Category: Book reviews

Posted on

Finding Flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience explores where true fulfillment lies- not in external achievements or fleeting pleasures, but in moments of deep engagement. Flow is that state when challenge and skill are perfectly balanced: time falls away, distractions vanish, and the act itself becomes its own reward.

Csikszentmihalyi’s insights remain urgent today. In a culture of distraction, consumption, and relentless metrics, flow offers a different path: a life rooted in intrinsic motivation and meaningful activity. Whether gardening, teaching, painting, or simply tackling a puzzle, flow moments remind us that wholeness is found not in outcomes but in presence.

For me, this idea connected with the way my dad lived. Though he left school at 14, he pursued projects that fascinated him—writing, researching, creating – without much concern for recognition. His joy was in the process, not the product. He embodied what Csikszentmihalyi calls the autotelic personality: one who creates meaning from within.

In alternative archetypal terms, The Disciple and The Artist capture this spirit of flow – devoted, inwardly motivated, and finding joy in practice itself.

Flow remains a powerful reminder that we can design lives around what nourishes us intrinsically. In doing so, we reclaim not just our attention, but our humanity.

Posted on

Is Domination Inevitable?

Reimagining Power, Culture, and the Human Future

Symbolic crossroads showing two worldviews: on the left, a dark walled fortress with a giant sword symbolising domination; on the right, a vibrant meadow where people gather in a circle under a tree, with a golden chalice in the foreground representing partnership, community, and reverence for life.

Riane Eisler’s The Chalice and the Blade challenges one of the deepest assumptions of our culture: that domination and hierarchy are inevitable. First published in 1987, the book argues that human societies have not always lived by the blade. There is another model available to us – symbolised by the chalice – where cooperation, equality, and reverence for life form the foundation of community.

Eisler drew on archaeological evidence from Neolithic Europe to suggest that early cultures may have embodied this partnership model. While her interpretations have been debated, the bigger point remains: partnership is not fantasy. Indigenous societies around the world show us that chalice values – reciprocity, kinship, consensus – are part of our human inheritance.

Almost four decades later, Eisler’s vision is still urgent. Climate crisis, inequality, and division show the costs of the dominator worldview. Yet we face a choice: do we continue with the blade, or do we cultivate the chalice?

My review explores Eisler’s two models and why the chalice still calls to us today.

Read the full review

If this resonates, you might also enjoy my series Beyond the Dominant Paradigm which digs deeper into the cultural patterns Eisler challenges.

Posted on

A Welcome Rebellion Against the Cult of Speed

A man walks slowly along a sunlit forest path with hands clasped behind his back, surrounded by tall trees and golden autumn light, evoking reflection and calm.

In The Art of Going Slow, Damon Zahariades invites us to question the cult of speed and recover a gentler, more intentional connection to our lives. Instead of glorifying productivity, he shows how constant rushing drains our energy, fractures our attention, and leaves us disconnected from what truly matters. This book offers steady, reassuring guidance on slowing down – not to fall behind, but to live with greater clarity, purpose, and ease. Through practical insights and simple shifts in daily habits, Zahariades helps us rediscover the richness that comes when we give ourselves permission to pause. A reflective, calming read for anyone seeking a more soulful pace.

Read the full review

Posted on

Nature and the Human Soul

Reimagining Human Development Through Soul and Nature

What does it mean to truly grow into maturity? For most of us shaped by modern culture, the answer tends to circle around independence, career, success, or perhaps the accumulation of comfort and security. Yet Bill Plotkin’s Nature and the Human Soul invites us to think differently. He suggests that becoming an adult is not simply about ticking boxes of achievement, but about entering into a deeper, soul-centred relationship with life and the natural world.

Plotkin offers a developmental framework that spans the whole of life – from childhood through elderhood—grounded not in economics or productivity but in ecology, imagination, and purpose. His eight-stage model challenges us to consider how far our society falls short in supporting genuine human growth. While mainstream culture often stalls development at adolescence, focusing on consumption and external success, Plotkin calls us into a lifelong journey of becoming who we are meant to be.

