Start Making Sense

Book Report - The Spell of the Sensuous

What an incredible book this is. Abram begins by stating that any sort of experience we have is at its very base, derived from us being embodied experiencers. This goes beyond just experiences, then, but also to any concepts or thoughts or ideas we can conjure. Everything, really, has its basis in our bodies. We have developed the ability to think from our experiences with the outside world, and then this ability to think turns itself backward and makes us believe it’s the only real, true part of us, and the rest is stupid meat.

Not at all, writes Abram. This is only a trick of our thinking that can occur once we have separated ourselves from the land to such an extent that

it no longer speaks to us; or better yet, that we no longer understand its language. If somebody talks always but we do not understand a word they say, 1 of two things will happen. Either we’ll begin to understand them, or we’ll tune them out. If we continue to listen to them, we’ll begin to understand. But if we’re surrounded by a person always speaking that we never come to understand, it’s a statement that we’ve stopped listening.

We’ve stopped listening by doing exactly what I’m doing right now.

When Information is Cheap, Attention is Expensive

Book Report: The Information - James Gleick

This monster of a book has come out amidst a wave of other information- & internet-related publications, all of which seem to be getting a great deal of attention in the media. It seems obvious to me that books ought to be written in this area, but the high attention tells me that

1. people are growing concerned about the spread of consumer technologies & the ubiquity of the internet
2. people are not thinking about these subjects as much as I believe, so any book written in the area seems a novel breakthrough by a person who must have prophetic insight.

Does James Gleick have this prophetic insight? To be fair, the full title is The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood. Recognizing his historical agenda, there isn’t so much prophecy involved in his endeavour. He goes into painful detail at times, and often I questioned the necessity of many of the chapters, and how they hung together. At times it seemed more a survey of various topics than a clear narrative. In the words of Antoine de Saint Exupery (authour of The Little Prince) “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” After spending many, many hours pushing through Gleick’s book, I suggest that by Saint Exupery’s standards, the book is not quite perfect.