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Books : The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
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The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by: David Abram List Price: £14.95 Price: £5.46 You Save: £9.49 (63%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 128 EAN: 9780679776390 ISBN: 0679776397 Label: Vintage Books Manufacturer: Vintage Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: March 31, 1997 Publisher: Vintage Books Studio: Vintage Books Sales Rank: 15740 Related Items:
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Customer Reviews
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 Rating:  - wordy, but stick with it, it's worth itThe introduction was enchanting, but I found the first chapter hard; it takes us through the history of perception and makes a tour of how we ended up perceiving the world as we do. But I stuck with it and boy, was it worth it! A hugely satisfying read from a shamanic, esoteric, classical and philosophical view point. After I read it, I put the book down and went outside to experience nature and the world around us from horizon to horizon - literally. I gave it four stars, because although I loved the book, I would have liked to read more of his personal experience as found in the wonderful introduction; more of his way of looking at the world rather than all the philosophy; perhaps more practical tips rather than theory - but ... Read More: Rating:  - Deserving of wider academic readershipAs a classicist I found this little book totally revisoned my understanding of early Greek 'literature.' Traditional approaches to Homer, for example, are usually divided between the radical Parryists (an almost extinct bunch named after Millman Parry) who analyse the poems for formulaic patterns and produce detailed statistical data for occurences and repetitions, and those who rebel against this trend claiming it devalues Homeric poetry. David Abram not only made me realise that Homer must be understood in relation to oral poetry, he taught me what it means to understand oral poetry. I also found his ideas shaping my awareness of the early Milesian presocratics, especially Anaximenes. Of course, Abram's arguments have been weaved ... Read More: Rating: - Breathing the flesh of the landscapeThe main thesis of this book is that the alphabet, or rather, the adaptation of the hebrew alphabet that the greeks effected, is to blame for our current state of separation from nature. However, the real joy about reading the fundamentation of such claim is that David Abram manages to drag you into the animistic view of the world. The way he describes his own experiences is highly poetic. Anyone who has travelled to asia knows what it feels like to be there and the difficulties of comming back to the western society. When he analyses indigenous concepts and practices, you can't help immersing yourself in the forgotten magick of the sensuous landscape. This natural form of awareness,according to Abram, could be the solution ... Read More: Rating: - paying respectReview from Jay Griffiths, author of "Wild: An Elemental Journey" This is one of the rarest, most utterly original books there is, and indeed could ever be. It is written by someone whose soul is that of a magician and poet and whose art is so triumphant with sheer spirit that every sentence is radical and radicalizing. It is a book whose comprehension of the human condition is generous, natural and enormous. It describes the necessity of nature not just for human being but for human thinking; this is a cry for the protection of the human mind. It has deeply influenced my own thinking, from the moment I read it, and has remained one of the best books I've ever read. Rating: - its the way he tells it...Its unsurprising that certain 'rationalists' who have unsuspectingly come across this book have had found its 'arguments' 'assumptions' 'assertions' problematic. They are problematic and SHOULD be problematic- the language is pushing at the boundaries, trying to explain what can only really be experienced. At no stage in the book does Abram suggest otherwise. The essential argument is simple- through civilization, writing systems and other forms of logos inspired 'mental technology' we have disconnected ourselves from the sensuous world and overly abstracted it- resulting in the twin related problems of environmental and mental degradation which are now reaching a tipping point in the western world. The solution is not some kind of fantasy retreat ... Read More: |
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