Here are 100 books that Notes on Complexity fans have personally recommended if you like Notes on Complexity. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery

Paul J. Mills Author Of Science, Being, & Becoming: The Spiritual Lives of Scientists

From my list on bridging the science and spirituality gap.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started practicing meditation while I was in high school and within 2 months of starting I had a metaphysical experience. That experience led me to become a scientist, I wanted to learn ways to study the spiritual using the methodologies of science. I've had a successful career with over 400 scientific publications and have had my work featured in the media and presented at hundreds of conferences and workshops around the world, including at the United Nations. Many scientists today are working to bridge the so-called gap between science and spirit and the positive effects they are having on increasing our understanding of what it is to be human.

Paul's book list on bridging the science and spirituality gap

Paul J. Mills Why Paul loves this book

For several decades Dr. Rupert Sheldrake has been prodding us to awaken beyond the limitations of western science as we know it.

Trained as a scientist at some of the world’s top institutions, he began to understand that science itself needed to be set free from its own dogma that has accumulated over the centuries. He shows the ways in which science is being constricted by its own assumptions that are not only limiting but dangerous for the future of humanity.

Should science be a belief system or simply a method of inquiry? In the skeptical spirit of true science, Dr. Sheldrake turns the 10 fundamental dogmas of materialism into exciting questions and shows how all of them open to startling new possibilities for discovery.

By Rupert Sheldrake ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Science Set Free as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The bestselling author of Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home offers an intriguing new assessment of modern day science that will radically change the way we view what is possible.

In Science Set Free (originally published to acclaim in the UK as The Science Delusion), Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world's most innovative scientists, shows the ways in which science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity.
 
According to these principles, all of reality is material…


If you love Notes on Complexity...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Book cover of Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind

Paul J. Mills Author Of Science, Being, & Becoming: The Spiritual Lives of Scientists

From my list on bridging the science and spirituality gap.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started practicing meditation while I was in high school and within 2 months of starting I had a metaphysical experience. That experience led me to become a scientist, I wanted to learn ways to study the spiritual using the methodologies of science. I've had a successful career with over 400 scientific publications and have had my work featured in the media and presented at hundreds of conferences and workshops around the world, including at the United Nations. Many scientists today are working to bridge the so-called gap between science and spirit and the positive effects they are having on increasing our understanding of what it is to be human.

Paul's book list on bridging the science and spirituality gap

Paul J. Mills Why Paul loves this book

Marjorie Woollacott is a top-tier neuroscientist who started her scientific career believing that our minds, the brain, was a purely physical entity controlled by chemicals and electrical pulses. That all changed one day when she experimented with meditation for the first time - her world changed.

Over the years, as she continued with her meditation practice, she was faced with changing her belief about the mind, about what human consciousness really is. Her book pairs her research as a neuroscientist with her self-revelations about the mind’s spiritual power. Between the scientific and spiritual worlds, Dr. Woollacott investigates the existence of a non-physical and infinitely powerful mind.

By Marjorie Hines Woollacott ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Infinite Awareness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Book Award of the Parapsychological Association, 2017
Winner of the Eric Hoffer Book Awards 2017 (Spiritual)
First Place, Nautilus Book Awards 2017 (Science, Cosmology and Expanding Consciousness)
First Place, International Excellence Mind, Body Spirit Book Awards, 2017 (Human Consciousness)
Bronze Medal, Feathered Quill Book Awards, 2017 (Best Religious/Spiritual)
First Place, Great Northwest Book Festival, 2017 (Spiritual Books)
First Place, New England Book Festival, 2016 (Spiritual Books)

As a neuroscientist, Marjorie Woollacott had no doubts that the brain was a purely physical entity controlled by chemicals and electrical pulses. When she experimented with meditation for the first time, however, her entire…


Book cover of The Biology of Transformation: The Physiology of Presence and Spiritual Transcendence

Paul J. Mills Author Of Science, Being, & Becoming: The Spiritual Lives of Scientists

From my list on bridging the science and spirituality gap.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started practicing meditation while I was in high school and within 2 months of starting I had a metaphysical experience. That experience led me to become a scientist, I wanted to learn ways to study the spiritual using the methodologies of science. I've had a successful career with over 400 scientific publications and have had my work featured in the media and presented at hundreds of conferences and workshops around the world, including at the United Nations. Many scientists today are working to bridge the so-called gap between science and spirit and the positive effects they are having on increasing our understanding of what it is to be human.

