Alan Jacobs

In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way.In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. In contrast to the more methodical approach of Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read a Book (1940), Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices.Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

Examines the forces that prevent modern people from thinking, including distraction, social bias, and fear of rejection, and offers tips to regain a rational mental life.

A Survival Guide for a World at Odds

How to Think

"W.H. Auden once wrote that "art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead." In his brilliant and compulsively readable new treatise BREAKING BREAD WITH THE DEAD, distinguished professor and author Alan Jacobs shows us that engaging with the great writings of the past might help us live less anxiously in the present. Today we are battling too much information, a society changing at lightning speed, algorithms aimed at shaping our every move, and a sense that history is not a resource, only something to be vanquished. The modern solution to our problems is turn inwards, to surround ourselves only with that which is like us. Jacobs' answer is just the opposite: to be in conversation with, and to be challenged by, the great thinkers of the past. What can Homer teach us about force? What does Frederick Douglass have to say about our difficulties with the Founding Fathers? And what can we learn from modern authors who are doing this work? How can Ursula K. Le Guin teach us to see the women of the canon differently? BREAKING BREAD WITH THE DEAD is a close reading with a gifted scholar of texts from across the ages, including the work of Amitav Ghosh, Anita Desai, Henrik Ibsen, Jean Rhys, Simone Weil, Edith Wharton, Claude Levi-Strauss, Italo Calvino, and many more. By agreeing to a conversation with the past, we can draw on more wisdom than the modern consciousness offers"--

A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind

Breaking Bread with the Dead

By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear that the Allies would win the Second World War. Around the same time, it also became increasingly clear to many Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic that the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. A war won by technological superiority merely laid the groundwork for a post-war society governed by technocrats. These Christian intellectuals-Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others-sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world. In this book, Alan Jacobs explores the poems, novels, essays, reviews, and lectures of these five central figures, in which they presented, with great imaginative energy and force, pictures of the very different paths now set before the Western democracies. Working mostly separately and in ignorance of one another's ideas, the five developed a strikingly consistent argument that the only means by which democratic societies could be prepared for their world-wide economic and political dominance was through a renewal of education that was grounded in a Christian understanding of the power and limitations of human beings. The Year of Our Lord 1943 is the first book to weave together the ideas of these five intellectuals and shows why, in a time of unprecedented total war, they all thought it vital to restore Christianity to a leading role in the renewal of the Western democracies.

Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis

The Year of Our Lord 1943

Distinguished Professor of the Humanities Alan Jacobs

Traces the life of the twentieth-century Christian literary master, drawing on themes from the Narnia series to offer insight into Lewis's experiences, from his work as a medieval scholar to his role as a beloved children's book author.

The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis

The Narnian

Presents a collection of essays and book reviews covering a variety of topics in religion, philosophy, and literature.

Essays Pleasant and Unpleasant

Wayfaring

Vrej N. Nersessian

This eye-opening collection of texts sheds light on the esoteric knowledge of Gnosticism, revealing intimate conversations between Jesus and his Disciples In 1945, several gospels, hidden since the first century, were found in the Egyptian Desert at Nag Hammadi. This discovery caused a sensation as the scrolls revealed the mysteries of the Gnostics—a movement which emerged during the formative period of Christianity. ‘Gnosis’, from the Greek, broadly meaning ‘hidden spiritual knowledge’, was associated with renouncing the material world, and focusing on attaining the life of the Holy Spirit. Many Christian sects are derived from the esoteric knowledge of Gnosticism. The gospels selected here by Alan Jacobs reveal intimate conversations between Jesus and his Disciples. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene sheds new light on his relationship with his favorite follower, while the Gospel of Thomas consists of mini-parables of deep inward and symbolic meaning—many of which are not found in the New Testament. The wisdom in this inspiring collection of texts is wholly relevant to our lives today, addressing the questions of good and evil, sin and suffering, and the path to salvation.

Including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene

The Gnostic Gospels

A beautifully designed collection of mystical poems to soothe, inspire and rejuvenate the soul. With a body of work spanning the centuries, from the Vedas to St Teresa of Avila, Rumi and Rilke, and arranged by transcendent themes, this book will connect readers with nature, with the stillness within themselves and with the Divine. When your soul hungers for peace, knowledge or comfort, there is no answer as profound as poetry. In a world that is increasingly noisy and disconnected from the Divine, this wonderfully inspiring collection of poems for the soul from mystics of all traditions encourages readers to listen to their own hearts, marvel at the wonder of nature and explore profound truths of life, death, eternity and God. With its elegant design and comprehensive selection of poets, the volume is ideal for gifting. Themed chapters allow readers to choose topics to explore, including: DIVINITY - what is the nature of God or the One? TRANSCENDENCE - what deep truths can we find in our spiritual quest? LOVE - how can we give and cherish most profoundly? DEVOTION - how should we explore and affirm our faith? PEACE - how can we find stillness amidst turmoil and loss? NATURE - what lessons can we learn from creation? SPIRIT - what is sacred about the individual self? From the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas and the Song of Solomon to the Divine Comedy and the Rubaiyat of Mar Khayyam, readers will find all the great mystical writers, including Attar, Ansari, St Francis of Assisi, Lao Tzu, John Donne, John Bunyan, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti and Walt Whitman, as well as many fine but lesser-known spiritual writers. A book to give as a thoughtful gift, and also one to treasure.

