Eknath Easwaran, spiritual leader and founder of a meditation center, has some words of wisdom for all those overworked, stressed out, and frantic folks. The first step is to slow down the mind, he advises in his new book, "Take Your Time: Finding Balance in a Hurried World" (Hyperion, $9.95).

"Though we may not always realize it, it is the mind, not external events, that drives our constant sense of urgency and restlessness," he writes. Easwaran suggests that the harried ones train their attention to live totally in the present. He calls the method "living intentionally," by breaking free from cycles of restlessness and inertia, and living at the deepest level of awareness.

By slowing down to concentrate on the present, "We discover how to free our attention from old patterns in which it has been caught." And, he adds, "We understand how it is possible to slow down the thinking process itself." Easwaran, employing the teaching of Buddha, says he is presenting a way of life that begins "with the simplest things: making conscious decisions about priorities, for example, and getting up earlier so that we won't begin the day in a rush."

Easwaran, who operates the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Tomales, Calif., introduced his eight-point program in the early '60s. The suggestions are simple:

Get up early, don't crowd your day, ask "what is important," take time for relationships, take time for reflection, don't let yourself get hurried, respond with patience, and slow down the mind. Easily outlined, but can you adapt to such a regimen? Easwaran outlines the eight steps to success as: slowing down, training attention, training the senses, putting others first, spiritual companionship, spiritual reading, the mantam (employing a holy name as a daily aid to combating problems), and meditation.

The book is brief, avoids being ponderous, and outlines in gentle suggestions ideas which can be sought by all. Easwaran emphasizes that a slower life doesn't mean being ineffective or boring. Slowing down can lead to a more effective, artistic, richer way of living. His method may not be the cure for all the world's ills, but perhaps Easwaran's suggestions can help serve as a buffer against the madness surrounding us.

Isn't it worth a shot?

Over the course of several weeks, three phone calls, and several pleading e-mail messages, I attempted to gather information about "Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion" (Seven Stories Press, $24.95).

I appealed to the publisher for answers to questions raised in my mind after sifting through Gary Webb's expansion on his volcanic series of stories published in the San Jose Mercury News in 1996. The story, which was picked up and reprinted in newspapers across the U.S., accused the Central Intelligence Agency of funneling millions in drug profits from a crack ring in California to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the CIA.

Webb, whose previous newspaper experience included a stint with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, obviously had a helluva story, shocking and depressing if true. The complaints about his reporting began early and came often. Three of the most respected newspapers (The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times) fired back with reports criticizing Webb's reporting inadequacies.

In a recent review of "Dark Alliance" in The Washington Post, liberal reporter David Corn said Webb "had committed a highly useful act. He had kicked open an old trunk and discovered it full of worms--real worms, ugly and nasty."

My questions posed to Seven Stories Press--and never answered although I was three times promised a response--sought their assessment of how the book had been reviewed elsewhere, if at all, and whether sales were brisk or bad. I know one thing for certain, "Dark Alliance" has not yet made the New York Times bestseller list.

Brian Covert, a writer for REALNews, wrote that Webb's story gained a life from being posted on the Internet. "As Webb says, it was then up to Internet readers to decide for themselves whether or not to believe all the evidence."

One of the strangest events came when the executive editor of the Mercury News published a mea culpa acknowledging "mistakes" made in presenting Webb's story. Webb responded angrily, defending the three-part series, which has been massively expanded into "Dark Alliance."

The book, at nearly 550 pages, contains more than most of us will have patience to wade through concerning the charges outlined in Webb's original newspaper stories. He has included supporting information that seems to bolster his contentions of the illicit and disgusting connections between the CIA and drug pins.

After the Mercury News questioned the articles, Webb found himself transferred to a news bureau 150 miles from his home. He left the newspaper and now works for the California State Legislature Task Force on Government Oversight.

Thus goes the state of the news business, late '90s style. Should readers be pissed? Probably.

And for me, I still wonder what happened to those stellar publicity mavens at Seven Stories Press, who seemed to avoid answering my questions? I can't help but wonder why. Should you?

Although I'm assuming that "C'mere, Kitty: A Cat Lover's Guide to Pestering Your Pet" is intended as humor, I contend that author Alan Katz has no love for cats, as he assures readers, but instead is a sadistic writer whose idea of what's funny seems miles away from this reader's notions of "love."

This little book, published by Avon (at $6.50) contains such silly suggestions as covering with Saran wrap your kitty's bowl of food, then watching in delight as kitty attempts to puncture his way to dinner. Ha!

Katz (whose surname obviously screams pseudonym!) also suggests giving kitty a water balloon to chase, then watch what happens when he pops it. Ha! Another warped, unfunny idea is to zip up kitty, with head sticking out, in an overnight suitcase on wheels. "Then slide or wheel the bag around for give her a grand tour." Ha!

I have a suggestion: Mr. Katz should use the royalties (if any) from "C'mere, Kitty" for a course in humane treatment of pets, with a side course in the art of having a sense of humor. He obviously needs help.

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