Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
“İnce şeylerin hatırını gözeten” minima dizisi üçüncü kitabıyla yoluna devam ediyor.

Saydam olduğu varsayılan ve dolayısıyla üzerine pek düşünülmeyen yaygın bir nesne olarak camı irdeleyen John Garrison, düşüncenin alanını tek bir nesne üzerinde genişletme deneyine girişiyor bu kitapta. Tarih boyunca içinde bulunulan dönemin kültürüne göre farklı işlevlere ve anlamlara bürünmüş camın hep başka dünyalara pencereler açtığını yalın bir dille anlatıyor. Cam hakkındaki muhtelif tasvirler ile camın yeni etkileşimler için eşsiz bir vaat sunduğu iddiasında olan gelecek vizyonları arasında düşünce açısından ilham verici bağlantılar kuruyor. Kutsal metinlerden Shakespeare ve Rönensans'a, Azınlık Raporu ve Uzay Yolu gibi popüler bilimkurgu filmlerinden gelişen güncel interaktif teknolojilere uzanan örneklerle meramını somut bağlamlara oturtarak, gündelik dünyamızı her geçen gün daha da saran cama dair ufuk açıcı içgörüler sunuyor.

Kırılmadığı ya da çatlamadığı sürece camı nadiren düşünüyoruz, ama işte bu kitap bunun için iyi bir fırsat.

“[Cam] kendini bakmaya yarayan, içerdiklerine parlaklık katan, görüş alanımıza yerleşen ve farkına varıp etkileşime girmek zorunda olduğumuz bir şey olarak sunan bir maddenin özünü imbikten geçiriyor.”

- Julin Yates, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Bu harikulade kitap bizi bir nevi aynanın karşısına geçiriyor ve gündelik bir materyale bambaşka bir gözle bakmamızı sağlıyor.”

- Colin Milburn, California Davis Üniversitesi, İngilizce ve Bilim ve Teknoloji Çalışmaları Profesörü

120 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2015

6 people are currently reading
125 people want to read

About the author

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
11 (24%)
4 stars
15 (33%)
3 stars
15 (33%)
2 stars
4 (8%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
9 reviews3 followers
July 21, 2018
Garrison's short book--really an essay divided into sections--has been on my reading list for about a year. I finally got to it this summer and am so glad I did. In the best sense, it reminds me of the old literary essays by Eliot, Trilling, Heilbrun, and others that were meant both for scholars and for a general readership. It's beautifully written and illuminating. There are historical and cultural-literary aspects of the subject--glass as mirror, as barrier, as window--that I knew a bit about before, but here they are also tied to the long technological development of glass and its uses. The book also looks forward as well as back: In fact, just as I was finishing this excellent read, NPR did a piece on Corning and its new campaign, which suggests that, in light of fiber optics and interactive screens, we are just entering the Age of Glass. Read Garrison's book to see what that might mean.
20 reviews2 followers
July 16, 2019
I can’t think of many scholars who can move from Biblical texts, early modern literature, technological advances, cultural criticism, and pop culture with the acute insight and deftness that John Garrison carries this immensely engaging and provocative book. Highly recommend!
1 review
September 27, 2015
Garrison creates a blending of historic and contemporary themes in GLASS. For example, he compares Roland Barthes’ photograph of his mother as a young girl with Shakespeare’s Sonnet 3, which states, “You are thy mother’s glass and she is thee.”
This book includes such contemporary subjects as Corning’s “A Day Made of Glass,” which imagines the future of interactive glass; Google Glass, which was tested by celebrities and everyday people alike; and Microsoft’s HoloLens, which applied holograms to the real world. He also looks to science fiction films that utilized glass in various forms. These include, “Strange Days,” “Mission Impossible-Ghost Protocol” and “Minority Report.”
This book is rich in its research of glass. Garrison makes this everyday object provocative and wonderfully interesting. His writing is scholarly, while at the same time accessible and fun.
Profile Image for Alex.
593 reviews47 followers
January 22, 2016
Rather maddeningly scattershot, both in terms of content and quality of analysis. Some of it is very interesting, including historical usage of glass as a literary metaphor, but other sections feel more like an undergrad English essay stretching logical connections to the breaking point. The organization also feels somewhat incomprehensible at times, jumping between Biblical studies, film criticism, deep dives into specific Star Trek episodes (which probably get more play than the Bible), and a host of other oddball topics. I don't regret reading it, but given how all-over-the-place it is, I don't have much of a basis for recommending it, either.
Profile Image for James Townsend.
84 reviews4 followers
June 25, 2016
Grabbed this book on a whim when I wanted something new to read while traveling and this did not disappoint. Not exactly what I was expecting but a very fun and thought provoking read. Essentially a meditation on the role of glass in art, culture, and society with a lot of interesting insights. Also the perfect travel read in a lot of ways. I was able to read it in its entirety during a long day of plane travel. I would also probably pick up more books in this series.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.