The benefits of mindfulness are well recognized: greater peace of mind, less stress, and the opportunity to work through and transform thoughts, memories, and worries. It also fosters equanimity, helping us accept the changes and challenges life brings.

In our frantic world, who better to guide listeners through this transformative practice than a long-beloved bear who has perfected the art of simply being?

"Just two things to do to truly be Pooh - just be present and kind," he says.

And, not coincidentally, he lives in the woods. There is a growing acknowledgment of the benefits of deeply experiencing nature. The calming quality of sounds like running water and rustling leaves, the soothing properties of smells like lavender and chamomile, and the emotional comfort of beautiful natural vistas are well known.

A Walk in the Wood is both inspiring and instructive. Simple stories with clearly stated goals and easy-to-follow exercises provide all the tools you'll need to take the first step, or continue on your journey, toward a quieter and calmer way of living.

Ever since the birth of the modern nation-state at the Peace of Westphalia, the essential lodestars for governments have been sovereignty (including of a monopoly over the use of force) and territorial integrity. Given how elemental sovereignty and territorial integrity are to states, why would a government ever willingly disintegrate or give up its sovereignty to unite with another state as the junior partner? Despite such a considerable intellectual barrier, modern history features many examples of states that have either broken apart voluntarily or merged into others. In Unifying States, international relations scholar Joseph Parent focuses on the latter phenomenon: voluntary unions. As he stresses, they occur rarely, but they do in fact happen. Indeed, the most famous example is the United States itself, in the Articles of Confederation era. Neither constructivists nor liberals, both of whom stress the positive benefits of economic convergence, can explain why union occurs so rarely. Nor can realists-who hold that in an anarchic world order, states must prize their autonomy above all else-explain why states enter into larger unions that erode their sovereignty. Parent begins from a realist perspective, yet realizes that traditional realist theory cannot account for this very real phenomenon. Instead, he contends that voluntary unions can-and do-occur in extreme circumstances. When states are painted into the same corner by events, they can balance against a threatening power by uniting with each other. Parent applies his thesis to a series of important historical cases-passage of the US Constitution, Swiss unification, the semi-merger of Sweden and Norway, and Bolivar's failed attempt to unite 'Gran Colombia'-before examining the grandest unification effort ever, the European Union. After explaining how this happened, Parent utilizes his theory to show the limits that the EU now faces as it struggles to extend the scope of unification. In sum, Uniting States is an authoritative account of a historical phenomenon that scholars have been unable to adequately explain via the main schools of international relations thought.

Ever since the birth of the modern nation-state at the Peace of Westphalia, the essential lodestars for governments have been sovereignty (including of a monopoly over the use of force) and territorial integrity. Given how elemental sovereignty and territorial integrity are to states, why would a government ever willingly disintegrate or give up its sovereignty to unite with another state as the junior partner? Despite such a considerable intellectual barrier, modern history features many examples of states that have either broken apart voluntarily or merged into others. In Unifying States, IR scholar Joseph Parent focuses on the latter phenomenon: voluntary unions. As he stresses, they occur rarely, but they do in fact happen. Indeed, the most famous example is the United States itself, in the Articles of Confederation era. Neither constructivists nor liberals, both of whom stress the positive benefits of economic convergence, can explain why union occurs so rarely. Nor can realists-who hold that in an anarchic world order, states must prize their autonomy above all else-explain why states enter into larger unions that erode their sovereignty. Parent begins from a realist perspective, yet realizes that traditional realist theory cannot account for this very real phenomenon. Instead, he contends that voluntary unions can-and do-occur in extreme circumstances. When states are painted into the same corner by events, they can balance against a threatening power by uniting with each other. Parent applies his thesis to a series of important historical cases-passage of the US Constitution, Swiss unification, the semi-merger of Sweden and Norway, and Bolivar's failed attempt to unite 'Gran Colombia'-before examining the grandest unification effort ever, the European Union. After explaining how this happened, Parent utilizes his theory to show the limits that the EU now faces as it struggles to extend the scope of unification. In sum, this is an authoritative account of a historical phenomenon that scholars have been unable to adequately explain via the main schools of international relations thought.

In this ground-breaking approach to golf instruction, Dr Joseph Parent, both a noted PGA Tour coach and a respected Buddhist teacher, draws on this natural connection to teach golfers how to play with more consistency and less frustration, and consequently how to lower their scores. 'When body and mind are synchronized, we can uncover our inherent dignity and confidence. The ultimate goal is not just to help people become better golfers, but better human beings.' Zen Golf offers a fresh perspective for golf and for life. Instead of focusing on what's wrong with us - what's broken, flawed or missing - we can take the attitude that there is something fundamentally, essentially right with us. In chapters such as 'How to Get from the Practice Tee to the First Tee', 'You Practice What You Fear', and 'How to Enjoy a Bad Round of Golf', author Joseph Parent shows how to make one's mind an ally rather than an enemy: how to stay calm, clear the interference that leads to bad shots, and eliminate bad habits and mental mistakes. Rather than an instruction manual that takes you through a systematic programme, it is a collection of brief chapters offering the wisdom of traditional Zen stories and teachings distilled from a lifetime of actual lessons with golfers, many of whom are PGA professionals. Continued success at golf (and any other endeavour) requires preparation, action and response - these form the framework for the instructions presented in Zen Golf. Applied correctly, they will help every reader of this unique book to achieve their peak performance.