{"title":"Books by David Shoemaker","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780226832982","title":"Wisecracks – Humor and Morality in Everyday Life","description":"A philosopher’s case for the importance of good—if ethically questionable—humor.    A good sense of humor is key to the good life, but a joke taken too far can get anyone into trouble. Where to draw the line is not as simple as it may seem. After all, even the most innocent quips between friends rely on deception, sarcasm, and stereotypes and often run the risk of disrespect, meanness, and harm. How do we face this dilemma without taking ourselves too seriously? In Wisecracks, philosopher David Shoemaker examines this interplay between humor and morality and ultimately argues that even morally suspect humor is an essential part of ethical life. Shoemaker shows how improvised “wisecracks” between family and friends—unlike scripted stand-up, sketches, or serials—help us develop a critical human skill: the ability to carry on and find the funny in tragedy. In developing a new ethics of humor in defense of questionable gibes, Wisecracks offers a powerful case for humor as a healing presence in human life.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56227484926325,"sku":"9780226832982","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780226832982_89102737-d40d-4212-9cdb-d3618b304c87.jpg?v=1786012376"},{"product_id":"9781578637799","title":"Living Thelema","description":"“The most thorough and understandable exposition of the underlying theories and the practical applications of the spiritual disciplines of Thelema currently available. A landmark work.” —Lon Milo DuQuette, author of The Magick of Aleister CrowleyThe system of spiritual attainment developed by Aleister Crowley is notoriously challenging in its scope. Living Thelema, adapted from the popular podcast of the same name, brings a welcome approachability to Crowley’s material, without diminishing the depth of the system. The author focuses on the practical and experiential aspects of the path of Thelema, allowing the reader to grasp the true transformative power of the system. Beginners and advanced practitioners alike will find much useful advice here, as Shoemaker brings his characteristic down-to-earth style to bear on topics such as ritual and meditation practices, sex magick, astral projection, psychotherapy for magicians, the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and that pinnacle of attainment known as the crossing of the Abyss. The author’s background as a practicing psychotherapist allows an entirely unique fusion of esoteric wisdom and cognitive science. “In this entertaining and (dare I say it?) lively book, David Shoemaker reminds us that Thelema is not just a philosophy or a study but a spiritual practice. From applied ‘how to’ advice to thought-provoking ‘how about’ posers, Dr. Shoemaker offers his personal take—informed by twenty years of walking the talk, along with his incisiveness as a professional therapist—on how to get the most out of the fundamental Thelemic practices of yoga and ritual, both inside and outside of the temple.” —Richard Kaczynski, author of Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303773254005,"sku":"9781578637799","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781578637799_16c109f9-69b9-4e48-a056-47b0b6b97a43.jpg?v=1788186207"},{"product_id":"9781578638260","title":"The Way of the Will","description":"A practical and in-depth manual on integrating Thelemic spiritual principles into daily life by a prominent writer and teacher of the occult and the work of Aleister Crowley.     In The Way of the Will, David Shoemaker explores how the spiritual discipline of Thelema, founded by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), can be utilized to enhance your psychological and spiritual growth. The book grew out of the author’s own teaching and experience—podcast episodes, classes, and of course, many years of personal practice and supervision of other initiates. It is a compendium of useful tools and perspectives designed to serve as one of many useful guides in the magician’s library.  Part one of the book, “Thelema and the Life Within,” reflects on the ways your inner experience can be enhanced by tools such as the Qabalistic Tree of Life, Qabalistic psychology, and the symbolic world of astrology.  In part two, “Thelemic Practice in Detail,” several important (but rarely discussed) libers in the Thelemic corpus are reviewed, with an eye toward strengthening the use of these powerful practices with no-nonsense advice. Tips are shared for constructing powerful, customized magical invocations and coping with the inevitable ordeals that can impact you along the path of your Great Work. Part two will also examine the deeper, personal magick accessible via attendance of the Gnostic Mass and the ways the symbolic frameworks of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn can be (and have been) adapted to express and enhance Thelemic principles and practices.  Part three, “Thelema in the Wider World,” reviews the ways in which the Thelemic path can inform your health, your creativity, your sense of connectedness and meaning, and your experience of the nature of life itself. Various opportunities for community engagement and training in Thelemic magick and mysticism that exist in today’s world are explored, as well as the ways in which these have evolved since Crowley’s time.  David also offers a personal memoir of his own path toward awareness of True Will, including his experience of the “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel”—the term often used by Crowley to describe the pivotal spiritual awakening potentially available to every human being.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312629035381,"sku":"9781578638260","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781578638260_9bbcf391-6f50-47a6-a954-6767e61b4772.jpg?v=1786023543"},{"product_id":"why-hulk-hogan-matters","title":"Why Hulk Hogan Matters","description":"A fitting tribute to the most popular and provocative professional wrestler of all time.   Step into the ring as David Shoemaker wrestles with the legacy of the iconic Hulk Hogan. Why Hulk Hogan Matters traces the explosive heat and heel turns of how Hulk Hogan became a true cultural phenomenon.   Whether you’re a lifelong Hulkamanic or fascinated by the Hulk’s truly unique, larger-than-life celebrity, Why Hulk Hogan Matters is the ultimate homage to a legend of the ring.   David Shoemaker has been writing about wrestling since 2009. He is the host of the podcast The Masked Man Show With Kaz and the author of The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57487645507957,"sku":"9780063518643","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780063518643.jpg?v=1786354846"},{"product_id":"personal-identity-in-the-wild","title":"Personal Identity in the Wild","description":"Personal Identity in the Wild offers a groundbreaking new approach to theorizing about personal identity and its relation to our practical concerns. The standard \"metaphysics-first\" theorists start by figuring out what we are most fundamentally, urging that we are souls, persons, or animals. Their theories of identity involve showing how that fundamental core is preserved across time, eventually delivering a theory of reidentification, of ourselves and others. This theory finally grounds our identity-related practical concerns like responsibility, compensation, and prudential planning.In this book, the authors reverse that method by starting with a detailed examination of reidentification and its associated practical concerns, leaving metaphysics for later. And as it turns out, it is especially illuminating to start by investigating the non-human animals in the wild that reidentify each other all the time: some birds aggress less against seasonal neighbors; when eating, dwarf mongooses show greater vigilance when hearing some individuals but not others; American crows scold some humans but not others. The authors investigate what precisely is going on with animal reidentification, something that's always motivated by their practical interests in tracking their neighbors, pack leaders, reliable warners, kin, and general threateners.Drawing from cutting-edge work in cognitive and perception science, the authors show that these animals are simply tracking physical objects given their interest in specific attributes of those objects. We humans are doing the same thing: motivated by our concerns to track our kids, neighbors, friends, enemies, colleagues, and more, we open mental files^—^representations^—^of them that enable us to track them through all sorts of attributional changes. But physical objects as such give us no reasons to do anything (other than to avoid running into them). Any practical reasons we have with respect to our familiar person-associated concerns have their source in the attributes of those physical objects. The aim of the last half of the book is to investigate just what those reasons are, not just for our concerns regarding responsibility, compensation, and prudential planning, but also for our bioethical concerns about when life begins and ends and our fears of future pains and death.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57507626025333,"sku":"9780197867723","price":68.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-david-shoemaker.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}