In the laboratory of the hermits, no one noticed that the monkeys could talk.

When a book ends with the above line, you know it’s going to be interesting.

When the inside front page carries a short review from Prof Alan Dershowitz of Havard Law School that reads, “One simply can’t finish this book and see the world in the same way”, you know the book is important.

Yes to both.

On Page 2, Ellen writes,

Unlike the exotic “altered states of conciousness” that we read so much about, mindfulness and mindlessness are so common that few of us appreciate their importance or make use of their power to change our lives.

This is a book for so many different aspects of life.  From fields like aviation where mindlessness can, literally, kill to mindful new perspectives for people looking to explore new horizons for the soul.

Langer demonstrates a rare capacity both to see what is extraordinary about human events and to envision even more enlivening human possibilities. – Lee Ross, Stanford University.

By Paul Handover