Shaving the Inside of Your Skull

I've worn out 2 copies. It's fun, powerful and extremely useful. Unlike typical self-help books, this thing works. I've given away over 30 copies as gifts.

First, I despise self help books. This is not such a book. Even though I already felt I had a strong command of my own mind, reading this and doing some of the exercises was both captivating and useful to more deeply examine some of the strong and unhelpful beliefs that I didn't even realize I had.

Mel has compiled a wonderful collection of exercises to help you transform the way you view the world. This is a great book to keep by the bedside, in the bathroom, or on the coffee table -- you will pick it up again and again and you will be transformed. I have used the exercises in this book with myself, at parties, with youth groups/classes & have given at least 18 copies away over the years. It is the ultimate birthday gift for anyone you want to spend less than $20 on. It is funny, meaningful, and easy to pick up again and again. I ordered a dozen so I am always prepared. WHAT?! Its your wife's uncle's mother's sister in-law's niece's friends birhtday and you just happen to be going over for dinner? Bring a copy of Crazy Wisdom...

Just out of high school, I became very interested in Zen teachings. After reading through all sorts of books on meditation and consciousness, I finally found this. This book is AMAZING. It actually gives you all the groundwork for real-life exercises you can do at any time to keep your mind open and clear of all the garbage that has been piling up in your brain your whole life. If you buy only one book the rest of your life, MAKE IT THIS! Words can't describe my appreciation to you, Mr. Ash.

With so many spiritual self-help books out these days whose titles use words like "soul," "angels," "God," and "heaven" it is a welcome relief to come across one with a title like "Shaving the Inside of Your Skull." Mel Ash's Zen approach steadfastly avoids dogma, and even insists that the reader not believe anything in the book. Yes, that's the point!! This book is a call for personal action to help readers find what their own spiritual selves may be. No coffee-sipping, Sunday morning comfort zone of cozy reflection here. Instead, you get "razors," (ouch!) -- suggestions for ACTION to try out on yourself. Caution: some may seem simple and even silly, but until you TRY them, you'll never realize what they might do to transform you. So go ahead,and take a chance on getting up and DOING something after reading Ash's essays. Create an invisible friend who writes you a letter (I did, without much expectation, but got an unsettling yet helpful result). Go to a graveyard, lie down, and imagine yourself decaying as you seek communion with departed souls. Bow to your microwave oven and other inanimate objects to learn an "attitude of gratitude." And... would you... could you... BURN one of your most prized possessions to better understand what you are without it? This book is wonderful because it does not work unless YOU work on it. Ash gives readers ideas to jolt their consciousness, and eggs them on to ACT, ACT, ACT. If you're tired of self-help books which simply prescribe "new" beliefs, or tell you more about the author's own vision of God, then pick up this book with an adventuresome spirit. As one of the many wise quotes which appear in the book's margins asserts, we should be more distrustful of those who say they have found the truth, and instead trust those, like ourselves, who are seeking the truth. And if we ever stop seeking, thinking that we have come to find the end of our spiritual journey, then we have killed our souls. Thanks Mel, for getting me off my duff and taking chances on finding my own path to salvation.