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Pilgrimage,
Exploring a Great Spiritual Practice, by
Edward C. Sellner, published by Sorin Books, Notre Dame,
IN, USA e-mail cerdes@nd.edu. www.avemariapress.com. 2004. Pb. 220
pages. $12.95. ISBN 1-893732-75-4.This book is one of a series by Sorin books of reader friendly books, with a world vision, credible information, practical advice, and easy to follow instructions. Edward Sellner, who is an established writer on Celtic spirituality and an experienced leader of pilgrimages, places the modern pilgrim into the context of a great religious tradition. Surveying the history and practice of pilgrimage over the centuries in many cultures, he recounts the ancient stories and traditions, outlines the stages of pilgrimage, and gives practical advice on how to make the pilgrimage doable and how to deepen the experience. Towards the end of the book, there is a list of 40 famous pilgrims, and 40 famous holy places.
Property,
For People Not for Profit,
Alternatives to the Global Tyranny of Capital, by Ulrich Duchrow and Franz J
Hinkelammert. Published by Zed Books, London in
association with Catholic Institute for International Relations,
London. Translated by Elaine Griffiths. www.zedbooks.co.uk.
www.ciir.org. 2004. Pb. 244 pages. ISBN 1-84277-479-4. It is difficult to exaggerate the philosophical and political importance of this pioneering book. While property lies at the heart of globalisation and free market economics, it is an issue that remains virtually undiscussed in any critique of the global economic system. Tracing the history of the current Western notion of private property, the book shows how it has now reached its most extreme form in neoliberal economics. The book argues that the notion must be modified to take into account people's real lives and the common good. It then goes on to propose various campaign methods for bringing about change.
"This learned book demonstrates how globalisation of the unregulated market, driven by the accumulation of property, leads to the impoverishment of ever wider sectors of humanity and the devastation of the natural environment." Professor Gregory Baum, McGill-Queens University. "Its most valuable contribution is to show how another world is possible". Denis Howlett, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives.
The
Celtic Gift of Nature, Illustrated
Selections from the Carmina Gadelica
in Gaelic and English, collected by Alexander Carmichael,
Illustrated by Vivienne Cardwell. Floris Books,
Edinburgh. www.florisbooks.co.uk katy@florisbooks.co.uk.
2004. Hb. 128 pages. St£9.99. US $16.95. ISBN 0-86315-441-7.The Carmina Gadelica is the most comprehensive collection of poems and prayers from the Gaelic tradition of oral poetry. Gathered by Alexander Carmichael, a civil servant who travelled all over the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in his spare time, he recorded poems and prayers handed down through generations in a living oral tradition. This book is an inspiring selection of poems and prayers beautifully presented in both Gaelic and English.
Healing Our History, the
Challenge of
the Treaty of Waitangi, by Robert
Consedine and Joanna Consedine. Penguin Books, New
Zealand. www.penguin.com. www.waitangi.co.nz. 2001. Pb. 288 pages. ISBN
0-14-100448-7.Colonialism is a part of history in many parts of the world. It has left many native peoples with a deep psychological scar caused by the loss of their land and the suppression of their traditions. Since the 1980s Robert Consedine has worked with a network of Pakeha and Maori people in New Zealand in a healing process. Together they have created a successful workshop process that enables people to learn about, and courageously confront, New Zealand's colonial history. The book has been a bestseller in New Zealand and is now being republished. It offers a template of a healing process that could be used in other countries with a colonial history, including Ireland. Robert Consedine's family came originally from Ireland and this book is dedicated to "our Irish ancestors and indigenous peoples in their centuries of struggle for justice".
"Robert has long been involved in Treaty of Waitangi workshops. He speaks of forgiveness, healing, acknowledging the pain of history, reparation and the restoration of right relationships. None is an easy option, but each is a necessary step towards a better New Zealand for all of us. This is a good book." Sir Paul Reeves.
Solar Living Source Book,
the Complete
Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies and Sustainable Living, by John
Schaeffer, Executive Editor, and Doug Pratt, Technical Editor. Published by Gaiam, Real
Goods, 11th edition 2001, California, USA. Originally published as
Alternative Energy Source Book. www.realgoods.com
realgood@realgoods.com Pb. 590 pages. US $30.00. ISBN
0-916571-04-1.This book has over 400,000 copies in print and is distributed in 44 English speaking countries. It is the bible of independent living and renewable energy. In print since 1982. The book is filled with lively, up-to-date articles on everything from solar energy to water heating to composting toilets to off-the-grid living. This book tells you how and then offers the hardware to make it happen. Gaiam Real Goods has a 12-acre Solar Living Center in Hopland, California which is one of the world's permier demonstation centers for renewable energy technologies and sustainable living.
"This is a fabulous compendium of hows, whys, and widgets of making a sensible home under the sun (and wind and micro-hydro and healthy living and mobility too)." Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute. "It is scrupulously honest, technically flawless, and steeped in experience and practical wisdom." Paul Hawken, Natural Capital Institute.
Sun and Cross, From
Megalithic Culture
to Early Christianity in Ireland, by
Jakob Streit. Republished 2004 by Floris Books,
Edinburgh. www.florisbooks.co.uk katy@florisbooks.co.uk
First published 1977. Pb. 237 pages. St.£14.99 US $24.95. ISBN
0-86315-440-9. The republication of this book has been long awaited by people who have been unable to get a copy of the original. Jakob Streit grew up in Spiez, Switzerland where the marks of Celtic monks of a thousand years earlier still remain. His book is the result of a lifetime of passionate study. In it he traces an unbroken evolution from the Celtic stone-age people who lived across Europe, to their settling in Ireland, to the absorption of Christianity into their culture and then the spreading of that Christianity throughout Europe again through the work of the Celtic monks. The book includes a wonderful selection of photographs, illustrations, poetry and quotations. It is an essential sourcebook for anybody interested in Celtic spirituality and Celtic history.
An Arid Season, New
Poems, by Michael D. Higgins. Published
by New Island, Dublin. 2004. Pb. 66 pages. ISBN 1-904301-57-6. Inspiring and provocative, this long-awaited new collection of Michael D's poetry is reflective of the changes that were taking place, not just in the poet's life, but also in the world at large. Covering a timespan that includes his term as Minister for Arts and Culture in the Irish coalition government, Michael D says: "It was a time when I often felt that language was losing its meaning. Life was being commodified in all its aspects; values seemed out of fashion". In these poems, Michael D. discerns a residual hunger for the spiritual, probes our collective consciousness, investigates the nature of memory, of prophecy, and explores both our imagined and our realised world. He dedicates the book "particularly for those who continue to ask questions that might have answers that are not allowed."
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