MERU FOUNDATION READING LIST

This partial list of recommended books was originally compiled in 1993, and updated in 2001.
THE REFLEXIVE UNIVERSE, Evolution of Consciousness
Author: Arthur M. Young.
Publisher: Robert Briggs Assoc. 1976 ISBN 0-440-05924-0
Everything you would ever want to know about the torus (doughnut shape).
Cosmology, philosophy and physics. Highly recommended.
 
SYNERGETICS, Volumes 1 & 2
Author: R. Buckminster Fuller.
Publisher: Macmillan Vol. 1: 1975 - ISBN 0-02-541870-X; Vol. 2: 1979 - ISBN 0-02-541880-7
Fuller's magnum opus. Cosmology and geometry. Superb; difficult to read.
 
SEFER YETZIRAH, The Book of Creation, In Theory and Practice
Author: Aryeh Kaplan
Publisher: Sam Weiser 1990 ISBN 0-87728-726-0
Perhaps the only credible translation and discussion available in English.
 
THE CIPHER OF GENESIS, The Original Code of the Qabala as Applied to the Scriptures
Author: Carlo Suares
Publisher: Shambala 1970 (Eng.) ISBN 0-87773-141-1
A unique and insightful presentation; valuable even with errors in details.
 
THE WISDOM IN THE HEBREW ALPHABET,
The Sacred Letters as a Guide to Jewish Deed & Thought
Author: Michael L. Munk
Publisher: Artscroll Mesorah 1983 ISBN 0-89906-194-X
Traditional and authoritative Jewish presentation. Important Appendix.

THE GEOMETRY OF ART AND LIFE
Author: Matila Ghyka
Publisher: Dover 1977 ISBN 0-486-23542-4
Introduction to the Golden Mean.
THE DIVINE PROPORTION, A Study in Mathematical Beauty
Author: H. E. Huntley
Publisher: Dover 1970 ISBN 0-486-22254-3
Introduction to the Golden Mean
 
PHYSICS AS METAPHOR
Author: Roger Jones, Ph. D.
Publisher: Univ. of Minnesota 1982 ISBN 0-8166-1916-6
An important perspective on physics and philosophy; readable and satisfying.
 
THE BOOK OF LETTERS, A Mystical Alef-Bet
Author: Lawrence Kushner
Publisher: Harper & Row 1975 ISBN 0-06-064900-3
Introductory primer on the Hebrew alphabet. Beautifully hand written.

KABBALAH, The Way of the Jewish Mystic
Author: Perle Epstein
Publisher: Shambhala 1988 ISBN 0-87773-438-0
One of the best introductions to Kabbalah.
 
THE EMPEROR'S NEW MIND, Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics
Author: Roger Penrose
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 1989 ISBN 0-19-851973-7
Comprehensive presentation of mind, physics and artificial intelligence.
 
THE PATH OF THE KABBALAH
Author: David Sheinkin, M.D.
Publisher: Paragon House 1986 ISBN 0-913757-69-1
An excellent introduction to Kabbalah.
 
THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE IN ABRAHAM ABULAFIA
Author: Moshe Idel
Publisher: SUNY Press 1988 ISBN 0-88706-553-8
Detailed academic treatment of some works of one of the greatest kabbalists.
 
THE ZOHAR IN MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN SPAIN
Author: Ariel Bension
Publisher: Hermon Press, N.Y. 1932, 1974 ISBN 0-87203-046-6
Jewish, Christian and Moslem teachings in the golden age of Kabbalah.
 
THE TREE OF LIGHT, A Study of the Menorah
Author: L. Yarden
Publisher: Cornell Univ. Press 1971 ISBN 0-8014-0596-3
The history of the Menorah - The Tree of Light and the Tree of Life.
 
CHAOS, Making a New Science
Author: James Gleick
Publisher: Viking 1987 ISBN 0-670-81178-5
One of the best (readable) introductions to Fractals and Chaos theory.
 
SERPENT IN THE SKY, The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt
Author: John Anthony West
Publisher: Harper & Row 1979 ISBN 0-06-014581-1
Coherent, open, inclusive, but not kooky, presentation of Egyptian teachings.
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION, A Guided Tour of the Higher Universes
Author: Rudy Rucker
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 1984 ISBN 0-395-39388-4
Readable illustrated introduction to understanding higher dimensional geometry.
 
