Synopses & Reviews
For centuries, humans have tried to master air. Sea captains rein it in with their sails, and pilots cut through it with their wings. We have machines to pump air into our lungs and computers to anticipate the movement of the winds. Air pervades everything we do and gives us life, yet it is impossible to capture. We can only evoke it through images, impressions, and feelings. This book offers a collage of such evocations expressed through prose, poetry, photography, and drawings.From aerial plankton to Navajo wind gods, from joyful singing to painful emphysema, from gentle breezes to violent storms, Writing on Air creates a fresh way of thinking about the role of air in our everyday lives. Included in the book are prose pieces by poet Hayden Carruth, paulo da costa, Kristjana Gunnars, filmmaker Werner Herzog, Howard Mansfield, Sarah Menin, and C. L. Rawlins; an excerpt from a play by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann on the discovery of oxygen; poems by Lori Anderson, Tonu Õnnepalu, Andrew Schelling, and Virgil Suárez; and art and photography by Manuel Acevedo, Stuart Allen, Marsha Cottrell, Susan Derges, the Korwa tribe of the Indian hills, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Tuula Närhinen, and the airborne dancers of Project Bandaloop.
Review
"A glorious anthology of essays..." Umbrella The MIT Press
Review
"This collection of essays, short fictions and poems will delight anyone who has an interest in both air and writing." Mike Holderness New Scientist The MIT Press
Review
"Writing on Air is a superb anthology. It successfully integrates science and imagination, using narrative, memory, and metaphor to convey complex environmental and biospheric concepts."
—Mitchell S. Thomashow, Chair, Department of Environmental Studies, Antioch New England Graduate School
Review
"A glorious anthology of essays ... "
— Umbrella
Review
"This rich collection will spark the imagination of anyone eager to consider one of our most essential elements." Publisher's Weekly The MIT Press
Review
"Promises to be a significant contribution in addressing a neglected but important environmental topic."--Cheryll Glotfelty, Department of English, University of Nevada, Reno The MIT Press
Review
"Whatever David Rothenberg touches becomes a surprise exploration, an unexpected point of engagement where he invites us to a deeper way of thinking about our place on the planet. He is a musician, a philosopher, a writer, and above all, an alchemist. *Writing on Air* is just another example of his brilliant dance with the world."--Terry Tempest Williams, author of *Leap* and *Red*
Synopsis
For centuries, humans have tried to master air. Sea captains rein it in with their sails, and pilots cut through it with their wings. We have machines to pump air into our lungs and computers to anticipate the movement of the winds. Air pervades everything we do and gives us life, yet it is impossible to capture. We can only evoke it through images, impressions, and feelings. This book offers a collage of such evocations expressed through prose, poetry, photography, and drawings.
Synopsis
Air in our everyday and imaginative lives, as portrayed by a wide range of writers, photographers, and artists.
About the Author
R. Roger Remington considers himself primarily ateacher who has critical interests in design studies(graphic design history, theory and methods), research,writing and graphic design practice. Since 1982 he hasbeen engaged in the research, interpretation, and preservationof the history of graphic design. He has cochairedtwo major symposia on graphic design historyand written a book, Nine Pioneers in American GraphicDesign, for The MIT Press. His second book, Lester Beall:Trailblazer of American Graphic Design was published inJuly of 1996 by W.W. Norton. Presently he is working ona book, A New Unity: Modernism in American GraphicDesign:1930-1950forLaurenceKingPublishers in London.The Graphic Design Archive at RIT, which hedeveloped, involves preserving and interpreting theoriginal source materials of 16 design pioneers such asLester Beall, Will Burtin, Cipe Pineles, William Goldenand Alvin Lustig among others. In 1999 his designhistory course on 20th Century Information Design istargeted at on-line learners. Presently he is developing anew course on "Women Pioneers in American GraphicDesign."