Bookpedia : Library : Genre : [Global:Letter]

ISBN: 9781593761509

ListPrice: 20.80

Edition: First Edition

Summary: True skepticism is an attitude of constant questioning, a mode of thinking Frederick Crews held so dear he applied it to Freudian psychoanalytic theory, an intellectual tradition he initially believed to be empirically sound. But as his examination of the logical structure and institutional history of psychoanalysis revealed ever more cracks in the field's empirical framework, Crews broke with Freudian theory, eventually labeling it the very model of a modern pseudoscience. This collection features essays chronicling his rejection of Freudian psychoanalysis and our recent recovered memory movement, including such controversial and widely quoted pieces as “The Unknown Freud” and “The Revenge of the Repressed.” Crews also tackles new subjects as diverse as UFO abduction reports, American Buddhism, contemporary literary criticism, and theosophy. A single theme animates these bracing and witty discussions: the temptation to reach for facile wisdom without attending to the little voice that asks, “How might I be deceiving myself here?”

ISBN: 0151008124

ListPrice: 26.00

Edition: First Edition

Translator: Martin McLaughlin

Summary: Umberto Eco is a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna and the bestselling author of Baudolino, The Name of the Rose, and numerous novels and essays. He lives in Milan. In this collection of essays and addresses delivered over the course of his illustrious career, Umberto Eco seeks "to understand the chemistry of [his] passion" for the word. From musings on Ptolemy and "the force of the false" to reflections on the experimental writing of Borges and Joyce, Eco's luminous intelligence and encyclopedic knowledge are on dazzling display throughout. And when he reveals his own ambitions and superstitions, his authorial anxieties and fears, one feels like a secret sharer in the garden of literature to which he so often alludes. Remarkably accessible and unfailingly stimulating, this collection exhibits the diversity of interests and the depth of knowledge that have made Eco one of the world's leading writers.