I copied one ancient text out by hand for three years Introduction: Three years of mornings with Patanjali A few years ago, I wanted to break my habit of plowing through books one after another, and that nagging sense I was wasting my time reading aimlessly. So I copied the Sutras of Patanjali every day for the past three years, a few lines at a...
Life Without Solitude You picked a hell of a time to abandon yourself You want to accomplish more, eat less, exercise more, be better at relationships or earning money. But you have trouble following through. You search for answers. You read more books, listen to more podcasts, attend more seminars. You can search for any problem on the web and...
Before I can explain what it was to leave Mendocino, I suppose I’ll need to describe what it was to live in Mendocino, as ephemeral as such an experience can be. I entered the weird world of Mendocino with an open heart, and it enchanted me for four years. Until it didn’t. You see, Mendocino is more than a just geographical place. I...
If you find yourself wondering whether you have gone back in time, you are not alone! The evidence is everywhere. Do you ever wake up in the morning and wonder what century it is? Do the headlines, your lifestyle, the things you see on the street remind you of a simpler time when nobody went to the doctor — because there weren’t any? Your...
by Susanna Solomon It wasn’t my fault Lilly was blue. She was born that way. I’d heard about it over the Internet, this litter of blue puppies, and like most things I’d read online, I didn’t believe a word of it. But when I went over to Dr. Trent’s house two weeks later and saw...
Avicennae As an apothecary during the first Middle Ages, I treated croupy children, aching joints, gout, leprosy, elephantitis, and plague. None of these had an actual cure. The best I could do was to pestle some herbs into a salve, and send them on their way. I watched helpless as people died of everything that has since been solved by vaccines...
by Chance Penway When a hillside shed in their San Francisco neighborhood mysteriously burns, Fran and Alford, can’t resist taking a look. What they discover while poking around in the cinders reveals the unexplained death of an unforgettable woman. Their obsession with her fate puts them in the crosshairs of a killer. The Flophouse Murders...
We had moved to Northern California from Chicago, where the crime had begun to feel overwhelming and the weather seemed almost punatively harsh. I didn’t mind these things so much for myself. I was, as any Midwesterner will tell you, ‘used to it”. But now we had little children, and a small town in a moderate climate seemed ideal...
by Jeri Kean The Shady Acres community pool was often described as Sparkling! by realtors, but as Full of hairballs! by anyone who swam laps in it, especially the teenagers on the Shady Acres Abalone Swim Team. This morning it was indeed sparkling, and surrounded by bright green grass, majestic palm trees, neat rows of white recliners and colorful...
Helpful Advice From the Other Middle Ages The solstice is upon you! You have not yet been sucked away into the darkness that fell with the installation of the loathsome troll and his minions. Who could have predicted this reprieve? Only a month since, you were poised to see your republic voted into oblivion–and look at you!–back from the brink...
