Download or read book The Mindful Geek written by Michael Taft and published by . This book was released on 2015-09-14 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mindful Geek tells you how to derive the real world benefits of hardcore mindfulness meditation without drinking the metaphysical Kool-Aid. Meditation teacher, Michael W. Taft gives you step-by-step instructions in the powerful and reliable techniques of mindfulness meditation, and outlines the psychological and neuroscientific research underpinning these practices. By treating mindfulness as a scientifically-based, psychological technique, you can keep your atheistic or agnostic secular skepticism and still maintain a powerful, regular, and deeply effective meditation practice. That's because meditation doesn't require you to believe in it to work. Like any good technology, if you use it correctly, it will do the job reliably whether you believe in it or not. And-make no mistake-meditation is a kind of technology; a technology for hacking the human wetware in order to improve your life. This book is a practical, hands-on manual about how to make the most of that technology for yourself. If you are smart, skeptical, technically-inclined, and have a desire to see what meditation is really all about, this book is for you. Michael has taught a lot of meditation programs at tech corporations like Google, so this material has been field-tested on some world-class geeks.

Download or read book Summary of Michael Taft s The Mindful Geek written by Everest Media, and published by Everest Media LLC. This book was released on 2022-05-18T22:59:00Z with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Meditation is a technology that applies psychology to the area of human wellbeing and performance. It makes the unconscious conscious, and it improves life by making you happier, healthier, and more effective. #2 The brain is always on, and consuming energy, but most of that energy is spent on activities you are unaware of. The brain is constantly trying to make you feel better emotionally. Meditation helps you become more aware of what you’re feeling, which allows you to better control your emotions. #3 Meditation not only gives you insight into your own feelings, but also into your own emotions, and those of others. It helps you understand your own motivations, drives, and behavior, and it can help you better relationships and read others. #4 The human brain was believed to be a tabula rasa, or a blank slate, upon which learning could write anything. But it was later discovered that the brain continues to change and adapt throughout our lives.

Download or read book Ego written by Michael Taft and published by ReadHowYouWant. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baumann and Taft skillfully weave eyewitness accounts of 9/11 with insights from evolutionary theory, neuroscientific studies on brain plasticity and emotion, genetics, and other new areas of research. I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in how science can help in understanding both the human capacity for horrific action and the clear reasons for optimism about our collective future.''Alfred W. Kaszniak, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Neurology & Psychiatry, University of Arizona Ego: The Fall of the Twin Towers and the Rise of a New Humanity by Peter Baumann and Michael W. Taft is the first book to explore the positive evolutionary potential hidden in one of the most destructive events in history. In their examination of the evolutionary implications of 9/11 and its aftermath, the authors contend we are not falling into the grip of a new dark age at all, rather we are on the verge of a much brighter one as the Darwinian process of natural selection continues to advance humankind. The authors' inquiry led them to the root of human suffering: the ego. That the ego underlies our problems as a species may come as no surprise. But a deeper look into the ego's origin and history is full of unexpected revelations: The modern human is dominated by a Stone Age brain Energy consumption and the environmental crisis is nothing more than the evolutionary drive to survive gone haywire Evolution has wired us to be riveted to bad news, bad outcomes, and worst - case scenarios When beliefs are challenged it triggers a life or death stance in the human nervous system Emotions are mostly physical, not mental The self we identify with along with its biases and beliefs turns out to be an evolutionary tool that made its first appearance some 50,000 years ago during what's called the conceptual revolution, arguably the biggest developmental leap in human history. The emerging ego accompanied our ability to construct complex tools, create art, and redefine social structure. For the first time as a species, we were able to imagine the future, consider the thoughts of others, and picture ourselves in our own minds. The ego is a cognitive trick of natural selection intended to insure the survival of the individual. Baumann and Taft say the problem comes when we take the ego's conceptualization of reality as the truth about who we actually are. Using the latest research from cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, social anthropology, and paleontology, Baumann and Taft show that modern humanity may be on the verge of an expansion of cognitive abilities akin to the development of the ego. This next step will free the human mind to see beyond the confines of the ego and open the vast potential of conscious awareness.

