Books like The Bushman Way of Tracking God — picked by fans

There is a visceral feeling sense we all possess that speaks in the ancient language of emotion and instinct.

This primal sense weaves meaning with our embodied world, flowing beneath the busy worded substrate of the mind. It is a language of the heart, the universal mother tongue of nature and the soul. Once I learned to appreciate this felt sense, my walks in nature became journeys of discovery. 

Buhner shows how to become fluent in this forgotten language, opening a door to the inner secrets of the natural world. One of the great teachers of the heart’s language is the plant world: the plants in your garden, by the roadside, and along the forest trail can all become mentors that help you learn the subtleties of instinctual communication with nature. 

Because much of my work is about bridging connections with nature into the modern experience, as a reader, I appreciate Nabhan’s insightful reflections of participation in cultures close to the Earth; his stories show how deeply people can live into balanced connections with our local environments.

Simple, everyday activities like gathering firewood for grandma and grandpa can become openings into deeper relationships with our local ecosystems, if we gift ourselves some time to explore and become curious about the world around us along the way.

That possibility gives me inspiration for my own family’s nature connection journey and helps me think creatively when I work with clients who want to deepen their sense of place.

Reading this book in my teen years changed my life.

Instinctually, I had always known there was a deeper layer of reality beyond the veneer of modern experience, waiting for me to connect. Tom’s meditations were part of a larger awakening process that opened my eyes to the spiritual world.

These true stories inspired me to get outside and make real connections with animals and ecosystems of my place, and with the spirit-that-moves-through-all-things. Through this practice, I found renewed hope and motivation and began building my own experiential understanding of nature’s mysteries.

Ultimately, this book sent me on a journey that continues to this day, thirty years later! Thank you, Tom.

After years of practicing yogic-based meditation and qigong, I felt called to seek out spiritual Earth connection practices from my own European ancestral lineages.

This book stood out to me because it opens a path directly to the deep consciousness of the Earth, through journeys based on Celtic and pre-Celtic symbols. Each exploration has opened new insights and transformations, leaving me feeling a greater attunement with nature and with my own being.

There is a deep-time metaphysics underlying this book, connected to the ancient mysteries yet without the heavy trappings of elaborate outer ritual. This bare-bones simplicity makes the practice accessible in the midst of a full life.

I’ve always wanted to understand our shared humanity through the lens of our hunter-gatherer past. We spent 1,990,000 of our last 2 million years on the planet in this capacity, after all!

Fortunately, I came across anthropologist James Suzman’s book about his two decades living amongst the San tribe of the Kalahari, one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer peoples on earth (at the time). Unfortunately, 21st-century political and cultural realities have all but eliminated this traditional way of life, as remaining members of this group now live in government-supported resettlement camps after losing their ancestral lands to agricultural and industrial interests.

Nonetheless, this poignant book provided me with new insights about what it means to be human living in a world we were neither designed nor prepared for.

This book accompanies the award-winning, cult film What the Bleep Do We Know? It discusses consciousness and perception of reality, taking us to a place where the lines between science and spirituality are blurred. It tells of paradigm-shattering, scientific breakthroughs, with input from scientists, medics, historians, philosophers, and spiritual leaders. It offers theories that explain paranormal phenomena; the stuff that many scientists are reluctant (or afraid) to discuss: telepathy, the eternal spirit, parallel universes, and the creation of reality. With insights from noted contributors, the book presents us with some thought-provoking (often uncomfortable) questions. For me, however, it simply confirms what I already know to be true: the Creator is not only a scientist; He is also a magician!

This is a short, easy read. Some might even say it’s not sci-fi, but I think it fits. This was something I picked up in my teens and it helped create the framework for how I approach writing, creating, and my life. What if perception dictated reality, instead of the other way around? What would your life be like if you could change how you interacted with the world by just changing your mindset? 

Buddhism is still misunderstood in the modern world. It can seem all fuzzy ‘being-in-the-moment’ meditation or a rather cold, analytical non-self philosophy. Sangharakshita is the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and my own teacher (I knew him personally). This book collects together some of his essential teaching and thought, illuminating ancient Buddhism wisdom for a modern world.

I read this book when it first came out in 1995 and have kept a copy of it for all those years, re-reading it again and again. This book is the journal and letters of Maura O'Halloran, a young Irish-American who went to Japan and joined a Zen Buddhist temple for monks at a time (the early 1980s) when few western women were admitted to such extremely arduous training. It tells of her three years in the temple in a heart-warming, honest way, with an abundance of humor. This book gives a brilliant look into life in a Zen temple, and Maura’s detailed observations and humble descriptions of her breakthroughs are a heartfelt reminder that no matter where we are on our spiritual path, we're human and there’s always hope.

This is the most “how-to” book on the list. Whether we are reflective about it or not, our character will be shaped and our lives transformed into something—the only question is In what way? and For what end? John Stott once said that “Spirituality is not a condition into which we can drift.” Steve’s book teaches you how not to drift through life. 

Steve’s ministry (Leadership Transformations) helps Christian leaders and laypeople live renewed and beautiful lives. This book walks you through a process of self-reflection and intentional choice to create a “rule of life”—an intentional rhythm or pattern of our days that primes us for spiritual growth and attentiveness to God.