I started and finished A Sense of Direction in one evening; I couldn't really stop thinking about it, so I couldn't put it down. I found it...
Continue »
A brilliant writer, a brilliant case - and there you go. Zerby certainly takes (foot)note of the pervasiveness and useful nature of the footnote as a phenomenon, what really turns his work into one of utmost importance for literally any reader is however that it attempts to - and successfully does - consider footnotes as esthetic objects, while never ceasing to be a classic humorous page-turner. He sees footnotes as sources of beauty, of "pathos," and raises his voice against the tendency to restrict the amount of footnotes (in his view, of esthetic experiences met with while reading) to the minimum. A strongly suggested reading for journal editors and university professors!
An exceptional read in Sagan's easily accessible style, The Demon-Haunted World is the late planetologist's effort to fight superstitious and unscientific views cast on scientific topics, as well as a call for reform in education and thinking. An amazingly interesting advocacy of skepticism, practically unputdownable!
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Listen:
Vonnegut's dreadfully witty view on a surprisingly icy Apocalypse will make you think. About life, science, religion, humankind, time, and last but not least, about the end of all these. Kickbacks and properties of human life and nature are highlighted with such meticulous accuracy that Vonnegut received his MA in Anthropology for this book some 20 years after having left university without a degree. An invented religion, three siblings with diverse mental and/or physical drawbacks, a dangerous chemical substance, and a mysterious narrator - who prefers to be called Jonah - provide the main yarns that get interwoven to form a tapestry-like image depicting what it will be like if we do not behave. The not-yet-Slaughterhouse-Five yet past-Sirens-of-Titan author presents us with an elaborate parable that is sarcastic to absurdity, still at the same time may be frighteningly familiar to us.
It is in karasses, “teams that do God’s Will without ever discovering what they re doing” that we lead our life (our is it that our life is led?), and God’s Will appoints an aim to each and every karass. What the absurdly artful (even fine art-ful) goal of this Jonah’s karass is, everyone can find out by reading this classic of the postmodern American novel.
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.
Don't Miss
Customer Comments
Ádám Bogár has commented on (3) products.
The Devil's Details: A History of Footnotes by Chuck Zerby
Ádám Bogár, March 29, 2012
A brilliant writer, a brilliant case - and there you go. Zerby certainly takes (foot)note of the pervasiveness and useful nature of the footnote as a phenomenon, what really turns his work into one of utmost importance for literally any reader is however that it attempts to - and successfully does - consider footnotes as esthetic objects, while never ceasing to be a classic humorous page-turner. He sees footnotes as sources of beauty, of "pathos," and raises his voice against the tendency to restrict the amount of footnotes (in his view, of esthetic experiences met with while reading) to the minimum. A strongly suggested reading for journal editors and university professors!The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
Ádám Bogár, October 3, 2011
An exceptional read in Sagan's easily accessible style, The Demon-Haunted World is the late planetologist's effort to fight superstitious and unscientific views cast on scientific topics, as well as a call for reform in education and thinking. An amazingly interesting advocacy of skepticism, practically unputdownable!(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Ádám Bogár, April 12, 2011
Listen:Vonnegut's dreadfully witty view on a surprisingly icy Apocalypse will make you think. About life, science, religion, humankind, time, and last but not least, about the end of all these. Kickbacks and properties of human life and nature are highlighted with such meticulous accuracy that Vonnegut received his MA in Anthropology for this book some 20 years after having left university without a degree. An invented religion, three siblings with diverse mental and/or physical drawbacks, a dangerous chemical substance, and a mysterious narrator - who prefers to be called Jonah - provide the main yarns that get interwoven to form a tapestry-like image depicting what it will be like if we do not behave. The not-yet-Slaughterhouse-Five yet past-Sirens-of-Titan author presents us with an elaborate parable that is sarcastic to absurdity, still at the same time may be frighteningly familiar to us.
It is in karasses, “teams that do God’s Will without ever discovering what they re doing” that we lead our life (our is it that our life is led?), and God’s Will appoints an aim to each and every karass. What the absurdly artful (even fine art-ful) goal of this Jonah’s karass is, everyone can find out by reading this classic of the postmodern American novel.