Michael Alan Singer
Michael Alan Singer (or Michael A. Singer; born 6 May 1947) is a bestselling author, a meditation center founder, and a former software programmer.[1][2][3][4] His two books, The Untethered Soul (2007) and The Surrender Experiment (2015), were New York Times bestsellers.[5][6] In 1975, he founded Temple of the Universe, a long-established yoga and meditation center for people of any religion or belief to experience inner peace.[7][8]
On the business side, Singer is a notable figure in the medical software industry.[9][10] He created the Medical Manager, one of the very first programs that helped medical practitioners to digitize their medical records.[11][12] Medical Manager is now a recognized achievement archived in the Smithsonian Institution.[13][14] When Medical Manager was acquired by WebMD, a billion-dollar public company which focused on medical data management, Singer continued as executive VP, physician software strategies, and head of research and development and chief software architect of WebMD Practice Services.[15][16] He resigned from WebMD in 2005 and focused on writing.[17][18]
Publications
Singer has written four books, and all of them belong to the genre of religion/spirituality.
The Search for Truth (1974)
The Search for Truth (1974) is Singer's first book, which was written long before he became famous as a writer.[3] According to Singer's account, this book was written as a request from his mentor in his university, as the latter insisted the former to “turn in something for him to read” after the young Singer refused to do a doctoral dissertation.[2]
Three Essays on Universal Law (1975)
Three Essays on Universal Law (1975) is Singer's second book which continues along the theme of his previous book.[4]
The Untethered Soul (2007)
The Untethered Soul (2007) is Singer's first bestselling book that became a number one New York Times bestseller.[1][5] It is a collection of lectures which cover topics on yogic philosophy, like the concept of self, the meaning of life, and the theory of mind.[19][20] This is also the work which caught the attention of famous talk show host Oprah Winfrey, with whom Singer later gave his first television interview.[21]
The Surrender Experiment (2015)
The Surrender Experiment (2015) is Singer's second bestselling book, which is in fact an autobiography.[2][17][22][23] In this book, Singer describes his journey of how he became interested in meditation, how he started the Temple of the Universe and the Medical Manager Corporation, etc.[24][25][26] The central theme of the book is his attempts at "surrendering yourself to Life itself", or not letting his personal ego intervene with the flow of life, and how he achieved amazing things as a result.[27][28][29] He also identifies that The Three Pillars of Zen (1965) by Philip Kapleau and Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) by Paramahansa Yogananda were responsible for starting his lifelong exploration of Zen and spirituality.[2][30] Like his first bestseller, this book also managed to become a New York Times bestseller.[5]
Securities fraud scandal
During his time at WebMD, Singer was prosecuted by the Department of Justice along with other members of the top management for securities fraud.[10][31] The charges were eventually dropped.[9][12] According to Singer’s account, he was being framed by another top executive (the true culprit) who invented the fraud story in order to "work a deal" with the FBI to reduce his own punishment.[14]
References
- Singer, Michael Alan (2007). The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications / Noetic Books. ISBN 978-1572245372.
- Singer, Michael Alan (2015). The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection. New York, NY: Harmony Books. ISBN 978-1629535401.
- Singer, Michael Alan (1974). The Search for Truth. Alachua, FL: Shanti Publications. ISBN 978-0914374039.
- Singer, Michael Alan (1975). Three Essays on Universal Law: The Laws of Karma, Will, and Love. Alachua, FL: Shanti Publications. ISBN 978-0914374077.
- "Religion, Spirituality and Faith Books - Best Sellers - July 12, 2015". New York Times. 2015-07-12. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- Richards, Carl (2016-09-19). "Stubborn Grudges Yield Little. Time to Change Your Investing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- "Temple of the Universe". www.tou.org. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- Winfrey, Oprah. "Michael Singer on How to Free Yourself of Negative Thoughts". Oprah.com. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- Clark, Anthony (2010-01-13). "Charges being dropped against ex-Medical Manager CEO Singer". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- Department of Justice (2010-03-01). "Two Former Executives of Medical Manager Found Guilty in Securities Fraud Scheme". Department of Justice. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- Shepherd, Gary (1997-04-28). "Medical software firm registers $45M in stock". Tampa Bay Business Journal. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- "Government to Drop Charges Against Former Medical Manager CEO Michael A. Singer | News". Baker Botts LLP. 2010-01-13. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- Ferradaz, Irene (2000-04-05). "Medical Manager to join Smithsonian". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- Chun, Diane; Adelson, Jeff. "The ups, downs of Mickey Singer". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- "Healtheon/WebMD buys Medical Manager". CNET. 2002-01-02. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- "WebMD Health Corp - Healtheon/WebMD, Medical Manager And Careinsite Amend Terms Of Merger Agreement". WebMD Investor Relations. 2000-06-19. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- Clark, Anthony. "Mickey Singer is back in the spotlight with autobiographical book". The Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- "Singer resigns from WebMD". Tampa Bay Business Journal. 2005-02-09. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
- "Book Review: 'The Untethered Soul'". Wanderlust. 2015-01-27. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- Allam, Alexandra (2015-05-22). "The Ways the Untethered Soul Is Changing My Life". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- "Michael Singer Archives". SuperSoul.tv. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- Friedman, Jennifer D'Angelo. "The Surrender Experiment: How One Yogi Found "Life's Perfection"". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- Rapsas, Tom (2015-09-20). "The Surrender Experiment: Can letting go improve your life?". Patheos. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
- Vieten, Cassandra (2015-06-05). "Experimenting With Surrender". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- "Book Review: The Surrender Experiment". The Global Yogi. 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- Vitale, Joe (2015-08-01). "The Surrender Experiment | Joe Vitale of The Secret DVD is Law of Attraction expert and Life Coach". Mr. Fire. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
- Krzys, Amber (2015-07-02). "Miraculous Results of My Surrender Experiment". Fierce Loving. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
- Bergh, Kasey (2016-04-11). "Our Surrender Experiment". When Henry Met Kasey... Retrieved 2019-03-19.
- Dehn, Elizabeth (2016-01-18). "The Surrender Experiment". Beauty Bets. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
- "Thursday, August 22, 2013: Dedicated Issue: New Harbinger Publications". www.shelf-awareness.com. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- "U.S. v. SINGER | Criminal No. 9:05-cr-00928. | 20091223a40 | Leagle.com". Leagle. Retrieved 2018-12-10.