Jill Barnes – Treasurer Directors: Margaret Caudill Jonathan Russell The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK) is a non-profit educational charity[1][2] and publisher[citation needed] established in 1969[2] by the psychologist and writer Robert E. Ornstein[citation needed] and based in Los Altos, California, in the United States.

[3][verification needed] He has also contributed to the London-based Institute for Cultural Research set up by his associate, the writer and Sufi teacher, Idries Shah.

Hoopoe Books focuses on publishing traditional children's stories from Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East, including works by Idries Shah,[5][6] such as The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water.

[9] ISHK has worked with organizations such as The Institute for Cross-cultural Exchange to provide children in Afghanistan with desperately needed books for distribution to schools, orphanages and libraries throughout the country, in order to address the literacy crisis.

[11] In 1976, Robert Ornstein and Idries Shah presented a seminar, Traditional Esoteric Psychologies in Contemporary Life, in cooperation with The New School, New York City.