Gregory Bateson died in 1980, but his work grows more and more relevant each year. In his wide-ranging, penetrating thought he illuminated many dimensions of human interaction and of our connection to the wider biological world. One of the questions that runs through this book is “how to describe a living system without killing it?” This starts early with Bateson’s anthropological work on culture, and runs through into ecology, identity, change, evolution and learning. How to talk about these things – and organisms that are experiencing them – without resorting to typologies? The sacred and its relationship to a description of ecology is foremost. As are the puzzles of being an individual in culture in a whole vast collection of biological relationships and cultural idea-relationships – and how to bring all of those into the field of ecology. The answer to the question “what is the world?” is “it’s what I perceive it to be.” And the question of what I perceive is only going to begin to have some looseness in it, when the question is asked: “Are you perceiving the world, or are you perceiving your perception?” Perhaps this question is the beginning of the possibility of loosening the matrix. When Bateson talks about coevolution – the way that the grass changes when the horse changes, and the horse changes as the grass changes, along with multiple other organisms – there is change taking place so that they can stay in relationship. But in order to continue the relationships all the organisms have to change. In order to change, they have to be able to have a perception shift. And yet, it should be impossible. It should be that the organisms can only do what the organisms do. And a horse is a horse, and the grass is the grass. But life shows us again and again, things change. In fact, that is the basis of continuing to be alive in an ecology; to change. Continuing requires discontinuing. Many of the articles in this book are about ‘wiping your glosses’ – the glosses that accumulate in psychiatry, anthropology, ecology, education, and getting to see a little bit more clearly, which always means seeing relationship and always means seeing parts and wholes encompassed within bigger wholes. As he develops his theory of evolution he says it’s not the individual organism or species that evolves. It’s the organism-plus-the-environment that evolves. This book is a forest of ideas explored though many careful visits. Order, change, learning, health, harm, perception … what is it to be alive? Each chapter is full of the rigor of someone who does not want to underestimate the lifeforms in view and knows that many more life-processes are present, but not (yet) perceivable. There is room in these pages to allow the overlaps and the understories to tangle and seep between the chapters and let them describe each other. There is not an agreed upon way to understand this work, each reader will find their own way through within their own experiences. And the next time you read it, you will find that either the chapters or you have changed again…

About the Author

Anthropologist, biologist, philosopher, student of behavior and experience in virtually every arena of human life, Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) was one of the most far-reaching thinkers of the twentieth century, an explorer who always saw the connections between the various objects and realms of his explorations. Bateson thus occupies a position uniquely suited to assist us in unifying our ever more fragmented lives and knowledges, as well as to teach us―between the lines―about love, elegance, clarity, and understanding.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Store Description

Account dedicated to Print on Demand titles. Brook Bookstore offers a wide selection of books with a continuously updated catalog and fast shipments all over the world. We hold distribution rights with all of the publishers we promote and are in continuous search of new interesting titles to propose to our customers. We are part of Brandon Group SRL (an Italian company) and all of the orders are shipped from Europe. Depending on availability orders will be picked from our different warehouses. CONTACT US If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us sending a message to our store. We have a well prepared customer service team who will be happy to assist you. Our working hours are from Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 18:30 (CET, UTC +1) so messages received during the weekends might be responded with a slight delay but we guarantee you will get back to you as soon as possible. RETURNS If you want to return your order, please submit your request through Abebooks platform. Returns requests are managed case by case by our team and always in line with Abebooks policies: AbeBooks? Return Policy guarantees that you can return any book for a refund within 30 days, when the return is due to an error on the bookseller?s part. When the motive of the return is not due to an error of the seller it is up to Brook Bookstore to accept the return or else after studying the case. CANCELLATION You can send a cancellation request to our customer service team while the package has not yet been shipped. After that we cannot ensure we can retrieve the parcel but we suggest you to get in touch with us in order to verify the case. INVOICE You can request the invoice to be issued together with the shipment of the order or, at the latest, in the same month of the shipment.

Visit Seller's Storefront

Seller's business information

Brandon Group S.R.L.
Via Vannella Gaetani 27, Brandon Group, Napoli, NA, 80121, Italy

Sale & Shipping Terms

Terms of Sale

Account dedicated to Print on Demand titles.

CANCELLATION
You can send a cancellation request from the order page while the package has not yet been shipped. After that we cannot ensure we can retrieve the parcel but we suggest you to get in touch with us in order to verify the case.

INVOICE
You can request the invoice to be issued together with the shipment of the order or, at the latest, in the same month of the shipment.

RETURNS
If you want to return your order, please contact us for authoriz...

More Information

Right of withdrawal

If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.

Information regarding the right of withdrawal

Statutory right to withdraw

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).

We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.

We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.

We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.

You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Brook Bookstore On Demand, Bristol, United Kingdom, +39 3485885209, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.

Exceptions to the right of withdrawal

The right of withdrawal does not apply to:

The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.

Shipping Terms

Shipping rates from Italy to U.S.A.

Shipping rates from Italy to U.S.A.
Order quantity	25 to 40 business days	60 to 60 business days
First item	� 5.86	� 440.73

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.

Detailed Seller Information