What's Going on at Boswell This Week? Merritt on Jung and Nature, the Mysterious Gillette, Robison on Aspergers, and Doughty on Music and Overcoming Addiction.

We've got a nice assortment of locals and touring authors this week. Tonight, March 19, at 7 pm, we host Dennis Merritt, author of The Dairy Farmer's Guide to the Universe: Jung, Hermes, and Ecopsychology Volume 1: Jung and Ecopsychology. There are four volumes eventually scheduled to be published. #2 is The Cry of Merlin, #3 is Hermes and the Cows, and #4 is An Archetypal View of the Land, Weather, Seasons, and the Planet of the Insects.

Merritt notes that Carl Jung believed that there needed to be a major paradigm shift if we were to avert the apocalyptic conditions described in the Book of Revelation (for more on this aside, read Elaine Pagel's new Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation), coining the term "New Age" (so that's where the term came from) to describe the paradigm shift. Join us for some integrated consciousness tonight.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 20, we are hosting Jane Gillette, whom many of you know as area resident Jane Bednarek. She has written a series of mysteries, with one recommended by our mystery expert Anne. In fact, our mystery group will be attending the event tongiht, to talk about the book No Miracles Required at their next meeting.

The newest installment follows Inspector Freddy Donovan and the Belmont police as they investigate both the mysterious corpse that showed up in Star Lake, and the harrassment of writer Iris Woolsey, after a facetious remark about a dead body.

On Thursday,  March 22, 7 pm, we are hosting John Elder Robison for the paperback release of his second book, Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian. This event is co-sponsored by Austism Speaks, and as a fundraiser, the five dollar ticket/admission will go straight to Autism Speaks' Milwaukee outpost. Mr. Robison is on the board of the national organization. In addition, ticket holders will get 20% off the cost of Be Different, either the paperback (arriving tomorrow) or the hardcover.

Robison, also the author of Look Me in the Eye, is the brother of Augusten Burroughs, but their point of similarity is mostly that they are both very funny people. Robison has also been profiled in The New York Times, as both his son and his son's girlfriend have Asperger's. Boswell will close to the general public at 6:30 pm, but since we are not sold out, you can still browse the front of the store with a five dollar pledge to Autism Speaks.

More information about their big fundraiser, Walk Now for Autism Speaks, on Saturday, April 28, here. And more about Robison here.

And finally, this coming Sunday, March 25, at a special time of 4 pm, we're hosting Mike Doughty, author of the memoir, The Book of Drugs. Doughty is a touring musican who first rose to prominence as a member of Soul Coughing ("I don't need to walk around in circles, walk around in circles...") In his memoir, he discusses his life through music, drugs, and self-reinvention.

Here's a nice shout out from Rosanne Cash: "Sex,,drugs, and rock 'n' roll have never been desconstructed with such literary elegance and self-deprecating honesty. This is a tremendously brave and honest book: funny, sad, jarring, and achingly true."

Hope something strikes your fancy this week.