Review quickies

Jody at the Guruphiliac blog did a great review of The Maharishi Effect in his trademark fun style. Read it here. Kirkus Reviews did a brief but good summary of my book in their special issue on religion and spirituality. Click here to see the PDF file, then scroll down to the box labelled “Spiritual Memoirs.”

Tell your stories

Now that The Maharishi Effect has been out for a month or so, I’m getting a sense of how readers respond to the book. It’s been wonderful hearing from current and former members of the TM movement who say that the book spoke to them. It’s helping them find some perspective and closure on an important chapter in their lives. It occurred to me that the process could continue on this blog. If you’d like to share your story about life in the TM movement or with other groups and gurus, feel free to post it as a comment to this message.

Tour notes

The Wisconsin phase of the book tour included two of the oldest independent book stores in the state. I’m very grateful to the staff at Schwartz Books in Shorewood and University Books Hilldale here in Madison. Thanks for showing us what makes independents so important in the age of big chains.

Although the offical tour is over, I’ll be on the road for the next few months promoting the book wherever there’s an interest. If you’d like me to speak at your store, book group, writer’s class, or whatever, send me an email.

Readings

I’d like to thank the staff of Book Passage in Corte Madera for their hospitality last Sunday. It was great to be there for the store’s 30th anniversary celebration. A big community of readers and writers from all over turned out for the event. I got to meet one of my favorite writers–Isabel Allende, author of The House of the Spirits. Congratulations to Book Passage!

The book tour continues with a reading tonight at Schwartz Books in Shorewood, Wisconsin. If you’re in the Milwaukee area, please come and support one of the midwest’s best independent bookstores.

San Francisco area appearance

I’ll be in the Bay area this weekend reading and signing copies of The Maharishi Effect. I hope you’ll come see me at Book Passage in Corte Madera at 5:00 PM November 5th. Click here to see the Book Passage web page for the event.

Launch day plus one

The Maharishi Effect is now available in bookstores in the United States and Canada. If you’re near one of the big chains, there’s a good chance you’ll find it on the shelves. If your local independent bookstore doesn’t stock it, they can order it for you. I hope you enjoy reading it.
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Thanks to everybody who showed up for my appearance yesterday at the Wisconsin Book Festival. We had a full house of 40 or so people. There was lots of laughter and good discussion.

First media coverage

The first article about my book is available online here:

Isthmus: Guru Reality

I couldn’t have asked for a better article. Writer Frank Bures definitely “got it.” 

LibraryThing gallery

I just added a photo to my author profile page on LibraryThing. One cool feature of that site is that you can see a portrait gallery of all the authors in your library. (At least all the ones that have a picture in the LibraryThing database.)

Check out the photos in my gallery. Currently, I’m between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Stephen Jay Gould.

Book launch

The book tour for The Maharishi Effect begins on the publication date–October 19, 2006. I’ll be appearing here in Madison as part of the Wisconsin Book Festival. The event is at 5:30 in the Wisconsin Historical Museum on the capitol square. Check their web site for directions. I’ll be reading selections from the book, answering questions, and autographing copies for sale by the museum. Please come and join the fun!

Isthmus photos

Here are some of the photos taken by Mark Sibley for the article about my book in the September 7 issue of the Madison Isthmus.