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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
It’s difficult to describe what this book is about. However it helped me to understand myself better in relation to my environment and the places I occupy - how I shape them and they me.
Quote in Norwegian
«Å kalkulere med det uforutsette er kanskje nettopp den paradoksale operasjonen livet dypest sett krever av oss.»
«I Benjamins forstand er det å gå seg vill det samme som å være fullstendig tilstede, og det å være fullstendig tilstede er å være i stand til å forbli i usikkerheten og mysteriet.»
«Eller er verket større enn deres intensjoner?»
«Å kalkulere med det uforutsette er kanskje nettopp den paradoksale operasjonen livet dypest sett krever av oss.»
«I Benjamins forstand er det å gå seg vill det samme som å være fullstendig tilstede, og det å være fullstendig tilstede er å være i stand til å forbli i usikkerheten og mysteriet.»
«Eller er verket større enn deres intensjoner?»
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
After reading "Infinite City" I vowed to read everything by this woman, starting with "A Field Guide" on my honeymoon. Perfect, right? Reading a book about getting lost on a trip to a place I had never been. Well, parts of this book were great, other parts I was just lost. I blame my own expectation of what "getting lost" was all about and the book really is so much more. And although I sometimes caught myself reading the same page three times trying to decipher Rebecca Solnit's ramblings, those ramblings were gorgeous. It's also tough to blame the writing when it could have been the numerous piña coladas I was enjoying at the time. Check it out if you've got some time to wander.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
There is something of value in these essays and in the way Solnit approaches them. These are not meant to be skim read, and they are certainly not meant to be read once. In the wrong mood, these are laborious and impenetrable. In the right mood, they are thought provoking, challenging and utterly timeless. As with all collections, some are better than others. Overall however, Solnit is a brave writer with a knack for creating a structure out of snatches of thought and flashes of realisation which come in the middle of the night under desert stars. Drop your phone down the toilet and pick up this book.
After reading her other book The Faraway Nearby, I should have realized that I should try to stay away from her work as my sensibilities do not match hers. But the title and description of this book drew me in, and I once again came out with very mixed feelings.
There are beautiful passages here and a few haunting anecdotes. I wish I could just filter those out and leave the rest, but that is not possible with literature. Her constant self-indulgent pining comes in the way. She is all too conscious of her sensitive self and she is a little too eager to impress us with her sensitive nature, which becomes insufferable after a while. To prove her acute sensitivity, she would inject poetry into nature where no poetry is needed, as the phenomenon is intensely beautiful without any such human intervention. She tries to mystify things that need no mystification. I like understanding what is understandable and try to understand what is not. The author, on the other hand, takes something that is beautiful in its clarity and tries to make it obscure and mysterious for no meaningful purpose other than to demonstrate her ability to do so.
I know there are readers who like such intellectual calisthenics, but it neither appeals to me nor do I find it intellectually honest.
There are beautiful passages here and a few haunting anecdotes. I wish I could just filter those out and leave the rest, but that is not possible with literature. Her constant self-indulgent pining comes in the way. She is all too conscious of her sensitive self and she is a little too eager to impress us with her sensitive nature, which becomes insufferable after a while. To prove her acute sensitivity, she would inject poetry into nature where no poetry is needed, as the phenomenon is intensely beautiful without any such human intervention. She tries to mystify things that need no mystification. I like understanding what is understandable and try to understand what is not. The author, on the other hand, takes something that is beautiful in its clarity and tries to make it obscure and mysterious for no meaningful purpose other than to demonstrate her ability to do so.
I know there are readers who like such intellectual calisthenics, but it neither appeals to me nor do I find it intellectually honest.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced