personal composing discovery peripheral

books:

2 reviews
Mary Catherine Bateson

Pocket, 1985

One of the best!
I enjoyed the careful description of two legendary lives observed by the author as a daughter and an anthropologist. As a piece of anthropological writing, a certain distance is maintained when the author tells of her memories of growing up with her parents and the relationship between them. Yet, I can still detect her sadness and love in the seemingly unemotional and impersonal writing style. ...

Composing a Life

14 reviews
Mary Catherine Bateson

Highbridge Audio, 1992

A great general framework on how to compose an enjoyable life
I agree with the previous reviewers that mentioned the scope of the book is narrow focused, in that it certainly deals with the life of 5 successful women all middle to upper class. Still, if you are in the situation of dealing with multiple tasks at the same time - and so many women nowadays are, independent of the country where they live or how they came into it - this book is really helpful in ...

Elise Boulding: A Life in the Cause of Peace

1 review
Mary Lee Morrison

McFarland & Company, 2005

There is still time for an autobiography
Morrison, Mary L. Elise Boulding a Life in the Cause of Peace. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2005. Mary Lee Morrison's Elise Boulding A Life in the Cause of Peace depicts the life of a woman devoted to harmony and that of teaching it through even the simplest means. While Elise was writing her dissertation, she characterized herself as fulfilling 8 roles: "child, young ...

Angels Fear: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred

2 reviews
Gregory Bateson, Mary Catherine Bateson

Bantam, 1988

A unique collaboration and a new approach to religion
Gregory Bateson is well known, among those with the perseverance to wrestle through his very compact prose, for his highly original synthesis of cybernetics, biology, anthropology and -- above all -- epistemology. Near the end of his one book written with a general audience in mind (Mind and Nature), he mentions his intention to continue his explorations into the realms of the sacred and the ...

Willing to Learn: Passages of Personal Discovery

2 reviews
Mary Catherine Bateson

Steerforth, 2004

What a treat...
What a treat to find this hardbound collection of the work of Mary Catherine Bateson. Her prose is eloquent. Her ideas are rich and diverse. Her thinking is open, creative and, at the same time, intensely logical. There are selections from some of her best read books, but she also presents some of her hard-to-find material which merits inclusion. Her very interesting life provides the backdrop, ...

Patterns of Culture

4 reviews
Ruth Benedict

Mariner Books, 1989

a classic in the field
This book describes several diverse cultures in depth and detail. The emphasis is on overall world view and the conceptual foundations of each culture. The writing is lucid, involving and evocative. This book sheds more light on the issue of what is basic to all human nature, and what is culturaly influenced, then any other I know.

Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way

3 reviews
Mary Catherine Bateson

Harper Audio, 1994

Lifelong Learning as a Process of Seeing Unity in Difference
This book deserves more than five stars. It is an effective and eloquent statement of how to create personal growth through lifelong learning. The writing style of the book exemplifies the author's thesis in an effective and satisfying way. Try this experiment. Ask someone to concentrate on everything that is red in the room for 60 seconds. Then ask the person to close her or his eyes. Then ...