Book Description
The Companion Species Manifesto is about the implosion of nature and culture in the joint lives of dogs and people, who are bonded in "significant otherness." In all their historical complexity, Donna Haraway tells us, dogs matter. They are not just surrogates for theory, she says; they are not here just to think with. Neither are they just an alibi for other themes; dogs are fleshly material-semiotic presences in the body of technoscience. They are here to live with. Partners in the crime of human evolution, they are in the garden from the get-go, wily as Coyote. This pamphlet is Haraway's answer to her own Cyborg Manifesto, where the slogan for living on the edge of global war has to be not just "cyborgs for earthly survival" but also, in a more doggish idiom, "shut up and train."
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, lively read!!!.......2007-01-04
This is a lovely, engaging short volume. It was just the right mix of theory and very pragmatic discussion to appeal to anyone from the reader who just plain loves dogs ... to those interested in better understanding contemporary scientific discourses.
Highly recommended.
A Social Metaphysics of Humans-in-Relation.......2006-11-07
The previous comment seems to me to miss the plot of Haraway's text. I don't mean to cause offense by saying this, but only to explain why I feel like I should write. The way I read this manifesto, Haraway is working to lay out a social metaphysics that takes relations with radical otherness as integral to and inseparable from any identity. Classical liberalist / modernist theory imagines humans as fundamentally discrete and fungible. This necessarily produces hostility to anything marked as other (e.g., women, dogs, nature, etc.). By drawing off her earlier cyborg theory, Whitehead's process metaphysics, and her own very intimate and concrete relationship with her beloved companion, Haraway is working to construct an intimate and concrete conceptual alternative. This is probably not a text that you would want to wander into without at least some previous (e.g., undergrad) introduction to 3rd wave feminist theory.
Dogs and Humans: The New Pack.......2006-01-22
The traditional contradictions found in relationships between human/nature, nature/machine, art/science, have no place in this work by Donna Haraway. In The Companion Species Manifesto (2003), Haraway spends a fair portion of the book in what seems to be a possible beginning of a future book; in honor of Foucault, she might name it "The Birth of the Kennel" (61). Haraway's distinctively postmodernist style gives voice to those groups who otherwise do not have any; she speaks mostly of dogs in the book but notes that the dog is really a metaphor, "Let the dog stand for all domestic plant and animal species, subjected to human intent in stories of escalating progress or destruction, according to taste" (28). The relationships between human and dog are seen as creating a new history, one that breaks down the traditionally bifurcated social construction among the species.
Humans more and more are defining themselves, their activity, and their lifestyle with dogs (companion species) in mind. This may be truer in Western cultures, but there is a curious "emergent natureculture" emanating in modern society, one that sees human-pet relations as central to one's being. Dogs are not only welcomed at some houses, they are expected, because they participate in the social structure we have created, a pack of humans and dogs with clearly delineated rules of social interaction and an equally clear, although often challenged hierarchy. The animals and humans interact within curious sets of relationships. Dogs and humans are certainly not the same species, no matter how large we define species as, but Haraway's attempt at deconstructing relationships and reconstructing them in terms of intra-specie relations is both creative and difficult to conjure. While this book was a good read, it seems incomplete at times and could use some further fleshing out of the logic and themes.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Women's Studies in Communication, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2007. The length of the article is 1166 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness.(Book review)
Author: Katie Williams
Publication:
Women's Studies in Communication (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 30
Issue: 1
Page: 145(4)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Product Description
A price guide is only as helpful as its prices are current. With this in mind, we offer a new fourth edition of Herbert Keans A Price Guide to Antique Tools, its prices taken from the latest live and internet auctions as well as from private sales. As before, there are over 12,000 prices (individual and chart combinations) that represent extraordinary tools, as well as those found in flea markets. There is an explanation for each tool group that allows the reader to judge the condition of a tool, the most critical of all factors when determining price. The chapter on American wooden planes covers over 400 makers, each graded with a single value number, a system that is at the same time simple and comprehensive. To help even more, almost every tool is illustrated with a photograph or line drawing. The section on internet prices explains the mechanisms of electronic auctions and gives tips for successful bidding. If you have ever wished that you could consult with an expert before investing in a tool, this is the book for you. It puts at your fingertips the knowledge and expertise of noted tool collector and dealer Herb Kean, both in determining current prices and in evaluating condition. Altogether, an invaluable book.