Paul's book list on bridging the science and spirituality gap

Paul J. Mills Why Paul loves this book

While there have been many books written about the spiritual side of the human being, few books have proposed the specific ways in which the spiritual interfaces with the human body.

In this book Dr. Tiffany Jean Barsotti proposes a new axis in human anatomy, the Reticular Activating System-Vagus Nerve-Alta Major Chakra Axis as the nexus of communication from higher consciousness to the physical and subtle energy bodies of the human being. She draws extensively on existing neuroscience research as well as the teachings of esoteric traditions, including Tibetan.

With the goal of creating a foundation and stimulating thought regarding energy physiology, the body-mind connection, and how our intention shapes our health and environment, this provides a new perspective on awakening awareness and consciousness.

By Tiffany J Barsotti ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Biology of Transformation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

There are many important axes in human anatomy, including the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, the Liver Triad Axis, and the Gut-Brain Axis. Less well known to Western medical scientists is a parallel system that can develop in the subtle energy body of the human being. This energy body, while not visible with our current technology, is well known in esoteric healing traditions. In The Biology of Transformation, author Tiffany Jean Barsotti proposes a new axis in human anatomy, the Reticular Activating System-Vagus Nerve-Alta Major Chakra Axis as the nexus of communication from Higher Consciousness to the physical and subtle energy bodies of…


If you love Neil Theise...

Book cover of A Forgivable Indecision

A Forgivable Indecision by Shawn Jennings,

In 1913, a 15-year-old pregnant girl was found dead of apparent suicide. Dr. James Wilson, a new graduate and the first doctor ever to start a practice in this rural town, feels guilty over her death because of his delayed intervention.

He knows Bessie was raped by one of her…

Book cover of On the Mystery of Being: Contemporary Insights on the Convergence of Science and Spirituality

Paul J. Mills Author Of Science, Being, & Becoming: The Spiritual Lives of Scientists

From my list on bridging the science and spirituality gap.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started practicing meditation while I was in high school and within 2 months of starting I had a metaphysical experience. That experience led me to become a scientist, I wanted to learn ways to study the spiritual using the methodologies of science. I've had a successful career with over 400 scientific publications and have had my work featured in the media and presented at hundreds of conferences and workshops around the world, including at the United Nations. Many scientists today are working to bridge the so-called gap between science and spirit and the positive effects they are having on increasing our understanding of what it is to be human.

Paul's book list on bridging the science and spirituality gap

Paul J. Mills Why Paul loves this book

For many years the Science and Nonduality (SANDs) conferences have been bringing together scientists and mystics to discuss where science and spirituality meet.

This beautifully arranged collection of essays and insights highlight SANDs topics on the convergence of spirituality and science, weaving scientific theory and spiritual wisdom from some of the most influential thinkers of our time, with pieces that get straight to the heart of the matter. This volume offers timeless wisdom and new insight into humanity’s age-old questions that encourage our spirit and challenge our mind.

By Zaya Benazzo , Maurizio Benazzo ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked On the Mystery of Being as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Who are we? What is our place in this vast and ever-evolving universe? Where do science and spirituality meet?

If you've pondered these questions, you're not alone. Join some of the most spiritually curious and renowned minds of our time for an exploration into the mystery of being. From founders of the Science and Nonduality (SAND) conference, Maurizio and Zaya Benazzo, On the Mystery of Being brings together an array of visionary spiritual leaders, psychologists, philosophers, scientists, teachers, authors, and healers to celebrate and explore what it means to be human.

This beautifully arranged collection of essays and insights highlight…


Book cover of The Re-Emergence of Emergence: The Emergentist Hypothesis from Science to Religion

James Blachowicz Author Of Essential Difference: Toward a Metaphysics of Emergence

From my list on the metaphysics of emergence.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always had equally balanced interests in the arts/humanities and the natural sciences. I started as a physics major in college but added a second major in philosophy after encountering the evolutionary theories of Hegel, Bergson, Alexander, Whitehead, and Teilhard de Chardin. This interest continued in graduate school at Northwestern, where my first year coincided with the arrival of Prof. Errol E. Harris, who had a similar focus and would direct my doctoral dissertation in philosophy, whose title was From Ontology to Praxis: A Metaphilosophical Inquiry into Two Philosophical Paradigms. One of the “paradigms” was reductionist; the other was emergentist.

