In commenting on the recent public demand for books on practical spirituality, a Los Angeles bookstore owner was quoted as saying: "This is really just a new era of an old age. ... People want basic, fundamental books on personal transformation. They're looking for ways to balance their lives, health, livelihood, family—something they've been looking for in books for hundreds of years."Publishers Weekly, November 10, 1997, pp. 36-37.
If the current demand, then, is a new chapter in an age-old quest, why has there been such increased interest in this and related topics over the past decade? There are various explanations offered by the media: the aging of the baby-boom generation, causing many to devote more time to their inner lives; the approach of the millennium, creating a desire to think in new ways; the end of the cold war, allowing people to be more reflective and less fearful of the future; the growing acceptance of the mind/body connection, affirming that thought affects our health; and even a new global awareness, bringing down walls of separation between Eastern thought and Western traditions in the areas of religion and medicine.
From the Office of the Publisher,
the Writings of Mary Baker Eddy