A Collection of Mystical Poetry through the Ages

Poems to Make the Soul Sing

a cultural history

Original sin

Draws inspiration from the philosophies of non-dualism and advaita while also reflecting the author's love for aesthetic poetry.

Roundel and Sonnet Sequences

Mastering Music Walks the Sunlit Sea

SOCRATES WITHOUT TEARS is a beautifully written Novella which reveals the exciting discovery of the long lost Dialogues of Socrates by his devoted pupil Aeschines. They give us a totally different picture of Socrates' great wisdom told with amusement and irony. It shows Socrates connection with Eastern Non Dual Thought and portrays the mildly camp atmosphere of the Symposium in graphic form .It will appeal to all seekers after truth in a palatable form and as the title says 'without tears'.

Socrates Without Tears

A superb series of compact, beautifully presented editions of sacred texts selected from the major writings of the world's spiritual traditions in reliable and accessible translations. and values, an urge to break free from the orthodoxies of our own cultural heritage and to explore beyond its frontiers in search of fulfilment and enlightenment. This search for truth leads us to the great sacred texts of the world's literature. The four titles this season include the Tao Te Ching, poetry brimming with Taoist wisdom about our need to bend to nature's currents; the inspirational Bhagavad Gita, which addresses the issues of conflict - both internal and external; the deeply mystical texts of the Kabbalah, which has recently become very popular in the West; and the fascinating forgotten scriptures of the Gnostic Gospels. These texts offer us a new compass to steer by in our quest for the truth and poetry of the spirit.

In this lucid and balanced treatise, Alan Jacobs reveals the true parameters of Auden's change after the poet's move to America in 1939. By carefully examining poems that represent transitional moments in Auden's thinking, Jacobs identifies the points at which the tectonic plates of the poet's intellect clashed and the buckles and rifts created in Auden's work. Surveying Auden's growth over time, Jacobs explores the idea of personal and moral change. Chapters outline Auden's rejection of Romanticism and his adoption of Horatianism, and his altered views of political, psychological, and sexual matters. Lastly Jacobs demonstrates the consistent qualities of thought and expression found throughout Auden's poetry and shows how, in great art as in great minds, change and continiuity may powerfully coexist.

What Became of Wystan

A Cultural History

Original Sin

"He is present within, pouring out his grace. In dire need he comes to the rescue whether sought or unsought. He is the most intimate being, our very Self." - V. 58, Sri Ramana Ashtottara Sri Ramana Maharshi, the sage of Arunachala - the holy mountain of Lord Shiva, was one of the world's most influential spiritual teachers of our time. He taught the infallible way to Self-realisation through his unique method of 'Self-Enquiry' and the total devotional surrender of the egotistic mind to the inner Satguru dwelling in each one's spiritual heart. He always spoke from the high authority of direct Self-knowledge. He could, and still does, invoke the real Self of pure Existence-Consciousness-Awareness-Love through the Silence of his Presence in his devotees. During his lifetime he led many to Self-realisation. His ashram at Tiruvannamalai is an active spiritual centre imparting the grace and knowledge of his Teaching. This brief biography acquaints you with significant details of his divine life and the essence of his Teaching. The author Alan Jacobs is well-known for his several books and anthologies including: Poetic Transcreations of the Bhagavad Gita and The Principal Upanishads. He also contributes to Ramanasramam's spiritual journal, the Mountain Path. He is President of the Ramana Maharshi Foundation, UK.

HIN-SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI - IN H

Sri Ramana Maharshi

The problem of the 'missing years' is one of the great biblical an historical mysteries and many theories exist as to how Jesus could have spent those years. Alan Jacobs presents, in an impartial manner, all the evidence about what happened during the nineteen years of Jesus' life missing from the Bible. With new information unveiled, the book addresses the following questions: did Jesus ever go to India or Tibet; what did he do in his missing years; is the Aquarian Gospel authentic; was Notovitch (the notorious author and explorer) a fraud; and, what do the Churches think.

When Jesus Lived in India: The Quest for the Aquarian Gospel

Essayist and biographer Alan Jacobs introduces us to the world of original sin, which he describes as not only a profound idea but a necessary one. As G. K. Chesterton explains, "Only with original sin can we at once pity the beggar and distrust the king." Do we arrive in this world predisposed to evil? St. Augustine passionately argued that we do; his opponents thought the notion was an insult to a good God. Ever since Augustine, the church has taught the doctrine of original sin, which is the idea that we are not born innocent, but as babes we are corrupt, guilty, and worthy of condemnation. Thus started a debate that has raged for centuries and done much to shape Western civilization. Perhaps no Christian doctrine is more controversial; perhaps none is more consequential. Blaise Pascal claimed that "but for this mystery, the most incomprehensible of all, we remain incomprehensible to ourselves." Chesterton affirmed it as the only provable Christian doctrine. Modern scholars assail the idea as baleful and pernicious. But whether or not we believe in original sin, the idea has shaped our most fundamental institutions—our political structures, how we teach and raise our young, and, perhaps most pervasively of all, how we understand ourselves. In Original Sin, Alan Jacobs takes readers on a sweeping tour of the idea of original sin, its origins, its history, and its proponents and opponents. And he leaves us better prepared to answer one of the most important questions of all: Are we really, all of us, bad to the bone?

Alan Jacobs

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