Customer Comments

anacoluthon has commented on (4) products.

Pulphead: Essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan

anacoluthon, January 2, 2013

Inventively written and engaging essays on various species of American weirdness. Not quite as rich with personal voice as DFW's essays, not as charmingly eager to be liked as DFW, but still useful for filling the void left by his death.

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The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure by Jonathan P Balcombe

anacoluthon, January 4, 2012

As a strict vegetarian for 20 years, I have devoted much thought to what animals should not be made to experience. But almost never did I consider what animals should be allowed to experience -- that their lives are of intrinsic value to them because of their rich capacity for many forms of pleasure. Jonathan Balcombe's _The Exultant Ark_ is a massive corrective to this hole in my thought; it makes the case for animal pleasure with beautiful photographs and insightful text from a groundbreaking vegan biologist. This book is long overdue.

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The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure by Jonathan P Balcombe

anacoluthon, September 1, 2011

The Exultant Ark is a pure delight. Jonathan Balcombe is a biologist interested in the neglected study of non-human animals' capacity for pleasure of all kinds. Through stunning photographs and clear, informative text, Balcombe takes the reader on a tour of an animal world that is so much more than a grim struggle for survival. Witness a tremendous range of animal lives that are enriched by the pleasures of play, touch, companionship, and much more.

As a strict vegetarian for twenty years, it's my personal hope that a book like this will cause readers to consider whether a life that's capable of feeling good, and has a moral interest in feeling good, is really a life we should take for our own gustatory pleasure. My belief is that farmed animals can provide us human animals with a deeper satisfaction by being allowed to live natural, pleasurable lives than by being confined and killed for our unthinking consumption. Come to this book with an open heart and leave with your heart and mind changed.

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Just Kids by Patti Smith

anacoluthon, January 1, 2011

This is a gorgeously written book, essential reading for fans of Patti Smith, but also of interest to a wider audience. Smith evokes the art & music scenes in New York in the late 60s and 70s with loving attention to detail, and her account of her lifelong relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe will break your heart.

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