Book Description
Specially chosen for their eloquent simplicity, these elegant floral and geometrical designs — ranging from circular and oval to square and rectangular forms — are intended to enhance traditional transoms, sidelights, and door inserts, but can also be incorporated into various other craft projects. 100 black-and-white designs.
Customer Reviews:
appealing projects.......2007-05-17
I wish it came with the full patterns so I wouldn't have to have them enlarged.
Book Description
With the publication of Living A Beautiful Life, Alexandra Stoddard originated the idea of creating an atmosphere of beauty and tranquility with simple touches that turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. As a world-famous interior decorator, she has worked her magic on interiors large and small, from mansions and embassies to cottages and studio apartments. Through her writing and lectures, she has encouraged millions to brighten their lives and their homes by turning mundane tasks into small pleasurable rituals that add beauty and joy to everything they do. Alexandra Stoddard's secrets of Living A Beautiful Life are yours.
With the publication of Living A Beautiful Life, Alexandra Stoddard originated the idea of creating an atmosphere of beauty and tranquillity with simple touches that turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.
As a world-famous interior decorator, she has worked her madic on interiors large and small, from mansions and embassies to cottages and studio apartments. Though her writing and lectures, she has encouraged millions to brighten their lives and their homes by turning mundane tasks into small pleasurable rituals that add beauty and joy to everything they do. Alexandra Stoddard's secrets of Living A Beautiful Life are yours.
Customer Reviews:
Life is what you make of it.......2007-02-26
I read this book when I was a newlywed about 10 years ago. It was inspiring then and it is inspiring now. For those who comment that her suggestions are fluffy and out of touch, I say take these suggestions with a grain of salt. This is not a precise checklist on how to live well. You don't need to do things exactly the way she says. The whole point of the book is to make a day-to-day activity - however bothersome, meaningless, or mundane - a ritual. And that means making it special and enjoyable in whatever way you can, even if it is just decorating that shoebox where you store all of your bills that need to be paid.
She advocates living on a higher plane. Making things enjoyable and memorable involves all of your senses and can prevent you from the frustrating feeling that life is passing you by.
Needless to say, I enjoyed reading this book and it can be very inspiring to those who just want to make their environment a little nicer.
Fascinating, a slower tempo, it's up to your imagination.......2007-01-15
I came back to these descriptions and reviews to try and discover which of the Stoddard books to give my younger sister-in-law as she begins looking into interior design. But I was so struck by the negativity of some of these reviews given what I remember getting out of these books when I bought them. I am not a wealthy person by any means, but Alexandra Stoddard's ideas are anything BUT "out of touch with reality."
So let me write a review that'll tell other people what to expect so they don't experience what I did when I came back. In the three books that I own, including this one, Stoddard's ideas are generally pretty practical. And with a little imagination on my part, I made them work for my budget. For example, I can't afford a crystal decanter set, but I can go to Bed Bath and Beyond during an end-of-season sale and buy a plastic pitcher (in a pretty color) to use on a plastic tray in order to refresh myself as I work at night in my arm chair.
I suggest that anyone who reads Stoddard should listen to what she's saying instead of looking at the price tags on her own personal choices. Stoddard's the first person who even made me aware of "swivel rockers," and consequently, you can get an entire set very cheaply at JCPenney and in nice upholstery too.
