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Original Title:	The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
ISBN:	0679776397 (ISBN13: 9780679776390)
Edition Language:

The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World Paperback | Pages: 368 pages

Present About Books The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World

Title	:	The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
Author	:	David Abram
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 368 pages
Published	:	February 25th 1997 by Vintage (first published 1996)
Categories	:	Philosophy. Nonfiction. Environment. Nature. Spirituality. Psychology. Biology. Ecology

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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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Ratings: 4.25 From 3045 Users | 304 Reviews

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In Chinese medicine, disease is defined as that which goes against the Breath of Nature (Bian Hua變化). This statement begs the question: If human disease is that which goes against the breath, how are we going against the breath? Or more specifically, how did we get to this point of widespread cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, allergies, and depression? David Abram's Spell of the Sensuous offers some important insight.Once upon a time, humans were inherently tied to the land as

I find The Spell of the Sensuous captivating exploration of language, phenomenology, and oral versus written storytelling an absolutely essential addition to anybody interested in how language and place are braided inextricably together. Abram, relying upon the theories of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Edmund Husserl, and American Indian peoples, explores what happens when, through the invention of writing, language is apparently severed from the sensual, material reality that it is born out of? Abram

Abram starts out strong by providing a fresh perspective about the separation of humans from nature. Anchoring his work first in Husserl's phenomenology and then Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception, Abram says that we think more about the world than experience it. He writes that we are first and foremost physical bodies that complete themselves only through active relationships with nature. There is, in other words, a visceral circuit of energy with the world and it is this that gives us

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet David Abram on a number of occasions while living in Santa Fe. My poetry professor was having us read this book, partly because David Abram was a personal friend of his and partly because the book is just remarkable on a thousand different levels. It has a poetry to it, to be sure, but no other phrase works quite as well as "Spell Binding" when describing this book. It's wordy, you can't read it in one sitting like some pulp fiction book. But I still found

In Chinese medicine, disease is defined as that which goes against the Breath of Nature (Bian Hua變化). This statement begs the question: If human disease is that which goes against the breath, how are we going against the breath? Or more specifically, how did we get to this point of widespread cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, allergies, and depression? David Abram's Spell of the Sensuous offers some important insight.Once upon a time, humans were inherently tied to the land as

For me this is a really wonderful take on the role of artists (among other things) and how it could change as the culture changes. Abram is far more responsible to the potential of the subject than most authors would be; that is, he's both curious and scholarly, scrupulous and generous. He began as a sleight-of-hand magician doing anthropology, and the simple intuitive brilliance of that combination is a thread throughout the book.

Wow. David Abrams covers enormous ground, delving into philosophy, cultural anthropology, the environment, phenomenology, and spirituality. I read this book in NYC and it helped convince me (as did 9/11) to leave the city for an island off the coast of Maine where I lived for five years reconnecting with the natural world and my place in it. This is an important book for anyone concerned about the contemporary society's disconnect from nature.