Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology 
David Abram’s first book, The Spell of the Sensuous, hailed as “revolutionary” by the Los Angeles Times, as “daring” and “truly original” by Science, has become a classic of environmental literature. Now he returns with a startling exploration of our human entanglement with the rest of nature.
As the climate veers toward catastrophe, the innumerable losses cascading through the biosphere make vividly evident the need for a metamorphosis in our relation to the living land. For too long we’ve ignored the wild intelligence of our bodies, taking our primary truths from technologies that hold the living world at a distance. Abram’s writing subverts this distance, drawing readers ever closer to their animal senses in order to explore, from within, the elemental kinship between the human body and the breathing Earth. The shape-shifting of ravens, the erotic nature of gravity, the eloquence of thunder, the pleasures of being edible: all have their place in this book.
Though I technically haven't read the whole book (having skipped over the middle essays), I have run out of renewals at the library and know that I won't have enough contemplative slow-reading time to take in the rest of it at this time. It is definitely a book I will return to, however, and spend more time with. This is not a book to rush through. Like poetry, it's best read a little at a time and then sat with quietly so that the words seep into your bones and heart. Though the opening essays
I didn't think I could love a book more than David Abram's first book, The Spell of the Sensuous, but this second book, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, is like the flower of which that book was the bud. It reads like poetry in its constant evocation of sensible experience in nature whether the language of crows or the whispering of pine trees. It has a way of making it feel as if our senses can unfold and open as well as expand beyond our bodies into the whole living planet and its myriad
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An attempt to build a meaningful contemporary animism, this is the most deeply pagan book I've read this year, and I don't remember it using the word "pagan" once. At times the prose was too much: dense, verbose, overly rich and self-indulgent. But really, that's in keeping with what Abram is trying to achieve: an assertion of radical subjectivity and a call to immerse ourselves in the rich density of both sensuous language and physical reality. Occasionally cringe-inducing, but if you can get
A breathtakingly inspiring book about looking at the world we live in, and rekindling that natural animal connection we have with Earth. After about 200 pages, the book kind of drags onstill nonetheless interestingbut the conclusion is fantastic, leaving you with a newfound perception of this beautiful planet we live in.
The challenge in reading this book is that it kept making me go outside to take walks. To sit. To observe. Every time I read parts of it I felt more embodied and more part of the world around me. A must read!
A spellbinding edict for the de-familiarization of our Earthly habitation, Abram's Becoming Animal is equal parts poetic lyricism and paradoxical migrane. Because I have a taste for the phenomenological, and a penchant for the ornate, I lean toward the former: David Abrams writing is both beautiful and instructive, even when it demands a leap of faith that he has a direction to his wandering and purpose to his probing. Sometimes I wanted to slow him down, to have him scale back his far-reaching
David Abram
Paperback | Pages: 336 pages Rating: 4.12 | 1030 Users | 128 Reviews
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List Regarding Books Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
Title | : | Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology |
Author | : | David Abram |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 336 pages |
Published | : | September 6th 2011 by Vintage (first published January 1st 2010) |
Categories | : | Nonfiction. Philosophy. Environment. Nature. Science. Animals |
Rendition Conducive To Books Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
A PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Runner-upDavid Abram’s first book, The Spell of the Sensuous, hailed as “revolutionary” by the Los Angeles Times, as “daring” and “truly original” by Science, has become a classic of environmental literature. Now he returns with a startling exploration of our human entanglement with the rest of nature.
As the climate veers toward catastrophe, the innumerable losses cascading through the biosphere make vividly evident the need for a metamorphosis in our relation to the living land. For too long we’ve ignored the wild intelligence of our bodies, taking our primary truths from technologies that hold the living world at a distance. Abram’s writing subverts this distance, drawing readers ever closer to their animal senses in order to explore, from within, the elemental kinship between the human body and the breathing Earth. The shape-shifting of ravens, the erotic nature of gravity, the eloquence of thunder, the pleasures of being edible: all have their place in this book.
Be Specific About Books In Pursuance Of Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
ISBN: | 0375713697 (ISBN13: 9780375713699) |
Edition Language: | English |
Literary Awards: | Orion Book Award Nominee (2011), PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing Nominee (2011) |
Rating Regarding Books Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
Ratings: 4.12 From 1030 Users | 128 ReviewsCrit Regarding Books Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
Abram suggests that the earth is an aggregate life form comprised of a multitude of living things, and he defines living more widely than you likely do. He says that we forgot this along way, and elevated ourselves over the other forms of life we share the earth with. In prioritizing our brand of intelligence over all others, we lost touch with our natureour factual existence as an organism living in concert with the others who inhabit this place. We dont recognize the intelligence of otherThough I technically haven't read the whole book (having skipped over the middle essays), I have run out of renewals at the library and know that I won't have enough contemplative slow-reading time to take in the rest of it at this time. It is definitely a book I will return to, however, and spend more time with. This is not a book to rush through. Like poetry, it's best read a little at a time and then sat with quietly so that the words seep into your bones and heart. Though the opening essays
I didn't think I could love a book more than David Abram's first book, The Spell of the Sensuous, but this second book, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, is like the flower of which that book was the bud. It reads like poetry in its constant evocation of sensible experience in nature whether the language of crows or the whispering of pine trees. It has a way of making it feel as if our senses can unfold and open as well as expand beyond our bodies into the whole living planet and its myriad

An attempt to build a meaningful contemporary animism, this is the most deeply pagan book I've read this year, and I don't remember it using the word "pagan" once. At times the prose was too much: dense, verbose, overly rich and self-indulgent. But really, that's in keeping with what Abram is trying to achieve: an assertion of radical subjectivity and a call to immerse ourselves in the rich density of both sensuous language and physical reality. Occasionally cringe-inducing, but if you can get
A breathtakingly inspiring book about looking at the world we live in, and rekindling that natural animal connection we have with Earth. After about 200 pages, the book kind of drags onstill nonetheless interestingbut the conclusion is fantastic, leaving you with a newfound perception of this beautiful planet we live in.
The challenge in reading this book is that it kept making me go outside to take walks. To sit. To observe. Every time I read parts of it I felt more embodied and more part of the world around me. A must read!
A spellbinding edict for the de-familiarization of our Earthly habitation, Abram's Becoming Animal is equal parts poetic lyricism and paradoxical migrane. Because I have a taste for the phenomenological, and a penchant for the ornate, I lean toward the former: David Abrams writing is both beautiful and instructive, even when it demands a leap of faith that he has a direction to his wandering and purpose to his probing. Sometimes I wanted to slow him down, to have him scale back his far-reaching
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