In one of her books, she discusses using a mini-refrigerator in her bedroom so she doesn't have to go downstairs for breakfast on certain weekend mornings. At first it sounds pretty extravagant. But you can also re-interpret this on a budget by trying a miniature tea or coffee maker in your own room, the way you might have seen it in hotels. Or even ask a friend to get you such a thing as a present for Christmas or your birthday if you can't afford it. Her books really stress the need for self-care, sometimes it isn't about buying what's necessary and sometimes you have to put your own well-being above other necessary items, or you get bitter, hostile and angry.
So, while we can't all fit the mini-fridge into our budget (or our tiny rooms) and wake up to fresh cold milk and cereal in bed, come on folks -- you can get some great ideas with these books ... if you just use your imagination.
What if you can't afford a personal florist to send you flowers every week or month? You can certainly round up some from your lawn. Don't have a lawn because you live in an apartment complex? How about a park? There are pine cones and other wonders just waiting to come home for arrangement. Sad that it's not a dozen roses every week? Hey, it's something natural and beautiful in your home and that's a start.
The worst thing a reviewer can do is put down an author's book because they actually lack the imagination to riff off the ideas at their own level of income.
Four Stars:
This book could be more user-friendly and address lower-class decorating concerns. While it is unquestionably high-class and at-first-glance talks with high price tags; it is also classy and it will teach you a lot about how to make your home a comfortable and protective nest against the bitter world.
P.S. I'm now going to read the three books I do own, so I can actually recall which is the best "starter" book to give a novice interior designer...
Out of Touch with Reality.......2005-10-06
Thank goodness I didn't pay for this book, I checked it out of the library. The edition I read was published in 1986. Maybe that was how it was 20 years ago, but this kind of elegance and beauty is not realistic for today's society. The only reason I read through most of the book was because it made me laugh at the ridiculousness of it. This stuffy author's idea of suffering (when she was a college student) was skipping lunch so she could afford to buy a single purple hyacinth. Between her vacations in the South of France to her imported parchment and face creams, this author is out of touch with reality. One of the funniest ideas to me, is to have your local tailor re-cover your sleeping pillows with fresh muslin? and re-juvinate the down. Whaaat? I don't know about you, but I can't relate to an author who "retires" for the evening putting on a new flannel nightgown, and a clean pastel floral bathrobe (lined in terrycloth) to a set of fresh turqouise and pink sheets on the bed and tops it off buy calling a florist and having a purple hyacinth sent over as opposed to someone who just goes to bed. Good grief!
on the road to elegance..........2005-03-28
This book has brought some necessary healing to me during a time of repair in my life. They say "stop and smell the roses". Stoddard's writings move one into a space where that is much more possible. Her style is above philosophical. It is therapeutic and I recommend it to anyone who has a need for centering. Also, if you are too busy to appreciate the rhythm of her writing, I would suggest you slow down for a moment each day. It's just plain healthy. Meditate and imagine that you are in a world where you can control the pace and tone.
Thank you, Alexandra. You've given me a breath of fresh air and a new appreciation for my mother and the little things she does. I am enjoying to moment again.
I think its an attitude thing.......2005-01-17
I read this book in l995 before there were so many decorating
shows on TV. This worked for me so well because I came out
of a home where these kinds of things were not taught. It
was a primer for "gracious living". I'm not saying I learned
to do everything in the book...but it set a tone, a pattern
that has helped me along.
Perhaps the most important thing was to help set a homey
feel in my life. I'd been single for more than 18 years and
didn't know how to properly nurture myself, much less another.
Using some of these tips, I began the process. Was it just
a miracle that I met my husband-to-be within 2 months? I don't
know..but we're starting our 10th year together. I see
Alexandra as part of that home healing path for me. Not everyone
needs this book, but for those who do, I think she does
a great job.
Book Description
Eating. Sleeping. Bathing. Chores. These are the things we do every day, yet few of us stop to consider how we perform the routines that occupy 95 percent of our lives: in chaos or serenity, with irritation or with joy.
