa'adi of Shiraz

Barlas Mirza Aqil-Hussain

No ordinary collection of tales, this anthology was the result of extensive research that lead Shah to conclude that there is a certain basic fund of human fictions, which recur again and again throughout the world and never seem to lose their compelling attraction. In this fascinating collection, Idries Shah shares this insight with us as we read the astonishingly similar versions of tales as they developed throughout the world.

World Tales : The Extraordinary Coincidence of Stories Told in All Times, in All Places

Children's Books

This work offers coverage of England in an anthropological sense and from the Sufi perspective.

Darkest England

History

Europe

Today we find him in a high-level physics report, illustrating phenomena that can't be described in ordinary technical terms. He appears in psychology textbooks, illuminating the workings of the mind in a way no straightforward explanation can. 
In two definitive volumes (The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin and The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin) Idries Shah takes us to the very heart of this mysterious mentor, the Mulla Nasrudin. Skillful contemporary retellings of hundreds of collected stories and sayings bring the unmistakable--often backhanded--wisdom, wit and charm of the timeless jokester to life. 
The Mulla and his stories appear in literature and oral traditions from the Middle East to Greece, Russia, France--even China. Many nations claim Nasrudin as a native son, but nobody really knows who he was or where he came from. 
According to a legend dating from at least the 13th century, Nasrudin was snatched as a schoolboy from the clutches of the "Old Villain"--the crude system of thought that ensnares man--to carry through the ages the message of how to escape. He was chosen because he could make people laugh, and humor has a way of slipping through the cracks of the most rigid thinking habits. 
Acclaimed as humorous masterpieces, as collections of the finest jokes, as priceless gift books, and for hundreds "enchanted tales," this folklore figure's antics have also been divined as "mirroring the antics of the mind." The jokes are, as Idries Shah notes, "perfectly designed models for isolating and holding distortions of the mind which so often pass for reasonable behavior." Therefore they have a double use: when the jokes have been enjoyed, their psychological significance starts to sink in. 
In fact, for many centuries they have been studied in Sufi circles for their hidden wisdom. They are used as teaching exercises, in part to momentarily "freeze" situations in which states of mind can be recognized. The key to the philosophic significance of the Nasrudin jokes is given in Idries Shah's book The Sufis and a complete system of mystical training based upon them was described in the Hibbert Journal. 
In these delightful volumes, Shah not only gives the Mulla a proper vehicle for our times, he proves that the centuries-old stories and quips of Nasrudin are still some of the funniest jokes in the world.

The Exploits and Subtleties of Mulla Nasrudin

Religion & Spirituality

Islam

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