This is a book about our inner power to live and flourish in a challenging world. In 1934, a thirteen-year-old boy from a small village in western Egypt is on his first trip across the desert when he discovers something about his life that transforms his future. He’s traveling with his seventy-year-old uncle, who is exceptionally wise for any stage of life. The boy and his older relative are also accompanied by a caravan of merchants and animals traveling to Cairo to bring goods to market. The young man has had no idea what awaits him on this trip. His uncle will decide to share with him the basic elements of a practical and yet profound philosophy of life, as they deal with events and challenges that appear throughout the journey. And this wisdom for living will prove to have come at just the right time, when the boy learns that he is on his way, not just to a marketplace, but to a life change that will thrust him into new dangers and opportunities beyond anything he has ever imagined. This book is the short prologue to a forthcoming series of seven novels entitled, Walid and the Mysteries of Phi.
Industry Reviews
The Oasis Within shows the charming and enchanting power of an exquisitely wrought story to contextualize and bring truth to life. Tom Morris, one of the leading public intellectuals and philosophers in the world today, finds a new way to weave his magic and share wisdom gleaned from a lifetime of studying the classics of literature. He illustrates with simplicity and grace the power of those timeless and transcultural truths that we all need in our lives. This artful collection of short and potent vignettes has the potential to be a classic, read with profit-and savored-by young and old alike.
David Baggett, Ph.D., Editor of Harry Potter and Philosophy, and co-author of Good God, and God and Cosmos, among other books
Tom Morris brings a calm and grounded focus to what it is to have a truly happy and meaningful life. By combining humor and simplicity with traditional philosophical principles, this story shows us how to create our own oasis from within and inspire those around us to do the same.
David Mcwilliams, Managing Director, UBS Financial Services
Tom Morris is one of the great storytellers of our time, and it's delightful that he has decided to convey such important ideas in story form.
Robert Herrmann, CEO, Discovery Company
If Plato had written his dialogues for modern readers, they might have looked like Tom Morris' The Oasis Within. In the context of an adventure story, a young Egyptian boy, Walid, is gently prepared for his future by his uncle, Ali. Ali speaks with all the accumulated practical wisdom of Tom Morris, who has spent his highly successful professional and publishing life bringing the philosophical insights of the ages to the American public. As readers follow Walid's journey, they will learn along with him the valuable wisdom that might just change their own lives as well.
Keith Wyma, Ph.D., Chair, Dept. of Philosophy, Whitworth University, and Co-Director, Whitworth University Center for Ethics