Here, in one elegant, copious and forever rereadable book, Alexandra Stoddard shows how to live a more beautiful, more ordered life, every single day. Drawing on the wisdom of Emerson, Samuel Johnson, Rilke and many others and warmed by Alexandra Stoddard's personal anecdotes, this book deals with life both philosophically and practically -- from discovering the sources of your well-being to buying the right stationery or sheets; from using solitude to replenish your spirit to using fabrics, ribbon, paper and your own five senses to transform your daily life.
Living a Beautiful Life demonstrates how to use the ordinary in extraordinary ways, suggesting hundreds of techniques for turning dull, irritating routines into life-enhancing rituals; hundreds of simple ways to transform your days -- or your bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and desk -- into delights of beauty and efficiency. There's a marvelous trick for locating the perfect psychological spot for your bed, a quick way to use "remembrance of things past" to choose color schemes that suit you, suggestions for how to turn a fifteen-minute lunch break into a restorative experience. And throughout, Alexandra Stoddard shows how taking care of "the little things" can ultimately add up to a change in the big things.
Most of all, Living a Beautiful Life reveals how a beautiful life can be achieved; how daily motions become truly satisfying patterns of pleasure; and how these patterns of pleasure can add up to a life lived deeply and well, transforming even the most cluttered and hectic existence.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Have!.......2007-06-10
Alexandra Stoddard is a breath of fresh air for me. Any time I am feeling down or blue I pick up this book "Living a beautiful life", and I instantly smile. Everyone should have this book.
Get this one! Own it! Keep it always!.......2007-03-25
I first read this book in 1988, when I had been married only one year. The grace notes helped me realize that, even on a meager budget, I could love my surroundings. A friend and I went through the entire book and did every single thing we could afford to do - and it was a blast! I passed the book around to my mom, and sisters who each ended up with a "beautiful life" too. It's nearly twenty years later, and I still recommend this book to anyone who wants to add a little flair to every space in their life - even the inside of the fridge! I will have fun reading this to my daughters in the coming years. If I could, I'd thank Ms. Stoddard myself!
A classic lifestyle guide.......2003-09-05
As a former working mother (working outside the home, I mean), I am grateful for books like these. Having been raised by one of the first working mothers in the 1970s, I didn't learn all the skills of homecaring, or the little niceties that make like more enjoyable and beautiful for myself and my family. Like one of the guys, I was sent out into the world of business and expected to compete there. I did, but I was miserable and felt something was missing from life.
A good friend gave me this book as a gift -- and what a perfect gift it was, at the time I most needed it. Yes, the ideas are simple, and perhaps, to some, this whole domestic goddess thing can be "syrupy" as one reviewer put it. So sue me -- but I love being at home, love rediscovering what it's like to live like a human being, not a "human doing", and to make my home a place of beauty. I love this book, and plan to give it to other women like myself, and I will be looking for more like it!
