(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Author A.T. Mann will read from and sign copies of his latest book, The Sacred Language of Trees, at the Spotty Dog on Saturday, May 11, 2013, at 4 pm. This insightful and exquisite book explains how our primal relationship with trees — a central theme in religion, myth, and culture — continues to evolve in an age of environmental fragility.

Mann explores the properties of trees, and our complicated relationship with them. Stunning arboreal art and photographs celebrate the mystery of trees, enhanced by quotes from poetry, literature, and spiritual texts. Investigating the tree in varying guises, from Jungian symbolism to Indian fertility worship, Mann shows us new ways to appreciate them in our conscious and unconscious lives. The Sacred Language of Trees makes us aware of trees’ importance to the future of humanity and Earth itself.

A. T. Mann is an architect, author, and astrologer. He graduated from the Cornell University College of Architecture, practiced in New York City and Rome, and won a Progressive Architecture design citation in 1970. He has written or co-written 20 books (translated into many languages), including Sacred Landscapes (with Lynn Davis), Mandala Astrological Tarot, Sacred Architecture, Sacred Sexuality, and A New Vision of Astrology.

Mann has lived and lectured around the world, and has taught at the Danish Design School, the Netherlands Design Institute, and the California Institute of Integral Studies. He lives in Hudson, N.Y.

Alden Taylor Mann IV was born in New York in 1943 and received a five-year B. Architecture from the Cornell University College of Architecture in 1966. In the 1960s he worked for influential architects in New York City (Gruzen & Partners, Davis Brody & Associates, and Robert A. M. Stern & Associates) and for The Architect’s Collaborative (TAC) European Office in Rome 1968-69. His design won a Progressive Architecture Magazine Design Awards Citation in 1970, for New York City Public Housing, (January 1970, pp. 98-99). In their Annual Awards Issue: Alden Taylor Mann and Stuart Cohen were principal designers for “Lindenwood: Low Income Public Housing for Queens, New York” for Gruzen and Partners Architects, New York.

After a journey to the East, he experienced a profound transformation and became an astrologer, author and publisher in 1972. He has written or co-written twenty books (translated into many languages) on astrology, sacred architecture, sacred gardens, ecological design, sacred sexuality, calendar systems, psychology, healing, tarot, prophecy and reincarnation. He lived in England from 1973-1991, Copenhagen from 1991-1999, and now lives in Hudson, N.Y.

Mann is an author, painter, architect, graphics and book designer, and has designed layouts, covers and illustrations for many books, companies, publications, websites and products. His graphic design was recognized and featured in “Masters of the 20th Century: The ICOGRADA Design Hall of Fame” (2001, Graphis, New York). The International Council of Graphic Design Associations represents the community of graphic design professionals worldwide and showcases their members at their annual London Seminars. He was a speaker at their 1997 event and is included in their illustrious group of international graphic designers.

Mann has been involved in many architectural projects in the last ten years. He designed the Jackson House in Jutland, Denmark up to the final design stage. He worked with Shakespeare & Company as an architectural consultant for four months in 2003, creating a site development plan, working with the final design and fittings for two theater lobbies and other essential functions. He was also a feng shui design consultant for the IS183 Art School in Stockbridge, Mass., for their redesign and renovation.

He is currently working on a book, Sacred Landscapes: The Threshold Between Worlds with the photographer Lynn Davis and a new edition of The Mandala Astrological Tarot. He worked on a film of the Dalai Lama giving the “Kalachakra Tantra Initiation” with Mystic Fire Video in New York. He is a co-founder of Universal Quest and was producer and editor of a documentary of a dialogue with Ken Wilber and Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche in “Spirituality in the Modern World.” He is currently working on a Universal Quest documentary about the Ganges River and a documentary film about Sacred Architecture.

Mann is on the Board of NCGR (National Council of Geocosmic Research) and is Director of Publications. He is currently designer and editor of the new NCGR Research Journal, published in September, 2010. He is on the organizing board of UAC2012 due to be held in New Orleans, in May 2012.

The Spotty Dog is located at 440 Warren St. in Hudson, 518.671.6006.