Download or read book Let There Be Water written by Seth M. Siegel and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times and Los Angeles Times Bestseller! As every day brings urgent reports of growing water shortages around the world, there is no time to lose in the search for solutions. The U.S. government predicts that forty of our fifty states-and 60 percent of the earth's land surface-will soon face alarming gaps between available water and the growing demand for it. Without action, food prices will rise, economic growth will slow, and political instability is likely to follow. Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also had an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors-the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan-every day. Based on meticulous research and hundreds of interviews, Let There Be Water reveals the methods and techniques of the often offbeat inventors who enabled Israel to lead the world in cutting-edge water technology. Let There Be Water also tells unknown stories of how cooperation on water systems can forge diplomatic ties and promote unity. Remarkably, not long ago, now-hostile Iran relied on Israel to manage its water systems, and access to Israel's water know-how helped to warm China's frosty relations with Israel. Beautifully written, Seth M. Siegel's Let There Be Water is and inspiring account of the vision and sacrifice by a nation and people that have long made water security a top priority. Despite scant natural water resources, a rapidly growing population and economy, and often hostile neighbors, Israel has consistently jumped ahead of the water innovation-curve to assure a dynamic, vital future for itself. Every town, every country, and every reader can benefit from learning what Israel did to overcome daunting challenges and transform itself from a parched land into a water superpower.

Download or read book When We Are No More written by Abby Smith Rumsey and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our memory gives the human species a unique evolutionary advantage. Our stories, ideas, and innovations--in a word, our "culture"--can be recorded and passed on to future generations. Our enduring culture and restless curiosity have enabled us to invent powerful information technologies that give us invaluable perspective on our past and define our future. Today, we stand at the very edge of a vast, uncharted digital landscape, where our collective memory is stored in ephemeral bits and bytes and lives in air-conditioned server rooms. What sources will historians turn to in 100, let alone 1,000 years to understand our own time if all of our memory lives in digital codes that may no longer be decipherable? In When We Are No More Abby Smith Rumsey explores human memory from pre-history to the present to shed light on the grand challenge facing our world--the abundance of information and scarcity of human attention. Tracing the story from cuneiform tablets and papyrus scrolls, to movable type, books, and the birth of the Library of Congress, Rumsey weaves a compelling narrative that explores how humans have dealt with the problem of too much information throughout our history, and indeed how we might begin solve the same problem for our digital future. Serving as a call to consciousness, When We Are No More explains why data storage is not memory; why forgetting is the first step towards remembering; and above all, why memory is about the future, not the past. "If we're thinking 1,000 years, 3,000 years ahead in the future, we have to ask ourselves, how do we preserve all the bits that we need in order to correctly interpret the digital objects we create? We are nonchalantly throwing all of our data into what could become an information black hole without realizing it." --Vint Cerf, Chief Evangelist at Google, at a press conference in February, 2015.

Download or read book How to Have a Good Day written by Caroline Webb and published by Currency. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In How to Have a Good Day, economist and former McKinsey partner Caroline Webb shows readers how to use recent findings from behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience to transform our approach to everyday working life. Advances in behavioral sciences are giving us an ever better understanding of how our brains work, why we make the choices we do, and what it takes for us to be at our best. But it has not always been easy to see how to apply these insights in the real world--until now. In How to Have a Good Day, Webb explains exactly how to apply this science to our daily tasks and routines. She translates three big scientific ideas into step-by-step guidance that shows us how to set better priorities, make our time go further, ace every interaction, be our smartest selves, strengthen our personal impact, be resilient to setbacks, and boost our energy and enjoyment. Through it all, Webb teaches us how to navigate the typical challenges of modern workplaces—from conflict with colleagues to dull meetings and overflowing inboxes—with skill and ease. Filled with stories of people who have used Webb’s insights to boost their job satisfaction and performance at work, How to Have a Good Day is the book so many people wanted when they finished Nudge, Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow and were looking for practical ways to apply this fascinating science to their own lives and careers. A remarkable and much-needed book, How to Have a Good Day gives us the tools we need to have a lifetime of good days.

Download or read book Nondualism written by Michael Taft and published by . This book was released on 2014-11-14 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many traditions and mystics talk about nondualism. But what is nondualism, and how have people-from different religions in different parts of the word-described this concept over the millennia? In this book you will discover the long history of nondualism, from its first roots in the Indian Upanishads, to its expression in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta, to its most modern-day expressions in the West. If you are a person in a nondual tradition, this book is an invaluable companion on your journey.