What makes his work stand out is its integration of psychology, spirituality, and nature. He describes how rivers, forests, and mountains can be mirrors for our own inner landscapes, guiding us into deeper self-understanding. In this sense, the book is not just theory but a call to practice – an invitation to spend time in wild places, to listen to the inner voice of soul, and to see our lives as part of a much larger story.

Reading this book is not always easy. At times, Plotkin’s writing is dense and demands careful attention. But the reward is a vision that is both radical and hopeful: one where adulthood is defined not by status or wealth but by creativity, service, and ecological belonging. He reframes life crises, such as midlife transitions, not as signs of failure but as necessary thresholds for transformation.

For anyone drawn to questions of purpose, belonging, or the future of our culture, Nature and the Human Soul is a challenging but invaluable companion. It provides a map for soulful living – one that reconnects us with nature, honours the cycles of growth, and points toward a more authentic and sustainable way of being human.

Nature and the Human Soul beautifully embodies the spirit of Nature, Place & the Living World. Plotkin’s soul-centric map of development reminds us that our human journey is inseparable from the life of the planet – that our deepest purpose unfolds not in isolation, but in dialogue with the living Earth. His work invites us to rediscover nature not just as backdrop, but as teacher, mirror, and companion on the path to wholeness.

👉 Read the full review here.

Posted on

Ordinary People as Monks & Mystics

A person sits on the steps of a small wooden hut surrounded by greenery, holding a cup of tea and gazing into the distance — a peaceful image of solitude and reflection in nature.

Marsha Sinetar’s Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics profoundly shaped my life, validating my need for solitude and inspiring me to simplify my work and daily rhythm. In the 1990s, it was a rare voice speaking to this way of life; today, its message feels even more relevant. Though not a how-to guide, it offers something equally valuable: permission to live by your own deep rhythms.

Read the full review

Posted on

The Highly Sensitive Person

A Book That Names What Many Have Felt

Elaine Aron’s The Highly Sensitive Person is a book that changes lives. First published in 1996, it introduced the idea that 15–20% of people are “highly sensitive.” For many, this recognition is transformative. It explains why the world can feel too loud, too fast, or too overwhelming — and why sensitivity is not a flaw, but a natural trait.

Aron blends research, stories, and advice to show how sensitivity works. Sensitive people often notice subtleties others miss, reflect more deeply, and feel more intensely. These qualities bring creativity, empathy, and conscience, but they also carry challenges in cultures that prize toughness and speed.

Reading this book is like stepping into a more compassionate story of selfhood. Instead of seeing yourself as fragile, you begin to understand sensitivity as a form of intelligence. Aron also stresses responsibility: sensitive people thrive best when they honour their energy, choose nourishing environments, and give themselves permission to rest.

Read the full review

This review opens my Sensitivity series of articles, which reframes sensitivity as a soulful strength. From reclaiming it as an undervalued gift to recognising it as an evolutionary asset, the series explores why the world needs sensitive people right now.

Stay in the loop.
Don’t want to miss a post or review? Get the monthly digest – one calm email, once a month.

👉Keep me updated

Posted on

Green Sisters

Nuns in colourful embroidered patchwork habits work together in a rustic eco-convent garden with stone and wooden buildings, solar panels, and fruit trees, symbolizing ecological spirituality and sustainable community living.

Green Sisters: A Spiritual Ecology by Sarah McFarland Taylor explores how Catholic nuns across North America are embodying ecological spirituality in daily life. Inspired by the vision of Thomas Berry, these communities have embraced practices such as organic gardening, eco-building, seed saving, and activism as part of their religious vocation.

Taylor presents a vivid ethnography that shows faith communities not only critiquing consumer culture but creating alternatives. The sisters’ vows extend to care for the Earth, their liturgies become celebrations of creation, and their convent gardens serve as sanctuaries of renewal.

What makes this book powerful is its groundedness. The ecological crisis can feel overwhelming, but Taylor demonstrates how transformation begins with small, faithful practices. In these communities we see the Great Work in action — spirituality embodied in compost heaps, community kitchens, solar panels, and acts of solidarity.

