Bateson sets out to show that ``most of learning occurs outside the settings labeled as educational'' and that ``living and learning are everywhere founded on an improvisational base.'' Bateson (Anthropology and English/George Mason Univ.; Composing a Life, 1989, etc.) brings the reader along on a winding journey through different cultures to look at the process of learning as a spontaneous, nonlinear endeavor. The daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, the author has her intellectual roots in anthropology, but her writing is freewheeling, philosophizing, and personal. She spent time in Israel as a high school student; in the Philippines with her Armenian husband, as a professor and field worker; and in Iran with her daughter, Vanni, teaching and researching. The book begins with a scene in a Persian garden as Bateson takes the two-and-a-half-year-old Vanni to observe the ritual slaughter of a sheep in the Iranian countryside. The incident leads to Bateson's pondering the multiple levels of learning involved in participating in the ritual; the link between people and animals; the meshing of Eastern and Western culture; the connection between Islam and Christianity; the role of anthropologist as outsider and, in this case, as participant; the relationship between mother and daughter; and the class differences among the participants. It becomes a touchstone for Bateson's thoughts on how we learn. The book continues to string together seemingly disparate events, out of chronological order, which cycle back to Bateson's reflections on intellectual growth. It challenges the reader to remain open to learning and holds that goal up as one of life's great pleasures. But because the thinking rambles and the examples seem random, the book lacks the weight it needs to persuade or inspire.
Pub Date: June 22, 1994
ISBN: 1-55594-748-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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