This one has been recommended by a Cygnus member who read it after Susan Moon mentioned it in her book Alive Until You’re Dead. Again like Zen Mind it’s a collection of oral teachings that have been set down in a book. Blanche was another teacher in the Bay Area of California and she has died since this book was published. She was 90 and again she had much to say about ageing. There’s so much to be treasured in Buddhist writing like this. Sometimes when you lose your way spiritually these books comfort you and make you feel safer and that you are not totally lost. All the endorsements on the back cover talk about her love and wisdom – there are Buddhist specific aspects of the text but mostly it’s just life wisdom that’s both inspiring and illuminating.

192pp, 215 x 141 mm, Paperback, 2015, RRP £15.99