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Being a Human
Adventures in 40,000 Years of Consciousness
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
A radical work of nature writing and philosophical enquiry, resituating us in our real human skins.
A radical work of nature writing and philosophical enquiry, resituating us in our real human skins
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Description
A wonderful, wild, dazzling book. You will feel more human for having read it - Literary Review
Foster's daringly imaginative exploration of alternative models of selfhood is an original and beneficial way of grappling with history ... precisely what we need to remind us that there are many alternatives to the "I, me, mine" mindset - TLS
What kind of creature is a human? If we don't know what we are, how can we know how to act? Charles Foster sets out to understand what a human is, inhabiting the sensory worlds of humans at three pivotal moments in our history.
Foster begins his quest with his son in a Derbyshire wood, trying to find a way of experiencing the world that recognises the deep expanse of time when we understood ourselves as hunter-gatherers, and when modern consciousness was first ignited. From there he travels to the Neolithic, a way of being defined by fences, farms, sky gods and slaughterhouses, and finally to the Enlightenment, when we decided that the universe was a machine and we were soulless cogs within it.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Being a Human by Charles Foster has received praise for its imaginative and engaging exploration of human consciousness over thousands of years. Reviewers appreciate Foster's beautiful writing and distinctive perspective. The book is celebrated for its humorous, moving, and mind-expanding content, with some describing it as both eccentric and compelling. It invites readers to reconsider individualistic selfhood and offers an optimistic reflection on humanity's potential, despite its challenges.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781788167185
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 02 June 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Profile Books Ltd
Edition: Main
Illustration: 3/4 images scattered throughout
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 28.0mm
Width: 128.0mm
Height: 196.0mm
Weight: 280g
Pages: 400
About the Author
Charles Foster is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Being a Beast, which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Wainwright Prize, won the 30 million d'amis Prize in France, and is the subject of a forthcoming feature film. In 2016, he won the IgNobel Prize for Biology.
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