What book is on your bedside table?
The Silence of the Heart by Paul Ferrini.

How did you come across the book?
Serendipitous moment in Banyen Books.

Page-turner or doorstop?
The former . . . but could be both, in a pinch, which only adds to its practicality.

Would you put it on your Desert Island list?
Right up there with The Power of Now, The Joy of Sex, The Nonsense Verse of Lewis Carroll, the complete Harry Potter series, and Good Night Moon.

How would you describe the book in one word?
Satchitananda (Sanskrit word meaning: being, consciousness, and bliss).

If you had to design a poster for the book, what would it look like?
The actual cover shows a beautiful detail from one of Titian’s paintings of a beatific Jesus. My cover would show my sleeping daughter’s also beatific face, our two cats purring by her side. An artful border of tea-stained, glitter-glued rainbow Corinthian columns reads: “If only I stay up ’til midnight working on this, I know my kid will get an ‘A’ in Mr. Schmidt’s Grade 6 Socials class.” Did I mention, I’m a Mom?

What’s the main idea/theme of this book?
Embracing the divine self, courageously encountering the “dark wings” of our pain with compassion, to find that spiritual alchemy that turns the base metal of suffering back into the gold of our true nature: bliss. The realization of how original sin is a flimsy mask to original innocence. How we can’t blame others for our suffering. How the bastards in your life are just there to remind you of your beauty.

Who would you recommend the book to?
George Bush, fundamentalists everywhere, and all three Dixie Chicks.

By Erica Gehrke, SharedVision's Assistant Editor.