A very enlightening and fun read!.......2001-05-09
I felt obligated to post my review because, as cheesy as it may sound, Alexandra Stoddard's book, Living A Beautiful Life, actually changed my life -- for the better. I'll agree that all of the Grace Notes are not for everyone -- they are merely suggestions. Neither do I try and do everything that she recommends. But she did succeed at getting me to look at life and its daily routine in a different way. She's also introduced me to wonderful authors, such as Madeleine L'Engle. Alexandra's writing has helped me to live a more beautiful life "in the moment" by appreciating every blessing and using every moment to add more beauty to it. Now I try and celebrate every little aspect of life, if possible, by not keeping anything mundane. My life greatly reflects my passion for life and I am now more aware of the beauty involved in simple existence. Alexandra has written other great books (which have helped me tremendously) on relationships, family, interior decorating, the lost art of letter writing, etc. Remember, it's all about what works for you. I'm currently collecting Alexandra's books and highly recommend them all. Alexandra, thank you very much. By sharing your passion, you give a wonderful gift. :)
Alexandra out-Marthas Martha.......2000-07-23
I bought this book years ago when the cover was different, and it cost only $12.95 in paperback, and I still use it for ideas, although some of them are a little off-the wall or even impractical for me. It's the kind of book where there is a culture clash with some of the things she suggests: "Put strawberries in a bowl and leave two, with stems on, on the table next to the bowl.." Why? Or "Put eggs in an old wire basket." Well, I'm afraid they won't last too long like that, and with the organic eggs I buy costing over $2,00 a dozen, it's the height of impracticality for me. Then there's "Make lobster, avocado, and wild rice salad for a picnic." Two problems: a) tell me how, and b) maybe this is no problem for a New Yorker or Connecticut resident, but for a landlocked Oklahoman that's a mighty pricey picnic! Statements like these make her seem very Martha Stewart, like she's from another world. Certainly not mine, anyway.Still, there are many, many parts of her book where she makes perfect sense, such as buying in season, and that people buy too much food, and taking the television out of the bedroom is a great idea I've completely taken to heart! So to sum up, this book that gives you food for thought, if you don't choke on some of the grace notes!
Customer Reviews:
A Relaxing Read.......2000-02-10
I am a newlywed...married 3 months and I found this book to put alot of things in perspective for me. Ms. Stoddard encourages you to take time out and invest quality time in YOURSELF, which I have always believed to be important, I just didn't know how to convince my husband! This book helped me find those words! Once you have yourself taken care of, then you can concentrate on your relationship and it will THRIVE! My only complaint is Ms. Stoddard writes as if we ALL live in Manhattan and drink cappucinos everyday...I found her comments like that throughout the book to be annoying and assuming. Overall, the book makes sense....and has made me a more relaxed person!
We Can All Live Beautifully Together.......2000-01-04
Alexandra Stoddard has become a sort of guru to my husband and me over the years. Her advice is inspirational, and she is full of suggestions to add beauty to your life in many different ways, some simple, some involving more commitment. Reading her books, and this one in particular, has changed how we view our home and our relationships. The added "Grace Notes" on every page are culled from a wide variety of sources and never cease to be interesting. I have given Ms. Stoddard's books to many, many friends and family.
Good read with a cup of tea........1999-12-29
This is an enjoyable, relaxing read. It reminds us how we should enjoy life and how nice it is to be respectful and caring to others. A Sarah Ban Breathnach fan would love this.
Tremendous gift for a bride.......1997-03-23
Described as a philosopher of contemporary life-style, Alexandra Stoddard hits the nail on the head with her enthusiasm for finding and celebrating the joy of being in a relationship with someone. She's practical, and her suggestions are achievable. I enjoy reading this book - have done so many times. Sort of a yearly retreat for me
Books:
- The Complete Book of Saltwater Fishing
- The Complete Pekingese (Essential)
- The Dog's Mind: Understanding Your Dog's Behavior (Howell Reference Books)
- The Essential Cockatiel (Essential (Howell))
- The Friesian Horse
- The Guide to Owning a Pembroke Welsh Corgi (Guide to Owning A...)
- The Hidden Life Of Dogs
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds (Illustrated Encyclopedias (Booksales Inc))
- The Information Commons Handbook
- The Nature of Animal Healing : The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- How to Heal a Broken Heart in 30 Days: A Day-by-Day Guide to Saying Good-bye and Getting On With You
- Gabe
- Atlas of Human Chromosome Heteromorphisms
- Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
- Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice
- Complete Idiot's Guide to Turtles & Tortoises
- The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal
- Architecture and Landscape: The Design Experiment of the Great European Gardens and Landscapes
- The Bee's Kiss: A Detective Joe Sandlands Mystery
General
| Dogs
| Animal Care & Pets
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature
The Haraway Reader
The Lives of Animals (The University Center for Human Values Series)
The Open: Man and Animal
Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and Posthumanist Theory