James' book list on the metaphysics of emergence

James Blachowicz Why James loves this book

Clayton and Davies selected the diverse essays by various experts in this area of research to show the relevance of the emergentist paradigm to diverse areas of inquiry–including quantum physics, astronomy, cell biology, and primatology.

These lines of inquiry converge on the more provocative question of the emergence of consciousness from the brain...with an added discussion of the relevance of theological questions, including the relation between God and the world.

The thirteen essays of this study are divided into four broad areas: (1) The Physical Sciences, (2) The Biological Sciences, (3) Consciousness and Emergence, and (4) Religion and Emergence. Contributing authors include Jaegwon Kim, David J. Chalmers, and Arthur Peacocke. Here again, my perspective on this subject was broadened by the diversity of these treatments.

By Philip Clayton (editor) , Paul Davies (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Re-Emergence of Emergence as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Much of the modern period was dominated by a `reductionist' theory of science. On this view, to explain any event in the world is to reduce it down to fundamental particles, laws, and forces. In recent years reductionism has been dramatically challenged by a radically new paradigm called `emergence'. According to this new theory, natural history reveals the continuous emergence of novel phenomena: new structures and new organisms with new causal powers. Consciousness is yet one more emergent level in the natural hierarchy. Many theologians and religious scholars believe that this new paradigm may offer new insights into the nature…


Book cover of The Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Mythology & Sacred Psychology

Karen Martin Author Of The Bringer of Happiness

From my list on writing about death, religion, and spirituality.

Why am I passionate about this?

Our history is spoken through the voice of the conqueror – notably white male. My work seeks to balance our narratives through insight from women’s perspectives. I support my creative writing with extensive research in history, archeology, and myths, and include in situ interpretations of the relevant landscape. There are many truths to be told, not simply one ordained story and I wish to shine the light on stories that have been hidden and/or silenced. The themed series title, Women Unveiled, pertains to this.

Karen's book list on writing about death, religion, and spirituality

Karen Martin Why Karen loves this book

The Gospel of Mary is often interpreted as a Gnostic text. Gnosis is mystical and esoteric and refers to knowledge based on personal experience with the divine. It is an inward ‘knowing,’ and I was interested in interweaving a psychological approach. This book dived into spiritual aspects in an exploration of the soul’s journey and the spiritual heights attained from a psychological position and was instrumental in some components of Sara’s personal development. My character Sara is a messenger for Persephone, and I used this book to examine the deeper, mythical meanings of how our wounds can become the source of spiritual grace. 

By Jean Houston ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Search for the Beloved as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Search for the Beloved, one of the most important books written on the creative and inventive mind, explains the theories that helped form the foundation of the human potential movement. In what has been called “an intellectual and spiritual feast,” Jean Houston explores the nature of spiritual yearning and teaches readers how to facilitate a personal quest by focusing on the four aspects of Sacred Psychology—the Great Wound, the Mythic Journey of Transformation, the Discovery of the Larger Story, and the Union with the Beloved of the Soul.

W. B. Yeats wrote, “There is but one history and that…


If you love Notes on Complexity...

Book cover of USS OBAMA 2130

USS OBAMA 2130 by John. H Sibley,

Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977, and Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977. Both began a historic journey with unique 'time capsules' on board intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record 12-inch gold-plated disk…

Book cover of Stalking the Wild Pendulum: On the Mechanics of Consciousness

Mitch Horowitz Author Of Daydream Believer: Unlocking the Ultimate Power of Your Mind

From my list on the extra-physical potentials of the mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a PEN Award-winning historian of alternative spirituality and a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library. I track the impact and substance of supernatural beliefs—a source of fascination since my Queens, NY, boyhood—in books including Occult America, The Miracle Club, and Uncertain Places. I often say that if you do not write your own history, it gets written for you—usually by people who may not care about or even understand the values that emanate from your work. Given my personal dedication to the spiritual search, I call myself a believing historian (which most historians of religion actually are). I labor to explore the lives, ideas, and practices behind esoteric spirituality.

Mitch's book list on the extra-physical potentials of the mind

Mitch Horowitz Why Mitch loves this book

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.

By Itzhak Bentov ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Stalking the Wild Pendulum as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In his exciting and original view of the universe, Itzhak Bentov has provided a new perspective on human consciousness and its limitless possibilities. Widely known and loved for his delightful humor and imagination, Bentov explains the familiar world of phenomena with perceptions that are as lucid as they are thrilling. He gives us a provocative picture of ourselves in an expanded, conscious, holistic universe.


