Desert Island Books

During the last 40+ years I read thousands of works by spiritual authors and my personal library contained hundreds of books.  Now my library is quite modest and my books have been read many times – always offering new insights. Here is my desert island collection – in no particular order.

The Bible

A Course in Miracles: Foundation for Inner Peace

Autobiography of a Yogi, The Divine Romance and Man’s Eternal Quest by Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of Self-Realization Fellowship

A Thousand Names for Joy by Byron Katie, spiritual teacher of self-inquiry

The Power of Now and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Silence of the Heart by Robert Adams, American mystic of the Advaita Vedanta tradition

The Ease of Being by Jean Klein, musicologist, doctor and teacher of Advaita Vedanta

Commentaries on Living by J. Krishnamurti, spiritual teacher

Bhagavad Gita, Hindu literary and spiritual masterpiece, translated by Stephen Mitchell

Dialogues with Silence by Thomas Merton, modern Trappist monk and mystic

The Enlightened Heart, anthology of sacred poetry edited by Stephen Mitchell

Women in Praise of the Sacred, anthology of sacred poetry by women edited by Jan Hirshfield

The Illuminated Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, illuminations by Michael Green

The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

The Little Prince, Flight to Arras, Night Flight, Wind, Sand & Stars, The Wisdom of the Sands by French writer/philosopher Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, translated by Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English

The Way of Chuang Tzu, translated by Thomas Merton

The I Ching: Book of Changes: Richard Wilhelm translation

The Zen Teachings of Huang Po, translated by John Blofeld

God Makes the Rivers to Flow and The Upanishads, edited by Eknath Easwaran

 

OTHER

Zen Poetry: translated & edited by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto

One Hundred Poems from the Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth

One Hundred Poems from the Japanese by Kenneth Rexroth

Nearer to the Heart of God: daily readings with the Christian mystics: edited by Bernard Bangley

Bright Moon, White Clouds, poetry of Li Po, translated by J.P. Seaton

From the Country of Eight Islands: anthology of Japanese poetry, translated & edited by Hiroaki Sato and Burton Watson

Bulfinch’s Mythology

The Power of Myth: Joseph Campbell

Twenty Love Poems, Selected Poems, 100 Love Sonnets & Late & Posthumous Poems by Pablo Neruda

Book of Women Poets edited by Aliki Barnstone & Willis Barnstone

A Book of Luminous Things: International Anthology of Poetry, edited by Czelsaw Milosz

Anthology of World Poetry, edited by Mark Van Doren

World Poetry, edited by Katharine Washburn & John S. Major