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libraryghostie's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
dbg108's review against another edition
5.0
Quintessential Berry, these essays are defiantly critical of the capitalist industrial complex while remaining ever hopeful. The careful chapter detailing healthy logging is worth the book. ✊
melissa_427's review against another edition
4.0
Always much wisdom to be gained by reading Wendell Berry.
"We believe in what is apparent, in what we can imagine or "picture" in our mind, in what we feel to be true, in what our hearts tell us, in experience, in stories - above all, perhaps, in stories."
"To have a mind, I think, depends upon one's willingness to change it."
"Oversimplified moral certainties - always requiring hostility, always potentially violent - isolate us from mercy, pity, peace, and love and leave us lonely and dangerous."
"Condemnation by category of the lowest form of hatred, for it is cold-hearted and abstract, lacking the heat and even the courage of a personal hatred. Categorical hatred is the hatred of the mob, which makes cowards brave. And there is nothing more fearful than a religious mob overflowing with righteousness, as at the crucifixion, and before, and since. This sort of violence can happen only after we have made a categorical refusal of kindness to heretics, foreigners, enemies, or any other group different from ourselves."
"We believe in what is apparent, in what we can imagine or "picture" in our mind, in what we feel to be true, in what our hearts tell us, in experience, in stories - above all, perhaps, in stories."
"To have a mind, I think, depends upon one's willingness to change it."
"Oversimplified moral certainties - always requiring hostility, always potentially violent - isolate us from mercy, pity, peace, and love and leave us lonely and dangerous."
"Condemnation by category of the lowest form of hatred, for it is cold-hearted and abstract, lacking the heat and even the courage of a personal hatred. Categorical hatred is the hatred of the mob, which makes cowards brave. And there is nothing more fearful than a religious mob overflowing with righteousness, as at the crucifixion, and before, and since. This sort of violence can happen only after we have made a categorical refusal of kindness to heretics, foreigners, enemies, or any other group different from ourselves."
ckreuger's review against another edition
5.0
"The cheapening of life and the violence that accompanies it, is surely the dominant theme of our time. The ease and quickness with which we resort to violence would be astounding if it were not conventional. . .To learn to meet our needs without continuous violence against one another and our only world would require an immense intellectual and practical effort, requiring the help of every human being perhaps to the end of human time. This would be work worthy of the name 'human'. It would be fascinating and lovely."
Wendell Berry is an eloquent, clear voice of sanity for a world sorely lacking in it. Whther it is his poetry, his novels or his essays, his words are full of truth and compassion.
Wendell Berry is an eloquent, clear voice of sanity for a world sorely lacking in it. Whther it is his poetry, his novels or his essays, his words are full of truth and compassion.
jhall45's review against another edition
5.0
Prophetic vision
A varied collection of elegant essays on a more sustainable way of living. I take a more technically minded approach than the author, an disagree on many of these aspects, his holistic vision resonated.
A varied collection of elegant essays on a more sustainable way of living. I take a more technically minded approach than the author, an disagree on many of these aspects, his holistic vision resonated.
indianajane's review against another edition
4.0
I love Wendell Berry's writing, and I agree with much of what he has to say, but this book left me with a kind of melancholy hopelessness about the state of our world and society.
zac_housedownbooks's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
guinness74's review
4.0
Fair warning: I'm about to say something bad about Wendell Berry's writing. Mr. Berry, in this title, hammers home repeatedly the same message through the ten essays and after a while you want to say "Okay, Wendell, we get it."
However, for the four full stars, I think Mr. Berry's point is that we haven't gotten it, we continue to not get it, and he promises to use every bit of typewriter ribbon available to see to it that we do get it. Still, that makes for a rather one-issue book.
There are some variations here and there, but by and large the message is the same. And, if anything, Mr. Berry is genuinely focused on getting this message across to any and all listeners. The truth of the matter is that we need this message. It's an important one. And, you should read the book to receive that message.
That wasn't so bad, was it?
However, for the four full stars, I think Mr. Berry's point is that we haven't gotten it, we continue to not get it, and he promises to use every bit of typewriter ribbon available to see to it that we do get it. Still, that makes for a rather one-issue book.
There are some variations here and there, but by and large the message is the same. And, if anything, Mr. Berry is genuinely focused on getting this message across to any and all listeners. The truth of the matter is that we need this message. It's an important one. And, you should read the book to receive that message.
That wasn't so bad, was it?
dylanblok's review
I'm reading through Lithub's 365 Books to Start Your Climate Change Library, a reading list in four sections (Classics, Science, Fiction & Poetry, and Ideas). This book is #5 of Part 4: The Ideas and #13 overall.
Re-read from a couple years ago.
Worth reading for the essay on forestry practices ("worst-first single tree selection"), which I would not peg as being particular engaging based on a synopsis, but it kinda blew my mind when I read it the first time through. It's interesting to see America through Berry's worldview, which I would describe primarily as pro-family/community & anti-violence, with 'violence' including both violence against people and against the earth.
Re-read from a couple years ago.
Worth reading for the essay on forestry practices ("worst-first single tree selection"), which I would not peg as being particular engaging based on a synopsis, but it kinda blew my mind when I read it the first time through. It's interesting to see America through Berry's worldview, which I would describe primarily as pro-family/community & anti-violence, with 'violence' including both violence against people and against the earth.