orlywelch's review against another edition
5.0
Great read! Was on both my English and Philosophy reading lists, and incredibly enjoyable/interesting.
rberenguel's review against another edition
4.0
It gets eventually too philosophical for my tastes, but the first chapters are brilliantly mind-bending. You’d see the world in a different light after reading them
possumlover's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Language is weird.
At first, it seems like something neutral, just another tool humans use to communicate. But if you look closer, you'll see hints at a scheme. Words are defined solely in terms of other words, never in terms of things outside of language. It's all self containing. A conspiracy.
Once you realize this, you also realize that we have no idea what we are talking about, and nowhere is this as evident as in our constant use of metaphor. Metaphors are pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in our thoughts and actions. Our entire conceptual system is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. Some examples:
Once you realize this, you also realize that we have no idea what we are talking about, and nowhere is this as evident as in our constant use of metaphor. Metaphors are pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in our thoughts and actions. Our entire conceptual system is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. Some examples:
Time is money. You’re wasting my time. This gadget will save you hours. I don’t have the time to give
you. How do you spend your time these days? That flat tire cost me an hour. I’ve invested a lot of time in
this project. He’s living on borrowed time.
Argument is war. Your claims are indefensible. He attacked every weak point in my argument. His criticisms were right on target. I demolished his argument. I’ve never won an argument with him. If you use that strategy, he’ll wipe you out. He shot down all my arguments.
Even calling someone sweetie or honey goes back to a dated metaphor of women as dessert.
But what if was something else? Imagine a society in which time is a river. Or time is food. You eat time, or maybe you save it for later. What if argument was dance? Each of these are just as valid as time is money and argument is war, and many cultures use alternative metaphors such as these.
This all forces us to see the often forgotten agenda of language. Language is not just a way in which we describe ideas and actions, but a force that influences our fundamental thinking.
Powerful book, though potentially outdated in some areas.
tybo's review against another edition
1.0
I rarely put down a book because I disagree with it, but with this one I couldn't finish the first chapter. Lakoff tries to make the point that "argument" is a metaphor for "war". This is a horrible example as both words are terms for specific kinds of conflict. Of course the words describing one can be exchanged for the other. They are two specifics, subcategories of the larger category "conflict". The book seems to get worse from there. This book is just self-aggrandizing pomposity disguised as mind blowing linguistics.
vasilisniaouris's review against another edition
3.0
The concepts the book tries to convey are pretty interesting, but it feels like the author repeats themselves a lot. Additionally, the examples are only in English, which makes the arguments of this book weaker.
cstack's review against another edition
2.0
There are some good ideas buried in here, but it wanders off into nonsense during most chapters (e.g. uniting the metaphors of "an argument is a journey" and "an argument is a container" by the fact that they share a "depth-defining surface" that extrudes as the argument progresses)
alfia's review against another edition
4.0
An exploration into how we construct our world view. From the most elemental assumptions about what is up, down, in front of, beneath, inside and outside us, to how we view time and the progression of life (is it a journey?, which way is the future?), to how we encase each other in metaphoric veils, sparkles, boxes, and toxins - this book gives you, at the very least, some idea of the scope of our cognitive imaginations.