Best Teen & Young Adult Eastern Religions

Many of today's teenagers are tired of the pressure to compete and consume-and are looking for a different way to live their lives. Written in a style that will have immediate appeal to young "seekers" and those wanting to understand the ancient teachings, this book addresses such relevant topics as peer pressure, emotional difficulties, stress, fostering peace, and even protecting the environment. Introducing concepts such as meditation, enlightenment, metta (lovingkindness), karma, the four noble truths and the eight worldly conditions, Winston writes accessibly but doesn't try overly hard to sound cool or relevant.

Following the Buddha through his various transformations, these clarified, often humorous narrative journeys open the ancient masters profound and gentle teachings to persons of all ages, religions, races, and ideological persuasions. Ms. Conover received a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Colorado and an MFA in Creative Writing from Eastern Washington University.

A grand and complex epic, comparable in scale to the Greek Iliad and Odyssey , The Mahabharatha tells an ancient tale of war, kingship, honor and revenge. Her Mahabharatha has now been published in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portugese and Catalan.

Many of today's teenagers are tired of the pressure to compete and consume-and are looking for a different way to live their lives. Written in a style that will have immediate appeal to young "seekers" and those wanting to understand the ancient teachings, this book addresses such relevant topics as peer pressure, emotional difficulties, stress, fostering peace, and even protecting the environment. Introducing concepts such as meditation, enlightenment, metta (lovingkindness), karma, the four noble truths and the eight worldly conditions, Winston writes accessibly but doesn't try overly hard to sound cool or relevant.

Following the Buddha through his various transformations, these clarified, often humorous narrative journeys open the ancient masters profound and gentle teachings to persons of all ages, religions, races, and ideological persuasions. Ms. Conover received a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Colorado and an MFA in Creative Writing from Eastern Washington University.

Whoever he is, the old man has appeared on that very day to change the boy's life. The old man gives the boy four days of "soul training," a time of riddles, tricks, parables, and incredible twists that brings out surprising answers to each of four burning questions about spirituality: "The old man with the white beard showed me the spiritual side of life," writes Deepak Chopra, "where real passion and excitement come from. The teen and Baba spend a day discussing each question; these four sections are divided into smaller lessons or chapters that end with the young man describing what he learned and how he has applied Baba's wisdom to his life. The prominent themes are consistent with those common to the genre: finding order in chaos, looking for the missing "something" in life, meaningful communication, and understanding and belief in what one cannot see.

Adapted for young readers from No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam , this exploration of Islam by Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed scholar of comparative religion, delves into the rituals and traditions of a religion that is largely misunderstood by the West. Because all religions are bound to the social, spiritual, and cultural landscapes from which they arose and in which they developed, prophets must be understood as reformers who redefine and reinterpret the existing beliefs and practices of their communities. On the contrary, by Muhammad's own admission, his message was an attempt to reform the existing religious beliefs and cultural practices of pre-Islamic Arabia so as to bring the God of the Jews and Christians to the Arab peoples. As unique and divinely inspired as the Islamic movement may have been, its origins are undoubtedly linked to the multiethnic, multireligious society that fed the Prophet's imagination as a young man and allowed him to craft his revolutionary message in a language that would have been easily recognizable to the pagan Arabs he was so desperately trying to reach. In the arid, desolate basin of Mecca, surrounded on all sides by the bare mountains of the Arabian desert, stands a small, nondescript sanctuary that the ancient Arabs refer to as the Ka'ba: the Cube. Then, in a remarkable ritual--the origins of which are a mystery--the pilgrims gather as a group and rotate around the Ka'ba seven times, some pausing to kiss each corner of the sanctuary before being captured and swept away again by the current of bodies. The Ka'ba, like the Pyramids in Egypt or the Temple in Jerusalem, may have been constructed as an axis mundi: a sacred space around which the universe revolves, the link between the earth and the solid dome of heaven. The only thing scholars can say with any certainty is that by the sixth century c.e., this small sanctuary made of mud and stone had become the center of religious life in pre-Islamic Arabia: the time known as Jahiliyyah. Traditionally, the Jahiliyyah has been defined by Muslims as an era of moral depravity and religious discord: a time when the sons of Ismail had obscured belief in the one true God and plunged the Arabian Peninsula into the darkness of idolatry.

The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller From the mind of PewDiePie, the #1 YouTuber in the world with 40 million fans and more than 10 billion views, comes This Book Loves You , a collection of beautifully illustrated inspirational thoughts and sayings. PewDiePie is the most popular YouTuber in the world, with more than 40 million subscribers and a world record breaking 10 billion views.

For the next six and a half years the Blumenthals were forced to live in refugee, transit, and prison camps, including Westerbork in Holland and Bergen-Belsen in Germany, before finally making it to the United States. Four Perfect Pebbles features forty archival photographs, including several new to this edition, an epilogue, a bibliography, a map, a reading group guide, an index, and a new afterword by the author. The information is solid and well presented, however, and through its personal-narrative format the book should reach readers who might not be willing to read such titles as Milton Meltzer's Never to Forget (HarperCollins, 1976). ?Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.