Letters to Lilly: On How the World Works

by Alan Macfarlane

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

Genres: Philosophy, Anthropology, Nonfiction

ebook

First published March 31, 2005

About the author

Alan Macfarlane was born in Shillong, India, in 1941 and educated at the Dragon School, Sedbergh School, Oxford and London Universities. He is the author of over twenty books, including The Origins of English Individualism (1978) and Letters to Lily: On How the World Works (2005). He has worked in England, Nepal, Japan and China as both an historian and anthropologist. He was elected to the British Academy in 1986 and is now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.

Reviews

[Brit Cheung · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing feature of an author is an inevitable reflection of his or her （academic）background. The book is another example.

It is not so much a collection of letters to his granddaughter as an illustration on anthropology,sociology and basic philosophy,much in accordance with the author's stance as a historian and a professor.

Maybe it is indeed illuminous for teenagers and has procured “sensational influence in Britain （which l felt a bit dubious）” as said in the book introduction. I never deem myself as a 17 year old（her granddaughter's presumed age） or something girl despite being perhaps only a few years senior than that age for my self.
I rather consider what the book contains to be common sense. So farewell teenage times.

The book is like some sort of “sophie's world”? Except that It's primarily concerned with sociology and history and social questions rather than philosophy.

The Chinese translation version did a good job in reducing much pleasure in reading because I cannot find any “poetic” language in it.

Undesirable but Okay translation and the “propaganda” that “a must read for teenager” really spoiled my appetite. It just didn't get it that I just hate a “must” thing a lot.

The illuminating point of the book , if I need to say, is that it's not bad for real teenagers to understand some western cultures.

And what really strikes is that we （I）need to develop a sense of multidiscipline mindset. We need to allow ourselves to be more interdisciplinary by dabbling in knowledge of diverse backgrounds.

So a combination of an extensive reading on sociology, history, philosophy and literature works with science stuff would be favorable…

But too many books and too little time.
A dilemma indeed , isn't it?…

1.03.2016

[Raimo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the kind of book where you have to take a piece of paper with you before you start reading the book in hopes that once you've finished to book, you can actually remember something from this book, other than the fact that the author liked to visit a certain Nepalese village before he started writing this book. The text is written in a very simple way and is not really all that engaging, all-in-all, it is just a book based upon facts and life experiences the author knows best. I'm a history student, so it was pretty interesting to read this, but by the time I reached the final pages, I had little-to-no interest in the book...

[Matthew Gault · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written book. Letters To Lily should not be taken as a final answer to all the questions raised, but as a primer for further thought on a range of topics. In that respect this book serves its purpose well.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kuna see oli äärmiselt lihtsalt ja pealiskaudselt kirjutatud, siis ei olnud see väga põnev. Niisama sirvimiseks sobib kindlasti, kohustuslikus korras lugemisena ta mulle ei meeldinud.

[Nodar Baghishvili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice and easy to read book, good gleams on how and why thing work the way they do for young adults, highly recommended

[Merethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful introduction to a range of topics, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
It also has a website “attached” to it where you can look up any sources used, etc.

[Hui]

the All Walks version is more suitable and inspiring for me.

[Shaun · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not recommend this book! I can't not recommend it enough. It's packed with shoddy reasoning, flawed arguments, hippy-assumptions and cynical, sentimental bullshit!

Don't touch it unless you really, really, really like reading The Guardian, don't like logic much, and have no problem reading the phrase 'in a Nepalese village' every second sentence. That drove me nuts! If I ever read the phrase 'in a Nepalese village' again i'll go kill some damn Nepalese people. It's not even their fault!

[Natasa Tovornik · Rating 2 out of 5]

the title and the description sounded promissing, but the book was a bit of a dissappointment. Lily must be a clever girl to understand this high-academic thoughts. I thought it would be more down to earth.

[Brian Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series of letters written by a Cambridge historian/anthropologist to his granddaughter on the weird workings of the adult world.