SENSITIVE CHAOS, The Creation of Flowing Forms in Water and Air
Author: Theodor Schwenk
Publisher: Schocken Books 1976 ISBN 0-8052-3636-8
One of the best presentations of dynamic forms in nature available. Many illustrations.
 
CATASTROPHE: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World
Author: David Keys
Publisher: The Ballantine Publishing Group ISBN 0-345-40876-4
Hardcover - 343 pages (1999)
 
THE GEONIM OF BABYLONIA AND THE SHAPING OF MEDIEVAL JEWISH CULTURE
Author: Robert Brody
Publisher: Yale Univ Pr; ISBN: 0300070470
Hardcover - 384 pages (March 1998)

ALPHABETIC LABYRINTH: The Letters in History and Imagination
Author: Johanna Drucker
Publisher: Thames & Hudson; ISBN: 0500280681
Paperback - 320 pages 1 Pbk Ed edition (March 1999)

THE CODE BOOK: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
Author: Simon Singh
Publisher: Anchor Books; ISBN: 0385495323
Paperback - 410 pages (August 29, 2000)
 
THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
Author: Brian Greene
Publisher: Vintage Books; ISBN: 0375708111
Paperback - 448 pages  (February 29, 2000)
 
ENDOPHYSICS: The World As an Interface
Author: Otto Rossler
Publisher: World Scientific Pub Co; ISBN: 9810227523
Library Binding - 200 pages (July 1998)

THE END OF TIME: The Next Revolution in Physics
Author: Julian B. Barbour
Publisher: Oxford Univ Press; ISBN: 0195117298
Hardcover - 371 pages (January 2000)

THE HAND: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture
Author: Frank R. Wilson
Publisher: Vintage Books; ISBN: 0679740473
Paperback - 416 pages (September 1999)
 
HAND AND MIND: What Gestures Reveal About Thought
Author: David McNeill
Publisher: University of Chicago Press; ISBN: 0226561348
Paperback - 558 pages (December 1995)
 
TIME'S ARROW & ARCHIMEDES' POINT: New Directions for the Physics of Time
Author: Huw Price
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195117980
Paperback - 320 pages (September 1997)
 
THE SELF-AWARE UNIVERSE: How Consciousness Creates the Material World
Authors: Maggie Goswami, Richard E. Reed, Amit Goswami (Contributor), Fred Alan Wolf
Publisher: J P Tarcher; ISBN: 0874777984
Paperback Reprint edition (March 1995)

THE FABRIC OF REALITY: The Science of Parallel Universes-And Its Implications
Author: David Deutsch
Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper); ISBN: 014027541X
Paperback - 400 pages (August 1998)
 
HYPERSPACE: A Scientific Odyssey
Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and the Tenth Dimension
Author: Michio Kaku
Publisher: Anchor; ISBN: 0385477058
Paperback - 100 pages (March 1995)
THE LIVING TORAH IN HEBREW:
The Five Books of Moses and the Haftarot/Hebrew and English in One Volume
Author: Aryeh Kaplan
Publisher: Moznaim Pub Corp; ISBN: 0940118726
Hardcover (June 1981)

CRACKING THE BIBLE CODE
Author: Jeffrey Satinover
Publisher: William Morrow & Co; ISBN: 068815994X
Paperback - 368 pages Reprint edition (June 1998)

THE INNER MEANING OF THE HEBREW LETTERS
Author: Robert M. Haralick
Publisher: Jason Aronson; ISBN: 1568213565
Hardcover - 360 pages (September 1995)

THE LIVING ENERGY UNIVERSE
Authors: Gary E. R. Schwartz, Linda G. S. Russek
Publisher: Hampton Roads Pub Co; ISBN: 1571741704
Hardcover - 289 pages (October 31, 1999)

DELTA: A Paradox Logic (Series on Knots and Everything, Vol 16)
Author: Nathaniel Hellerstein
Publisher: World Scientific Pub Co; ISBN: 9810232438
Hardcover (March 1998)

