Scan barcode
allydoessomereading's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
A reflective essay on the connection between the individual body and the eco/collective body. There are some really beautiful and poetic reflections throughout the book but I do feel there was a lack on synthesis in what the author sought out to research. I do love the idea of a second body though and wish a clearer and more defined input was included.
stephanielynnrp's review against another edition
2.0
Slightly disappointing (although probably 2.5 stars).
theo_hynanratcliffe's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
sharkybookshelf's review
3.0
An extended essay exploring how we inhabit the global ecosystem and how, simultaneously, it inhabits us, such that we have two bodies.
I have no formal (or informal) training in philosophy, and I spent a fair part of this book wishing I had and wondering if it might have helped me with the thought process of the book. I struggled to get my head around Hildyard’s central thesis - conceptually, I understood it and it’s a fascinating idea, but I just couldn’t quite wrap my head around it in practical terms. The writing style was bewildering, with various random details (what an interviewee was wearing, the weather) which I assume were meant to be immersive such that the reader could imagine themselves as a witness to the conversation, but to me just felt irrelevant and a distraction from whatever point was being laid out. The Art-Science divide writ large perhaps. I am only half-joking - a clear-cut divide between the two is obviously far too simplistic, but I do think there are general differences in how we are taught to approach and present arguments, and this was pretty clear when Hildyard related conversations she’d had with scientists. As a (lapsed) scientist, it was a peculiar experience to read the scientific concepts presented from a non-scientific, much more philosophical position. A thoroughly intriguing central idea, but slippery to pin down from a practical point of view, written in a perplexing style which really didn’t suit my science brain.