October 2023 MBR The Self-Help Shelf

The Self-Help Shelf

Not Less Than Everything
August Turak
Clovercroft Publishing
http://clovercroftpublishing.com
9781954437999, $29.99, PB, 400pp

https://www.amazon.com/Not-Less-Than-Everything-Enlightenment/dp/1954437994

Synopsis: As a troubled young college student in 1971, Turak was seized by the idea that the mystical experience various religious traditions call Enlightenment, Satori, Nirvana, Samadhi, the Unio Mystica, or Cosmic Consciousness not only exists, but might be attainable by him.

This sparked a life altering quest as Turak became in turn, the first student of a rough-hewn, hillbilly Zen master; the protege of the founder of the IBM Executive School; the client of a mystical psychologist doing government funded research with LSD; a member of the original team that launched MTV: Music Television; a successful hi-tech entrepreneur and even a longtime, part-time Trappist monk. It was this same spiritual roller coaster that dropped him off twenty-five years later in a tiny room of a rundown motel in Baltimore, Maryland deeply depressed, fearing for his sanity, and with nowhere else to turn. Or so it only seemed...

Through a series of true, wildly entertaining spiritual adventures and practical life lessons, with the publication of "Not Less Than Everything: One Man's Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment" August Turak offers his readers an accessible, universal blueprint for a life overflowing with joy, peace, higher purpose and above all gratitude.

Critique: An inherently fascinating blend of memoir and spiritual self-help guide, "Not Less Than Everything: One Man's Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment" will prove to be of very special value to readers with an interest in the kind of personal transformation that leads to simple inner joyfulness, happiness, and contentment no matter what your life circumstances might be. While highly recommended for personal, professional, and community library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections, it should be noted that "Not Less Than Everything: One Man's Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: August Turak (http://www.augustturak.com) is a successful corporate executive, entrepreneur, award-winning author, speaker, and consultant. He is the founder of the educational nonprofit the Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation. As a frequent monastic guest, Turak has been living and working alongside the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey since 1996. His book, "Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks", uses 1000 years of Trappist business success and his own entrepreneurial experience to demonstrate the monks are not successful businessmen despite adhering to only the highest ethical values, but because they do.

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