Stardust to Stardust: Reflections on Living and Dying

Wright, Erik Olin

ISBN 10: 1642591580 / ISBN 13: 9781642591583

Published by Haymarket Books, 2020

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1642591580I4N00

Synopsis:

Erik Olin Wright, one of the most important sociologists of his time, takes us along on his intimate and brave journey toward death, and asks the big questions about human mortality.

Human life is a wild, extraordinary phenomenon: elements are brewed in the cen-ter of stars and exploding supernova, spewed across the universe; they eventually clumped into a minor planet around a modest star; then after some billions of years this “stardust” became complex molecules with self-replicating capacities that we call life. More billions of years pass and these self-replicating molecules join together into more complex forms, evolve into organisms which gain awareness and then consciousness, and finally, eventually, consciousness of their consciousness. Stardust turned into conscious living matter aware of its own existence. And with that comes consciousness of mortality. . . . That I, as a conscious being will cease to exist pales in significance to the fact that I exist at all. I don’t find that this robs my existence of meaning; it’s what makes infusing life with meaning possible.

About the Author:

Erik Olin Wright (1947–2019) was Vilas Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin. He authored many books, including Classes, Interrogating Inequality, Class Counts, Deepening Democracy (with Archon Fung), and Envisioning Real Utopias.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Stardust to Stardust: Reflections on Living ...
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Publication Date: 2020
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket