My first entry here is an announcement that I have just updated my blog over at the Sri Chinmoy Centre website. If you haven't seen it yet, I try to combine my practise of meditation under teacher Sri Chinmoy with everyday observations and insights. Hopefully it's enjoyable—I've been having a great time writing it!

I recently wrote a review of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts here at zaadz. Not wanting to wax lyrical or be too overblown, for I am that and more in the review, I still can't help myself from recommending it to people as the best book I have read in years.

I should preface this with a disclaimer—I don't read a huge number of books, due to both business and extreme busy-ness, and these days I would rather be writing them than reading them—but Shantaram was the exception I willingly gave a week of my life to, and when I read it a second time, in alzheimers due course, will willingly give more.

I should also warn the prospective reader that it is a brutal, graphic novel, depicting torture and extreme violence, but in a way this is the inspirational part of Robert's tale, for his survival of quite remarkable circumstances to become an author, but courtesy of a quick Google image search, you'll see a man who was spiritually transformed—written not just on the pages of his book, but all over his face.

Read it if you are under the impression that the spiritual life is meant just for the faint heated.

After saying recently that I barely have time to read books anymore, I fear I will be stretching my credibility by posting, yes, another book review, but in my defence your honour, I did read this book thirteen years ago...

There is a River by Thomas Sugrue, as you will see in the review in more detail, is a book that changed my life, for it was my reading of this that introduced me to meditation and the spiritual life, a life transforming experience from which I have never looked back.

It is the truly inspirational story of the life of Edgar Cayce, and if it encourages just one more person to begin the inspirational practise of meditation I will have accomplished something by writing this.