Showing results by publisher "Tantor Media" in Consciousness & Thought

Our ability to find meaning in things is one of the most important aspects of human life. But it is also one of the most mysterious. Where does meaning come from? What sorts of things have meaning? And how do we grasp the meaning others want to convey? Meaning: A Very Short Introduction is shaped by exploring possible answers to these questions.

In her latest book, In Praise of Listening, Christian McEwen reflects on listening (silence, music, nature, prayer) in a series of thoughtful chapters, each one focused on a different theme. When an athlete speaks of "listening to his body," or a gardener describes herself as "listening to the land," when writers and artists explain that they are "listening" to their work-in-progress, they are using the word as she chooses to use it here—as an extended metaphor for openness and receptivity, rippling out from the self-centered human to the farthest reaches of the non-human world.