Items related to Letters to Lily: On How the World Works
In a frank and unpretentious series of letters addressed to a teenage granddaughter, this highly original book teaches us to know and understand the world we live in and its rules, and how to behave in it. In these thirty letters, Alan Macfarlane answers his granddaughter's questions about how the world works, how it got to be as it is, what it could be, and where she fits in. Lily's enquiries range from the intimate, personal and moral to the political, social and philosophical. What is the nature of good and evil? What is religion? How can I be truly me? Is right and wrong the same wherever you are? What is beauty? Does there have to be torture? Does money matter? Is knowledge always good? What is progress? What is truth? What is sex? Is democracy a good idea? These are just a few of the questions. In responding to Lily's challenging problems, Alan Macfarlane, from a lifetime's experience as a historian, anthropologist and teacher, ranges through history and across the world's cultures. Her questions are timeless. His answers add up to a classic.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Alan Macfarlane is Professor of Anthropology at Cambridge. He has often visited and taught in Japan. He is the author of The Glass Bathyscaphe and Japan Through the Looking Glass.
Review:
"A real tour de force. It is a guide to the whole of history and ethnography and encapsulates the historical philosophy of its author in a bewitchingly simple way."--Keith Thomas, author of Religion and the Decline of Magic and Man and the Natural World
"One of the most perceptive writers we have."--Paul Barker, Evening Standard
"A real tour de force. It is a guide to the whole of history and ethnography and encapsulates the historical philosophy of its author in a bewitchingly simple way."--Keith Thomas, author of Religion and the Decline of Magic and Man and the Natural World
"One of the most perceptive writers we have."--Paul Barker, Evening Standard
"One of the most perceptive writers we have."--Paul Barker, Evening Standard
"A real tour de force. It is a guide to the whole of history and ethnography and encapsulates the historical philosophy of its author in a bewitchingly simple way."--Keith Thomas, author of Religion and the Decline of Magic and Man and the Natural World
"One of the most perceptive writers we have."--Paul Barker, Evening Standard
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherIPS - Profile Books
- Publication date2009
- ISBN 10 1861977808
- ISBN 13 9781861977809
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages320
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Alan Macfarlane is an anthropologist; Lily his inquisitive daughter, constantly asks him tricky questions about how the world works. In this highly original book he has decided to provide her with some answers in a series of thirty frank and unpretentious letters.In responding to Lily's challenging problems, Alan Macfarlane tackles the great questions in life, drawing on his experience as anthropologist, historian and teacher. His answers range through history and across the world's cultures, from the personal to the philosophical to the political. Lily's questions are timeless. The answers add up to a classic. What is love? Why are families so difficult? How do we get justice? How well does democracy work? Who is God? What makes us individuals? Why are we here in the first place? Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781861977809
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