Download or read book Your Post Has Been Removed written by Frederik Stjernfelt and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-01-01 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access monograph argues established democratic norms for freedom of expression should be implemented on the internet. Moderating policies of tech companies as Facebook, Twitter and Google have resulted in posts being removed on an industrial scale. While this moderation is often encouraged by governments - on the pretext that terrorism, bullying, pornography, "hate speech" and "fake news" will slowly disappear from the internet - it enables tech companies to censure our society. It is the social media companies who define what is blacklisted in their community standards. And given the dominance of social media in our information society, we run the risk of outsourcing the definition of our principles for discussion in the public domain to private companies. Instead of leaving it to social media companies only to take action, the authors argue democratic institutions should take an active role in moderating criminal content on the internet. To make this possible, tech companies should be analyzed whether they are approaching a monopoly. Antitrust legislation should be applied to bring those monopolies within democratic governmental oversight. Despite being in different stages in their lives, Anne Mette is in the startup phase of her research career, while Frederik is one of the most prolific philosophers in Denmark, the authors found each other in their concern about Free Speech on the internet. The book was originally published in Danish as Dit opslag er blevet fjernet - techgiganter & ytringsfrihed. Praise for 'Your Post has been Removed' "From my perspective both as a politician and as private book collector, this is the most important non-fiction book of the 21st Century. It should be disseminated to all European citizens. The learnings of this book and the use we make of them today are crucial for every man, woman and child on earth. Now and in the future." Jens Rohde, member of the European Parliament for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe "This timely book compellingly presents an impressive array of information and analysis about the urgent threats the tech giants pose to the robust freedom of speech and access to information that are essential for individual liberty and democratic self-government. It constructively explores potential strategies for restoring individual control over information flows to and about us. Policymakers worldwide should take heed!" Nadine Strossen, Professor, New York Law School. Author, HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship.

Download or read book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha written by Daniel Ingram and published by Aeon Books. This book was released on 2020-01-20 with total page 715 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The very idea that the teachings can be mastered will arouse controversy within Buddhist circles. Even so, Ingram insists that enlightenment is an attainable goal, once our fanciful notions of it are stripped away, and we have learned to use meditation as a method for examining reality rather than an opportunity to wallow in self-absorbed mind-noise. Ingram sets out concisely the difference between concentration-based and insight (vipassana) meditation; he provides example practices; and most importantly he presents detailed maps of the states of mind we are likely to encounter, and the stages we must negotiate as we move through clearly-defined cycles of insight. Its easy to feel overawed, at first, by Ingram's assurance and ease in the higher levels of consciousness, but consistently he writes as a down-to-earth and compassionate guide, and to the practitioner willing to commit themselves this is a glittering gift of a book.In this new edition of the bestselling book, the author rearranges, revises and expands upon the original material, as well as adding new sections that bring further clarity to his ideas.

Download or read book Secular Meditation written by Rick Heller and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meditation is a form of mental exercise with numerous scientifically verified physical and psychological benefits. As meditation teacher Rick Heller shows, the benefits of the practice extend beyond the personal to enrich relationships with others, with one’s community, and with the world. In Secular Meditation, step-by-step instructions, personal stories, and provocative questions teach empathy for others, stress reduction, and the kind of in-the-moment living that fosters appreciation for life and resilience in the face of adversity. Heller simplifies what is often found mysterious, describing and providing detailed instructions for thirty-two different practices, ensuring that anyone can find the right one.

Download or read book Good Sex written by Jessica Graham and published by . This book was released on 2017-05-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mindfulness will make sex better, more exciting, and more fulfilling. Good Sex shows you how. Jessica Graham is passionate about two things: sex and meditation. In Good Sex: Getting Off Without Checking Out, she shares explicit and frank personal stories, non-"woo-woo" spiritual teachings, and simple secular mindfulness practices that will make sex better, more exciting, and more fulfilling. If you don't yet have a meditation practice, Good Sex will give you a highly accessible tool kit to get one started. You'll also learn to easily apply the mindfulness techniques to your sex life, whether you are single, polyamorous, in a long term monogamous partnership, or in any other kind of sexual relationship. Jessica's confessional biographical style of writing allows the reader to get a taste of how much meditation changed not just her sex life, but her whole life. Good Sex is also an invitation to go down the rabbit hole of spiritual awakening via sexuality. Good Sex is fun, dirty, gentle, transcendent, simple, exciting, and transformative. It comes from a down-to-earth and inclusive perspective, borrowing from Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity, but is easily accessible to the secular community and those with no spiritual or meditation background. Good Sex invites you to be fully present for every single sweet drop of pleasure. Good Sex is an adventure. No matter what sexual challenges you are facing, Good Sex can help you grow, heal, and awaken.