DIAMOND: A Paradox Logic (Series on Knots and Everything, Vol.
Author: Nathaniel Hellerstein
Publisher: World Scientific Pub. Co.; ISBN: 9810228503
Hard Cover (January 1997)
 
MIRACLES OF MIND: Exploring Nonlocal Consciousness and Spiritual Healing
Authors: Russell Targ, Jane Katra
Publisher: New World Library; ISBN: 1577310977
Paperback - 352 pages 2 edition (June 1999)

GÖDEL, ESCHER, BACH: An Eternal Golden Braid
Author: Douglas R. Hofstadter
Publisher: Basic Books; ISBN: 0465026567
Paperback - 777 pages 20th anniv edition (January 1999)
 
ISAAC NEWTON: The Last Sorcerer
Author: Michael White
Publisher: Perseus Press (Helix Books); ISBN: 073820143X
Paperback - 416 pages (April 1999)

AN IMAGINARY TALE
Author: Paul J. Nahin
Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr; ISBN: 0691027951
Hardcover - 274 pages (August 24, 1998)
 
TRIGONOMETRIC DELIGHTS
Author: Eli Maor
Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr; ISBN: 0691057540
Hardcover - 248 pages (March 30, 1998)

e: The Story of a Number
Author: Eli Maor
Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr; ISBN: 0691058547
Paperback - 232 pages (April 1998)

A HISTORY OF PI
Author: Petr Beckmann
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; ISBN: 0312381859
Paperback - 200 pages 19 edition (August 1976)

SUPERSTRINGS: And the Search for the Theory of Everything
Author: F. David Peat
Publisher: NTC/Contemporary Publishing; ISBN: 0809242575
Paperback

KABBALAH: The Way of the Jewish Mystic
Authors: Perle Besserman, Perle S. Epstein
Publisher: Shambhala Pubns; ISBN: 0877734380
Paperback - 171 pages Reprint edition (April 1988)

GEOMETRY AND THE IMAGINATION
Authors: David Hilbert, S. Cohn-Vossen
Publisher: Chelsea Pub Co; ISBN: 0821819984
Hardcover Reprint edition (October 1999)
 
THE BOOKS OF CONTEMPLATION: Medieval Jewish Mystical Sources
Author: Mark Verman
Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr; ISBN: 0791407195
Hardcover (February 1992) (Suny Series in Judaica: Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion)

ABRAHAM ISAAC KOOK - LIGHTS OF PENITENCE, LIGHTS OF HOLINESS:
The Moral Principles, Essays, Letters and Poems
Translator:  Ben Zion Bokser
Publisher: Paulist Press; ISBN: 080912159X ;
Paperback - 415 pages (July 1978)
 
SEFER YETZIRAH: The Book of Creation
Author: Aryeh Kaplan (Editor)
Publisher: Samuel Weiser; ISBN: 0877288550
Paperback - 424 pages Revised edition (May 1997)

THE BAHIR
Translator: Aryeh Kaplan
Publisher: Samuel Weiser; ISBN: 0877286183
Paperback - 240 pages (September 1990)

THE HANDBOOK OF JEWISH THOUGHT, Vol. 1
Author: Aryeh Kaplan
Publisher: Moznaim Publishing Corporation. ISBN 0-940118-49-1
Coll. Trade Cloth - 307p. (March 1979)
 
THE HANDBOOK OF JEWISH THOUGHT, Vol. 2
Author: Aryeh Kaplan.
Publisher: Moznaim Publishing Corporation. ISBN 0-940118-79-3
Coll. Trade Cloth - 396p.(December 1993)

THE BOOK OF HEBREW SCRIPT
Author: Ada Yardeni
Publisher: Carta. (Jerusalem, 1997)
Books Out of Print as of December 2000:
THE DOCTRINE OF THE DIVINE NAME: An Introduction to Classical Kabbalistic Theology
Author: Stephen G. Wald
ASIN: 1555402429
This title is out of print.
 
SPIRALS: From Theodorus to Chaos
Author: Philip J. Davis, Walter Gautschi, Arieh Iserles
ASIN: 1568810105
This title is out of print.

Back to Meru Foundation Home Page

Meru Foundation, POB 503, Sharon, MA 02067 USA.
Email inquiries to: meru1@well.com