Books like Bottoming Out the Universe — picked by fans

This book was recommended to me by the first sound practitioner who facilitated a memorable sound healing session with me. Trusting my intuition, I decided to give it a chance. I found myself deeply engrossed in Inayat Khan’s soothing and logical approach to sound, so much so that it inspired me to embark on a similar journey of my own. Shortly after reading this book, I left my corporate life behind to write my first book and open my sound healing practice. 

This book is a true gem. Khan’s masterful presentation of abstract concepts like imagination, desire, mysticism, mortality, and immortality, and their connection to sound, has a profound, Rumi-like effect on the soul. I find myself returning to its wisdom every few months, continually reaping the rich bounty it offers. 

This book profoundly shaped my life. I discovered Eleftherios through my astrology community; he’s an expert in mystical connections between number theory, the Pythagorean theorem, and life on Earth. After one consultation, I knew I wanted to explore gematria and its hidden wonders.

What I love most about Eleftherios’ ancient approach is how he effortlessly connects the significance of gematria to various aspects of human knowledge. Eleftherios skillfully reveals the relevance of ideas, historical events, and philosophy through numbers.

I’ve read this book at least 20 times—and plan to revisit it again—and highly recommend it to anyone seeking deeper meanings and correlation between seemingly unrelated concepts by numbers.

This is a book that I will undoubtedly recommend to future generations as we collectively expand our consciousness and recognize the importance of synchronicity in our lives. 

Having collaborated with Bernie on projects related to synchronicity and consciousness, I have witnessed firsthand his immense passion and keen perceptions derived from his lifelong research on meaningful coincidences. Bernie expertly guides readers through a wealth of data and personal experiences, revealing how we can become more attuned to this critical phenomenon and its role in fostering a stronger collective consciousness.

This book builds upon Carl Jung’s pioneering work and will resonate with readers for generations to come. Bernie’s humor and personal anecdotes make it an engaging, enlightening, and truly delightful read. 

This book holds a prominent place on my most accessible shelf. Veda’s mesmerizing imagery, engaging descriptions, and exploration of knowledge on water-focused activities involving intention, vibration, and consciousness are truly thought-provoking.

I had the pleasure of participating in one of Veda’s workshops, where I experienced water readings through frozen crystallography firsthand. This technique greatly influenced my research and deepened my fascination with water. The underscoring idea that water holds wisdom and life-giving essences paves the way for a new frontier of knowledge and understanding in the future. 

It is possible to understand a fact intellectually while being unable to viscerally believe it, such as the proven reality that time slows down in conditions of extreme velocity or gravity (thanks, Dr. Einstein). In a scholarly yet friendly and appealing manner, Bentov explains and illustrates some of these surreal realities, including the myth of linear time, the existence of multiple dimensions, and the infinitude of the psyche.

I found this book to be deeply enlightening because it reshaped my understanding of true happiness. I appreciate how Spira’s teachings challenge conventional views by revealing the inherent joy within each of us. The way he guides readers to see beyond transient emotions and connect with their true nature really resonated with me.

I think this book should be on the bookshelf of any sincere spiritual seeker who wants to find lasting fulfillment and peace. It’s a profound read for anyone seeking to uncover a deeper sense of contentment and spiritual clarity.

I bought this book from a second hand shop; the book was fire damaged (perhaps as a result of a closed-minded reader spontaneously combusting?). It is a great introduction to anti-establishment, anti-materialist philosophers, thinkers, and whatnot. Gary Lachman writes in an accessible and conversational style and manages to remain questioning and thoughtful. He also used to play bass for Blondie and guitar for Iggy Pop.

This book captures what is so exciting about psychology - that our own minds are at once so familiar yet so deeply weird. There’s so much to be explored!

Warren is a perfect guide, sharing his learning but not getting bogged down with it, as he visits different states of consciousness, some of which we visit every day, like the daydream or the feeling of falling asleep, others, like the lucid dream, might be less familiar.

It’s profound but never loses its sense of fun.

When I moved to San Diego I began to get interested in time perception as well as the physics of time. My colleague Patrica Churchland kindly gave me this book to read. It’s a popular, accessible book on cognitive science and time perception. I couldn’t put it down. For sure it changed my academic path. I knew the mind plays all kinds of tricks on us, but the way it creates our inner sense of time experience still amazes me. 

This is it. The Bible of the Mind. The Codex of Consciousness. The Scroll of the Soul. Stephen Grossberg’s masterwork is a comprehensive mathematical account of human cognition.

Pick any part of the brain, any mental function—a sodium channel, a pyramidal neuron, a circadian circuit, a cerebellar lobe, audio recognition, hate, melodic preferences, linguistic meaning, throwing a spear at a target, visual memory, schizophrenia, free will—and Dr. Grossberg has put math to it. You’ll find that math in this book.

But be forewarned: this book is very, very, very challenging. The math isn’t derived from some other field of science. Because consciousness is not a subset of electromagnetism or a variety of planetary orbit. Consciousness is its own unique thing in the cosmos, and demands its own unique math.

Sophisticated, ornery math. Inaccessible math for most of us, sadly, but if you want to take a shot at the … show more.