Richard Grossinger (born Richard Towers; 1944) is an American writer and founder of North Atlantic Books in Berkeley, California.

Biography

Grossinger was born and raised in New York City, attended Horace Mann School, Amherst College, and the University of Michigan, earning a B.A. in English at Amherst and a Ph.D. in anthropology at Michigan. With his girlfriend at Smith College (later his wife) Lindy Hough, he founded the journal Io in 1964, then founded North Atlantic Books in Vermont in 1974. Between 1970 and 1972 he taught anthropology at the University of Maine, Portland-Gorham, now the University of Southern Maine, and between 1972 and 1977 he taught interdisciplinary studies (including alchemy, Melville, Classical Greek, Jungian psychology, and ethnoastronomy) at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. An ethnographer and self-described psycho-spiritual explorer, as well as a writer and publisher, he has latterly studied a range of alternative medicines.

As a child, a psychic told him that his biological father had actually been a member of the Grossinger family (of the Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel, where Grossinger had vacationed) and he eventually changed his last name to reflect this family connection. However, years later he learned that his biological father had been an entirely different person with no connection to the resort.

His brother was Jonathan Towers, a poet who committed suicide in 2005. His daughter is filmmaker, author and performance artist, Miranda July. His son is Robin Grossinger, an author and Senior Scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute.

Bibliography

Books written by Grossinger

  • Solar Journal (Oecological Sections) (1970) Black Sparrow Press ISBN0-87685-011-5
  • Spaces Wild & Tame (1971) Mudra ISBN978-0-685-22801-2
  • The Book of the Earth and Sky (1971, 2 Vols) Black Sparrow Press ISBN978-0-87685-090-9
  • Mars: A Science Fiction Vision (1972) Io Books [No ISBN]
  • Two Essays (Sparrow 7) (1973) Black Sparrow Press [No ISBN]
  • The Continents (1973) Black Sparrow Press ISBN0-87685-162-6
  • The Book of Being Born Again into the World (1974) North Atlantic Books ISBN0-913028-29-0
  • Book of the Cranberry Islands (1974) Black Sparrow Press ISBN0-87685-211-8
  • The Windy Passage from Nostalgia (1974) North Atlantic Books ISBN0-913028-30-4
  • The Long Body of the Dream (1974) North Atlantic Books ISBN0-913028-28-2
  • Martian Homecoming at the All-American Revival Church (1974) North Atlantic Books ISBN0-913028-21-5
  • The Slag of Creation (1975) North Atlantic Books ISBN0-913028-32-0
  • The Provinces (1975) North Atlantic books ISBN0-913028-31-2
  • Unfinished Business of Doctor Hermes (1976) North Atlantic Books ISBN0-913028-43-6
  • Planet Medicine: From Stone-Age Shamanism to Post-Industrial Healing (1980/1990) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-019-1
  • The Night Sky: The Science and Anthropology of the Stars and Planets (1981/1988/1992) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-142-2
  • Nuclear Strategy and the Code of the Warrior (1984) North Atlantic Books ISBN0-938190-50-4
  • Embryogenesis: Species, Gender and Identity (1985/2000) North Atlantic Books ISBN0-938190-82-2
  • Waiting for the Martian Express: Cosmic Visitors, Earth Warriors, Luminous Dreams (1989) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-051-5
  • Homeopathy: An Introduction for Skeptics and Beginners (1993) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-165-1
  • Planet Medicine: Modalities (1995/2003) North Atlantic books ISBN1-55643-391-3
  • New Moon (1996) Frog Ltd ISBN1-883319-44-7
  • Out of Babylon: Ghosts of Grossinger's (1997) Frog Ltd ISBN1-883319-57-9
  • Homeopathy: The Great Riddle (1998) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-290-9
  • Embryos, Galaxies, and Sentient Beings: How the Universe Makes Life(2003) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-419-7
  • On the Integration of Nature: Post 9-11 Biopolitical Notes (2005) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-603-3
  • Migraine Auras: When the Visual World Fails (2006) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-619-X
  • The New York Mets: Myth, Ethnography, Subtext (2007) Frog Ltd ISBN1-58394-205-X
  • The Bardo of Waking Life (2008) North Atlantic Books ISBN1-55643-700-5
  • 2013: Raising the Earth to the Next Vibration (2010) North Atlantic Books 9781556438783

Works edited by Grossinger

  • The Alchemical Tradition in the Late Twentieth Century (1970)
  • Baseball Diamonds: Tales, Traces, Visions & Voodoo from a Native American Rite (1980 with Kevin Kerrane)
  • Planetary Mysteries: Megaliths, Glaciers, The Face on Mars, and Aboriginal Dreams (1986, Revised 1993)
  • The Dreamlife of Johnny Baseball (1987 with works by Tom Clark, Jerome Klinkowitz, Grossinger, W.P. Kinsella, Richard Russo, Nancy Willard)
  • Into the Temple of Baseball (1990/2000 with Kevin Kerrane)

Select Io Journal editions

  • #4: Alchemy Issue. 1967.
  • #5: Doctrine of Signatures. 1968.
  • #6: Ethnoastronomy Issue. 1969.
  • #8: Dreams Issue on Oneirology. 1971.
  • #9: Mars: A Science Fiction Vision. 1971.
  • #10: Baseball Issue. 1971.
  • #12: Earth Geography Booklet No. 1. 1972.
  • #13: Earth Geography Booklet No. 2. 1972.
  • #14: Earth Geography Booklet No. 3. 1973.
  • #15: Earth Geography Booklet No. 4. 1973.
  • #18: Early Field Notes From the All-American Revival Church. 1973.
  • #19: Mind/Memory/Psyche. 1974.
  • #20: Biopoesis. 1974.
  • #21 'Vermont: Geology and Mineral Industries, Flora, Fauna & Conditions of Sky (1974)
  • #22: An Olson-Melville Sourcebook, Vol. 1: The New Found Land/North America. 1976.
  • #23: An Olson-Melville Sourcebook, Volume 2: The Mediterranean. 1976.
  • #24: Baseball, I Gave You All the Best Years of My Life (1977 with Kevin Kerrane; 1992 with Lisa Conrad)
  • #25: Ecology and Consciousness: Traditional Wisdom on the Environment. 1978.
  • #26: Alchemy: Pre-Egyptian Legacy, Millennial Promise 1979.
  • #31: Alchemical Tradition in the Late Twentieth Century. 1983/1991.
  • #34: The Temple of Baseball. 1985.
  • #37: Planetary Mysteries 1986.
  • #46: Nuclear Strategy and the Code of the Warrior (with Lindy Hough). 1992

External links