Download or read book The Art Direction Handbook for Film written by Michael Rizzo and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether you'd like to be an art director or already are one, this book contains valuable solutions that will help you get ahead. This comprehensive, thorough professional manual details the set-up of the art department and the day-to-day job duties: scouting for locations, research, executing the design concept, constructing scenery, and surviving production. You will not only learn how to do the job, but how to succeed and secure future jobs. Rounding out the text is an extensive collection of useful forms and checklists, along with interviews with prominent art directors, relevant real-life anecdotes, and blueprints, sketches, photographs, and stills from Hollywood sets.

Download or read book Where Wizards Stay Up Late written by Matthew Lyon and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1999-08-19 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty five years ago, it didn't exist. Today, twenty million people worldwide are surfing the Net. Where Wizards Stay Up Late is the exciting story of the pioneers responsible for creating the most talked about, most influential, and most far-reaching communications breakthrough since the invention of the telephone. In the 1960's, when computers where regarded as mere giant calculators, J.C.R. Licklider at MIT saw them as the ultimate communications devices. With Defense Department funds, he and a band of visionary computer whizzes began work on a nationwide, interlocking network of computers. Taking readers behind the scenes, Where Wizards Stay Up Late captures the hard work, genius, and happy accidents of their daring, stunningly successful venture.

Download or read book The Science of Enlightenment written by Shinzen Young and published by Sounds True. This book was released on 2018-08-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enlightenment—is it a myth or is it real? Across time and culture, inner explorers have discovered that the liberated state is a natural experience, as real as the sensations you are having right now. Few teachers achieve clarity with the application of scientific inquiry to these states of consciousness like Shinzen Young. Now in paperback, The Science of Enlightenment makes Young’s essential insights available to readers everywhere. The Science of Enlightenment merges scientific precision, Young’s grasp of the source-language teachings of many spiritual traditions, and his rare gift for sparking insight upon insight through original analogies and illustrations. The result: an uncommonly lucid "Aha, now I get it!" guide to mindfulness meditation—how it works and how to use it to enhance our cognitive capacities, compassion, and experience of happiness independent of conditions. For meditators of all levels and lineages, this multifaceted wisdom gem will be sure to surprise, provoke, illuminate, and inspire.

Download or read book Tobin s Spirit Guide Revised 2016 Edition written by J.H. Tobin and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2014-12-16 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOT YOUR WIKIPEDIA LISTINGS, NOR IS THIS FOR A GAME! This will be the very same book listed in GHOSTBUSTERS 3! Since its first publication over 100 years ago, Tobin's Spirit Guide has remained the authoritative source of information about the Denizens of the etheric plane. Earlier editions of this guide were used by Paranormal Researchers to even save New York City in the great "Gozer the Gozarian" Invasion of 1984, and Vigo the Carpathian's attempt at world domination in 1989. This new version features of 50 new entries, and 200 updates to existing entries, making it the most complete guide for paranormal researchers ever brought before in print. This wonderful 4th updated edition of Tobin's original spirit catalog. With a Forward By R. Stantz, Ph.D. & Dr. E. Spengler, Ph.D. and Afterward By P. Venkman Ph.D.

Download or read book Neurodharma written by Rick Hanson and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2020 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reverse-engineer your brain to experience freedom from suffering with this radically bold yet practical seven-step plan from the New York Times bestselling author of Buddha's Brain and Hardwiring Happiness. Building on his classic bestseller Buddha's Brain, New York Times bestselling author and senior fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley Rick Hanson uses the Buddhist analysis of the mind as a roadmap for strengthening the neural circuitry of deep calm, contentment, kindness, and wisdom--qualities we all need to succeed in the face of adversity. Most books about transformations of consciousness are theoretical or religious, typically full of jargon, pep talks, and calls to believe on faith alone. Instead, this is a book of practice, immediately actionable with simple, powerful guided meditations--and despite this grounded approach, its promise is radically life-changing. This book is nothing short of a path to transcendence, a method for liberating the mind and heart, discovering freedom from suffering, and engaging life with a kind heart and inner peace. A step-by-step path of practical ideas and tools, Dr. Hanson guides readers with his usual encouragement, good humor, and personal examples.

Download or read book Dream Tending written by Stephen Aizenstat and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A master of dreamwork shows how to awaken the power of the living dream to transform your relationships, career, health, and spirit"--Cover.