For readers who resonated with Berry’s The Great Work, this book offers the next step: the translation of vision into practice. It is a hopeful and inspiring reminder that another way of life is possible, one rooted in reverence, sustainability, and community.

Read the full review

Posted on

The Great Work

A bright classroom opens onto a flourishing community garden, where children and a teacher tend vegetables and fruit trees. The scene contrasts desks and books inside with hands-on learning in nature, symbolizing education that integrates ecological awareness and community connection.

Thomas Berry’s The Great Work is a landmark text in ecological spirituality and cultural transformation. Berry names the defining task of our age: moving from an exploitative relationship with the Earth to one that is mutually enhancing. He argues that the ecological crisis is fundamentally a crisis of worldview, requiring a cultural and spiritual transformation as profound as any in human history.

Berry shows how the “extractive mindset” – seeing nature as resource and humans as producers – has shaped economics, education, and religion. Against this, he offers a vision of the universe as a “communion of subjects,” where every form of life holds intrinsic value.

The book is not abstract philosophy but a call to action, addressing how each sphere of society can contribute to the Great Work of transition. His integration of science and spirituality gives readers both grounding and inspiration.

Reading it today is sobering yet hopeful. Berry makes clear the scale of change needed, but he also insists that great transformations have happened before. The Great Work is both compass and call — guiding us toward a more life-giving paradigm.

Read the full review

Posted on

How to Fall in Love with The Future

• A surreal, symbolic image of an open door in a meadow leading into a vibrant, flourishing cityscape.

The future can often feel like a frightening place. Headlines warn of climate crisis, economic instability, and political upheaval. It’s easy to fall into despair, assuming that tomorrow will inevitably be worse than today. But Rob Hopkins’ How to Fall in Love with the Future offers a different story – one rooted in imagination, community, and possibility.

Hopkins argues that our greatest challenge is not technological or political, but imaginative. We have forgotten how to dream. Yet history shows us that big transformations always begin in the realm of imagination. From food co-ops to renewable energy projects, Hopkins shares inspiring stories of communities already experimenting with futures worth falling in love with.

What makes this book so compelling is its mixture of vision and practicality. Hopkins doesn’t offer abstract ideals – he offers examples of people already doing the work, inviting us to see ourselves as part of this story. His tone is warm, human, and deeply encouraging.

As I read, I was struck by how often my own images of the future are coloured by fear rather than possibility. Hopkins helped me remember that imagination is not escapism – it is an act of courage. To fall in love with the future is to refuse despair and to choose wonder instead.

For anyone seeking a more hopeful, soulful vision of what lies ahead, this book is both balm and challenge. It will leave you asking: What kind of future am I ready to fall in love with?

Read the full review

Posted on

From What Is to What If

Flourishing community garden. People of all ages work together growing food, reading, and creating art under warm sunlight, symbolizing imagination, renewal, and resilience.

What if imagination was the most powerful tool we had to change the world? In From What Is to What If, Rob Hopkins argues that our greatest crisis is not just climate change or inequality, but a failure of imagination. Without the ability to picture different futures, we remain stuck in systems that no longer serve us.

Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Town movement, invites us to move beyond “what is” and dare to ask “what if?”: What if our towns were designed around connection rather than consumption? What if prosperity was measured by well-being and ecological health instead of GDP? What if schools encouraged curiosity instead of conformity?

The book is filled with inspiring examples of communities already living these questions. From urban farms to community-owned energy projects, Hopkins shows that imagination is not a dream but a practical force for cultural change. His stories remind us that creativity and play are not distractions – they are essential to survival and resilience.

What makes this book compelling is its balance of hope and urgency. Hopkins does not deny the gravity of the crises we face, but he insists that hope grows when people come together to dream and act.

For me, From What Is to What If resonates deeply with my Beyond the Dominant Paradigm series. It challenges the cultural assumptions that keep us trapped in “business as usual” and affirms that bold change begins with the courage to imagine otherwise.

👉 Read my full review here

Don’t want to miss a post?
Sign up for the monthly roundup and get new blogs and reviews delivered straight to your inbox.

👉 Send me the roundup