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lakserk's review
4.0
Ωραίο σύντομο βιβλίο που επικεντρώνεται στην εικόνα που έχουμε για τη φωτιά, σε διάφορα αξιώματα και πεποιθήσεις περί αυτής, και προσπαθεί να αναλύσει πώς προέκυψαν, να καταρρίψει κάποια αλλά και να σκαλίσει τον τρόπο αλληλεπίδρασης της φωτιάς με τον ανθρώπινο νου και πνεύμα. Κάποια σημεία ήταν σαφώς πιο ενδιαφέροντα από άλλα (δεν με κράτησε το κεφάλαιο για τη σεξουαλικότητα τη φωτιάς και αυτό για τη χημεία της) αλλά γενικώς ένα όμορφο και (παρά την επιστημονική μέθοδο που ακολουθεί ο συγγραφέας) αρκετά ποιητικό στην ουσία του.
dansumption's review
2.0
I was fascinated by the title and intrigued by the subject matter of this book, but after reading it I can't really recommend it for anything other than a snapshot of its time. To be fair on Bachelard he does say in the introduction that after reading this book, you will not have gained any knowledge whatsoever. In this he is absolutely correct.
Bachelard's thesis is that humans' relationship with fire is so ancient and vital that it is almost impossible for us to look at fire objectively. He claims that no scientist has ever adequately explained the phenomenon of fire and that scientists, being human, always start off with preconceptions which taint their writings on fire. He takes a psychoanalytic approach to examining how these preconceptions come about. This being psychoanalysis, there is an awful lot about sex - I mean, it's obvious isn't it, you *rub* two things together and the result is a child: fire. After explaining a number of such human aspects which we unconsciously attribute to fire, Bachelard goes on to spend several chapters mocking the work of scientists of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Given some of the wildly unfounded claims with which Bachelard backs up his arguments, he is on very shaky ground here: reading his book 80 years on, his own arguments look every bit as ridiculous as those he criticises.
Bachelard's thesis is that humans' relationship with fire is so ancient and vital that it is almost impossible for us to look at fire objectively. He claims that no scientist has ever adequately explained the phenomenon of fire and that scientists, being human, always start off with preconceptions which taint their writings on fire. He takes a psychoanalytic approach to examining how these preconceptions come about. This being psychoanalysis, there is an awful lot about sex - I mean, it's obvious isn't it, you *rub* two things together and the result is a child: fire. After explaining a number of such human aspects which we unconsciously attribute to fire, Bachelard goes on to spend several chapters mocking the work of scientists of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Given some of the wildly unfounded claims with which Bachelard backs up his arguments, he is on very shaky ground here: reading his book 80 years on, his own arguments look every bit as ridiculous as those he criticises.
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