Book cover of Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness

Roger R. Pearman Author Of I'm Not Crazy, I'm Just Not You: The Real Meaning of the 16 Personality Types

From my list on personality and psychological type.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been using and research psychological type for 45 years in my various career roles—director of a university learning center, chief human resources officer, and independent consultant. I’ve yet to find a more practical and useful model for understanding human differences. The constructive use of differences is urgently needed in our age, as well as the goal of type development: making perceptions clearer and judgments more sound.

Roger's book list on personality and psychological type

Roger R. Pearman Why Roger loves this book

Jungian analyst John Beebe has put his best thinking into psychological type with this look at his conceptualization of the eight functions of type. Beebe outlines how psychological energies pay out in everyday life and how we can leverage the insight for personal growth and well-being.

By John Beebe ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book encapsulates John Beebe's influential work on the analytical psychology of consciousness. Building on C. G. Jung's theory of psychological types and on subsequent clarifications by Marie-Louise von Franz and Isabel Briggs Myers, Beebe demonstrates the bond between the eight types of consciousness Jung named and the archetypal complexes that impart energy and purpose to our emotions, fantasies, and dreams. For this collection, Beebe has revised and updated his most influential and significant previously published papers and has introduced, in a brand new chapter, a surprising theory of type and culture.

Beebe's model enables readers to take what they…


Book cover of The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness

Tom Stafford Author Of Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain

From my list on understanding the human mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am now a Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Sheffield, UK. I co-wrote Mind Hacks with technologist Matt Webb; we had great fun doing it. My research has always been in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, using experiments to understand the mind and brain and how they fit together. 

Tom's book list on understanding the human mind

Tom Stafford Why Tom loves this book

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.

By Jeff Warren ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Head Trip as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book will change the way you think, sleep, and dream for good. It is a book of psychology and neuroscience, and also of adventure wherein the author explores the extremes to which consciousness can be stretched, from the lucid dream to the quasi-mystical substratum of awareness known as the Pure Conscious Event. Replete with stylish graphics and brightened by comic panels conceived and drawn by the author, The Head Trip is an instant classic, a brilliant and original description of the shifting experience of consciousness that's also a practical guide to enhancing creativity and mental health. This book does…


If you love Neil Theise...

Book cover of Deadly Revenge

Deadly Revenge by Patricia Bradley,

Deputy Jenna Hart has only been working in her sleepy hometown of Pearl Springs for seven months when city officials begin to be targeted by a killer. Twenty years ago, the construction of a dam caused people to lose their land to eminent domain. That wound has not healed with…

Book cover of Consciousness and Fundamental Reality

Neil Mehta Author Of A Pluralist Theory of Perception

From my list on the conscious mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

Somehow, electrical impulses shoot through our brains to generate a surround sound, 3D-movie experience of the world. How on earth is this possible? When I was a college student, this question burrowed into my brain and wouldn’t get out. So I decided to make a living thinking about it. Now it’s 20 years later, I’m a philosophy professor at Yale-NUS College, and I still don’t know the answer!

Neil's book list on the conscious mind

Neil Mehta Why Neil loves this book

What if consciousness isn't explained from the bottom up by little bits of matter that assemble into our brains? What if consciousness is instead explained from the top down by the universe as a whole?

That's the guiding idea of Philip Goff's book, which examines consciousness through the lens of an exciting recent idea: that reality itself is an integrated whole. What impresses me most about this book are Goff’s insights about the nature of consciousness and our introspective access to it.

By Philip Goff ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Consciousness and Fundamental Reality as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A core philosophical project is the attempt to uncover the fundamental nature of reality, the limited set of facts upon which all other facts depend. Perhaps the most popular theory of fundamental reality in contemporary analytic philosophy is physicalism, the view that the world is fundamentally physical in nature. The first half of this book argues that physicalist views cannot account for the evident reality of conscious experience, and hence that physicalism cannot be true. Unusually for an opponent of physicalism, Goff argues that there are big problems with the most well-known arguments against physicalism-Chalmers' zombie conceivability argument and Jackson's…


Book cover of Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery
Book cover of Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind
Book cover of The Biology of Transformation: The Physiology of Presence and Spiritual Transcendence

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