The Life of Lines

by Tim Ingold

To live, every being must put out a line, and in life these lines tangle with one another. This book is a study of the life of lines. Following on from Tim Ingold's groundbreaking work A Brief History , it offers a wholly original series of meditations on life, ground, weather, walking, imagination and what it means to be human. This compelling volume brings our thinking about the material world refreshingly back to life. While anchored in anthropology, the book ranges widely over an interdisciplinary terrain that includes philosophy, geography, sociology, art and architecture.

Genres: Anthropology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory

184 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2015

About the author

Tim Ingold (born 1948) is a British social anthropologist, currently Chair of Social Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen. He was educated at Leighton Park School and Cambridge University. He is a fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His bibliography includes The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill, Routledge, 2000, which is a collection of essays, some of which had been published earlier.

Reviews

[Camila Ausente]

Hermoso e incomprensible. En mi cabeza, constantemente un: ¿Qué es esto que estoy leyendo? / inclasificable, libre. Súper abstracto. Pero algo ahí se queda sobre observar y conectar (líneas, ¡líneas!) y pensar el mundo “con” (a diferencia de un “desde”). Lo pongo en el cajón de los que van más allá de la forma, o buscan la forma propia de lo que escriben-piensan.
Bello.

[Stephanie]

Wow, this book really helped me understand what is going on out there, really. It's about the nature of reality. We are growing up out of the earth, mingling with the atmosphere and connected to everything in ways the author describes quite clearly.

[Dane Radigan]

A very high 4. What a fascinating book that I do not quite know how to understand in whole. Quite philosophical and abstract, but the amount of pictures that were acutely painted throughout this entire book, constantly building upon the prior, created beautiful images that could be held onto. Read this for Wirzba's class to build ideas of the interconnectedness of all things

[Ingrid]

Simply love that way of thinking. Mindblowing. Must-read for anybody willing to think outside the usual boxes.

[Hernán Damián]

Es un libro importantísimo para entender el panorama de la antropología contemporánea