A teenage boy with typical troubles meets the local handyman Al - a guru in disguise. Their unlikely relationship provides a framework for ideas and events that open the boy's mind to perspectives never mentioned at home or at school. Al's instruction starts simply enough. Then the learning curve becomes vertical!Although Birdie is a smart kid he's no match for a guru. And, as his terrifying guide explains the rudiments of inner awareness, he enters a new world where he can't go back and can barely go forward.Author, Gina Stoner,spent her life studying systems of self-development with Eastern teachers and put much of what she learned into this deceptively simple book which uses the 'young adult' format to demonstrate the approach to inner transformation. Here are challenging ideas both practical and profound. Talks With Al is a land mine.