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James Lee Burke has been hailed as a “national treasure” (Tampa Bay Times), and in his ninth Dave Robicheaux thriller, it’s easy to see why. This taut, twisted tale of corruption in the Louisiana bayou truly brands Burke as “America’s best novelist” (The Denver Post). No one was surprised when Aaron Crown was arrested for…

When The Teachers of Gurdjieff was first published some 25 years ago, it made a very considerable stir. George Gurdjieff was one of the most famous mystics before the war, a teaching master who had many fashionable and influential pupils. He had a striking appearance and manner of teaching, one that was to prove influential.…

A serious, yet entertaining, look at the impediments in current thought which prevent certain forms of understanding between people. The title story was made into an award-winning film with script by Idries Shah, and chosen as an Outstanding Film of the Year. The Dermis Probe comprises a collection of extracts from the written and oral…

Caravan of Dreams distills the essence of Eastern thought in a feast of stories, sayings, poems and allegories, collected by one of the world’s leading experts in Oriental philosophy. Idries Shah builds up a complete picture of a single consciousness, relating mythology to reality, illuminating historical patterns, and presenting philosophical legends in this unique anthology.Its…

The Commanding Self, in Sufic terminology, is that mixture of the primitive and conditioned responses, common to everyone, which inhibits and distorts human progress and understanding. This book was described by Shah as the key to understanding his entire corpus of work. While complete in itself as an anthology of hitherto unpublished work, it serves…

A simple guide to Buddhist meditation with easy-to-follow instructions on both sitting and walking meditation, plus insightful reflections on how to live a Buddhist way of life. Initially, Buddhist meditation is a process of freeing the mind of its entanglements, of learning how to undo the knots and getting beyond thinking. When we live with…

The remote and inhospitable landscape of Iceland made it a perfect breeding-ground for heroes. The first Norsemen to colonize it in 860 found that the fight for survival demanded high courage and tough self reliance; it also nurtured a stern sense of duty and an uncompromising view of destiny. The Icelandic sagas relate the adventurous…

“Although Reminiscences…was first published some seventy years ago, its take on crowd psychology and market timing is a s timely as last summer’s frenzy on the foreign exchange markets.” —Worth magazine “The most entertaining book written on investing is Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefèvre, first published in 1923.” —The Seattle Times “After…

The ‘perfuming of a scorpion’, referred to by the great Sufi teacher Bahaudin, symbolizes hypocrisy and self-deception: both in the individual and in institutions. In A Perfumed Scorpion, Idries Shah directs attention to both the perfume and the scorpion – the overlay and the reality – in psychology, human behavior and the learning process. Crammed…