From being a crucial influence on the Renaissance to developing into a fruitful source of inspiration for many important artists, this hidden history of the occult features essays by noted writers and thinkers, from William Blake to H.G. Wells.

The first truly popular biography of the influential twentieth-century mystic and educator who-while widely known for founding the Waldorf schools and other educational and humanitarian movements-remains a mystery to many who benefit from his ideas.

People everywhere have heard of Waldorf schools, Biodynamic farming, Camphill Villages, and other innovations of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). Indeed, Steiner-as an architect, artist, teacher, and agriculturalist-ranks among the most creative and prolific figures of the early twentieth century, pioneering work in...

Not everyone possesses the extraordinary strength of a young Lance Armstrong. Beating the alternative is the average person's guide to surviving cancer. This is the story of how a 46 year old father of two young children took control of his fate and successfully navigated the most difficult challenge of, and to, his life. Beating the Alternative is a must read for anyone recently diagnosed with colon cancer, or who loves someone about to embark on the quest for life.

A clear and concise overview of the life and work of the immensely influential but little understood eighteenth-century mystic-scientist Emanuel Swedenborg.
Lachman identifies all the roles Swedenborg inhabited (spiritual thinker, psychic, scientist, inventor, statesman, traveler, and possibly even spy) and does an exceptionally good job of suggesting why this little-known polymath deserves more substantial critical attention. The Independent on Sunday (UK)

It is difficult to imagine modern Western alternative spirituality without the influence of Swedish...

Squid Hunters is a marine science fiction adventure novella featuring a father and son united in the bond of their unique talent; hunting and killing deadly giant blue squids. Spanning the globe from Vancouver, Canada to the plains of south central Anatolia to the Weddell Sea near Antarctica, this fast-paced story never lets up. The theme was inspired by a painting by the author's son of a giant squid descending upon unsuspecting penguins from the sky. Actual research on colossal cephalopods is combined with interesting facts and colorful locales drawn from Lachman's home base in Turkey to...

This epic study unveils the esoteric masters who have covertly impacted the intellectual development of the West, from Pythagoras and Zoroaster to the little-known modern icons Jean Gebser and Schwaller de Lubicz.

Running alongside the mainstream of Western intellectual history there is another current which, in a very real sense, should take pride of place, but which for the last few centuries has occupied a shadowy, inferior position, somewhere underground.

This "other" stream forms the subject of Gary Lachman's epic history and analysis, The Secret...