pickFinally, after a failed start on this tome back in 2012, I started over eleven years later and finished it. Jensen, if you don‘t know him, is a prolific writer whose work typically concentrates on the rampant destruction which industrial civilization inflicts on us and the planet. This particular book is a little off beat in that he explores dreams and those who may be working and informing us “from other sides.” Not his best, but decent.
pickI 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.
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.
pickI 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.
so-soPCT miles hiked: 2652
Books completed on trail: 17
Great news y‘all, I finished my PCT hike on the 22nd! Gonna post my last few trail reads.
This one started out good but jumped the shark towards the end.
"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.
While I #lovetorecommend this book, I NEVER loan it out. I found it on a dollar rack, & can't be sure I'll ever replace it if it's lost/not returned.
I thought I was getting some European romp with an exorcist & the Anti-Christ. I got an eye-opening revelation about the foundations of our totalitarian agriculture worldview.
#17booklove
"It was a though we‘d been living for a year in a dense grove of old trees, a cluster of firs, each with its own rhythm and character, from whom our bodies had drawn not just shelter but perhaps even a kind of guidance as we grew into a family."
