Ptolemy Tompkins

Ptolemy Tompkins is the author of Paradise Fever (a memoir focusing on the years in the mid-seventies when his father, Secret Life of Plants author Peter Tompkins, became obsessed with finding the lost continent of Atlantis in the waters off Florida), The Beaten Path (an examination of the good and not-so-good things that happen when one takes the teachings of popular modern wisdom authors like Alan Watts and Carlos Castaneda too seriously) and This Tree Grows Out of Hell (a spiritual history of the Maya and Aztec cultures focusing on their disturbing preoccupation with bloodshed). For just under ten years he was an in-house editor at Guideposts and Angels On Earth, and is currently a contributing editor at both magazines.

It was while working at Guideposts and Angels that he got the idea for his book, The Divine Life of Animals, which examines the question of whether animals have souls. He writes a monthly column for Beliefnet.com.

Website(s):

Book(s):

Past Shows:

  • Modern Spirituality / Animal Communication

    Author Ptolemy Tompkins shared a new narrative for being human. Followed by animal communicator Karen Andersonwho receives messages from deceased pets.More »
  • EMP Attack/ Angelic Interventions

    In the first half, Texas businessman, producer, and actor Gary Heavin talked about his new film project, Amerigeddon, which depicts an EMP attack on America from a North Korean satellite. In the latter half, author and researcher Ptolemy Tompkins discussed real life stories...More »
  • Antihumanism Movement / The Afterlife

    In the first half, innovator in the fields of aerospace and energy, Robert Zubrin, discussed the history of the antihumanism movement. He traced the movement to Thomas Malthus' ideas about population in the 18th century, to Paul Ehrlich's dire warnings about population growth in...More »

More Guests