Books
A life's work in print.
Wisdom & Inner Life
Folktales & New Mythology
Fatherhood & Family
From the Archive
Author · Publisher · Founder, The Wisdom Table
Fables and folktales for the inner life — and The Wisdom Table, a living library gathering humanity's traditions of meaning in one open place.
Featured Project
The Wisdom Table is a nonprofit gathering place for the world's wisdom traditions — open to anyone still asking the deep questions, and belonging to no single tradition.
Paul founded The Wisdom Table to build something rare: a single home for the teachers, traditions, and questions that have carried people through — mythology and folklore, contemplative practice, feminine wisdom, and the search for joy and equanimity, all held in one open library.
It's a living project, growing entry by entry, built for readers who want to sit with the world's wisdom traditions side by side rather than in separate rooms.
Visit The Wisdom Table →Inside the Library
"Even when you can't save your marriage, Paul Mandelstein shows ways you can save your family and your self-esteem." — John Gray, PhD · Author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
Books
About Paul
Paul Mandelstein has spent his life at the edge of things — where publishing meets wisdom, where fatherhood meets spiritual practice, where story meets the examined life. He is an author, publisher, teacher, and Zen practitioner who has been asking the deep questions for more than six decades.
As co-founder of The Book Publishing Company, Paul was a pioneering publisher of the natural living movement in the early 1970s — producing some of the first books on vegan cooking, natural home birth, and intentional community living, and originating the For Dummies format with the Big Dummy's Guide to C.B. Radio. As founder of Quantum Publishing, he focused on personal telecommunications technologies until its acquisition by John Wiley & Sons. As founder of the Father Resource Network and author of three books on divorced fatherhood, he has helped families heal. And through Small Wisdoms — a lifetime's distillation into 128 fables — he offers something rarer: a book that reads you back.
Paul is also the creator of a body of new mythology folktales — illustrated stories that reimagine ancient archetypal wisdom experiences for a modern audience, offering sacred narrative outside the boundaries of traditional religion. The Nightingale and the Wind, Queen Emmali and the Enchanted Lute, and Santa's Surprising Adventure are the first works in this ongoing project.
Most recently, Paul founded The Wisdom Table — a nonprofit living library of meaning that gathers the world's wisdom traditions, teachers, and questions in one open place, free for anyone still searching.
He lives in Bend, Oregon, where he runs Liminal Arts, his independent imprint. He is a devoted father of four, grandfather of four, and a student of life in the fullest sense.
Speaking & Workshops
Paul brings decades of lived wisdom to every room he enters — as a storyteller, a Zen practitioner, and a man who has walked the terrain he teaches. Available for retreats, conferences, and community gatherings.
01
Drawing on Small Wisdoms, Paul leads intimate workshops exploring story as a vehicle for self-knowledge — for retreat centers, spiritual communities, and literary gatherings.
02
From fatherhood to cooperative co-parenting, Paul speaks to parents navigating family transitions with presence, honesty, and care.
03
Grounded in decades of community organizing and contemplative practice, Paul offers workshops on purposeful action and nonviolent social change.
04
With a career that helped shape modern popular publishing, Paul speaks to writers and publishers about the evolving bond between authors, ideas, and readers.
Get in Touch
For speaking engagements, workshop bookings, media inquiries, or simply to say hello — Paul reads every message.
[email protected]