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Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World | David Abram
4 posts | 4 read | 1 reading | 8 to read
David Abram draws on sources as diverse as the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, Balinese shamanism, Apache storytelling, and his own experience as an accomplished sleight-of-hand magician to reveal the subtle dependence of human cognition on the natural environment. He explores the character of perception and excavates the sensual foundations of language, which--even at its most abstract--echoes the calls and cries of the earth. On every page of this lyrical work, Abram weaves his arguments with passion and intellectual daring."Long awaited, revolutionary...This book ponders the violent disconnection of the body from the natural world and what this means about how we live and die in it."--Los Angeles Times
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review
Thana_tos
Pickpick

I am currently reading an Arabic translation of this book . Offers an interesting new perspective on the origin of language as a part of the sounds of nature.

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Thana_tos

أن الحضارة التكنولوجية تقلص من التنويع العضوي الحي للأرض،ان اللغة نفسها تتقلص ،و فيما هناك غناء طيور أقل نتيجة لتدمير الغابات و الأراضي الخصبة و الممطرة،فأن الكلام البشري يفقد أكثر من قوته الساحرة،و ذلك أننا عندما لا نعود نسمع الاصوات في الطبيعة فأن كلامنا نفسه لا يمكن أن يتغذي منها،و مثل الحديث الذي يرشه ماء النهر يتم إخراسه بالمزيد من السدود ،فان لغاتنا نفسها تصبح أكثر فقرا و أقل وزنا ،و تزداد خواء من عناصرها الأرضية الطبيعية.

review
underground_bks
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Pickpick

I really struggled getting through this and am glad I finished it, but it was eye-opening and mind-altering. Be prepared for dense philosophy! The Spell of the Sensuous is about how the development of the alphabet contributed to the severing of our relationship with nature; non-representational written language moved our vivid “reading” of/relationship with the world around us to a more solipsistic reading of/relationship with ourselves.

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kimberwolf
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"Late one evening I stepped out of my little hut in the rice paddies of eastern Bali and found myself falling through space. Over my head, the black sky was rippling with stars..." I've been captivated by this book from the first sentence.

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