Rider 100 - Open Your Mind

 
Rider is an imprint of the international publishing group Random House but has a fascinating history of its own. The list has been at the forefront of inspirational publishing for nearly 100 years and today our authors include a broad range of exciting writers, from the Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri (whose recent Starbook has been much acclaimed), to the distinguished broadcaster Mark Tully, whose India’s Unending Journey looks at that country’s growing role in the world.

Rider has come a long way since the list’s humble beginnings in Britain in 1908. In that year, William Rider & Son, who produced a curious mixture of trade journals, history, poetry and belle lettres, took over the occult publisher Philip Wellby. The Editorial Director of the new list was Ralph Shirley and, under his direction, Rider started publishing a collection of esoteric titles that was second-to-none.

In 1910 the imprint published a work that has stood the test of time and that is still in stock today: the Rider Waite Tarot. This deck of tarot cards was illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith and had a commentary by A E Waite. The symbolic imagery in the cards reflected Waite's own fascination with the supernatural; he was a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society whose members included the poet W B Yeats and the notorious Aleister Crowley (known as the ‘wickedest man alive’). Another member of the Golden Dawn was Bram Stoker, the author of many Rider titles, including an edition of his most famous work: Dracula. Other Rider authors included August Strindberg, Eliphas Levi and, later, Alexandra David-Neel.

Today, Rider’s books and authors continue to reflect the various different ways of looking at life and its meaning, as well as what – or who – can inspire us to do things differently, whether in Britain or internationally. We still include books on Eastern ways of thought such as Buddhism, and are fortunate to publish many of the best known names in this area: the Nobel Prize-winning Dalai Lama, Nobel nominee Thich Nhat Hanh, Sogyal Rinpoche and Jack Kornfield. It’s been interesting to see how practices such as meditation, which were once considered ‘alternative’, have become increasingly mainstream over the years.

Now, in the twenty-first century, Rider has been able to remain true to the list’s roots while also addressing the concerns of modern times. We continue to publish books by leading investigators of the paranormal, such as Raymond Moody and Colin Fry. But today many of our authors offer alternative ways of doing things on an international level, as does Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his book on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Other recent titles include Making Terrorism History by Elworthy and Rifkind, and Iran Awakening by yet another Nobel Prize-winner, Shirin Ebadi.

In 2008 we will be celebrating Rider's centenary with the launch of six Rider classics. These include such huge bestsellers as The Road Less Travelled by psychiatrist M Scott Peck (a book that paved the way for the self-help movement) and Deepak Chopra’s ground-breaking Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, which combines Ayurvedic wisdom from India with quantum physics.

Who knows what the next 100 years will bring? Whatever lies in store, Rider will continue to be a bright light in uncertain times, publishing the books that reflect the concerns and hopes of its readers. True to the motto of the list, we are proud to be publishers of ‘new ideas for new ways of living’.