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Review
“Robinson''s arguments [are] so much more interesting, capacious, and informed than most. . . . Robinson makes a strong, unapologetic case, not for mystery but for self-respect.”—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times
(Susan Salter Reynolds Los Angeles Times 20100529)"There is much to admire, and even to agree with, in Robinson''s humanist passion. Her defense of the insights to be gained from religion and literature is as convincing as her attacks on the facile generalizations of parascience."--Adam Kirsch, Boston Globe (Adam Kirsch Boston Globe 20100423)
"Pulitzer Prize-winner Robinson may be the only living novelist who has made a genuine contribution to philosophical reflection. . . . One of the most thought-stirring inquiries into fundamental questions that has appeared in many years."--John Gray, Globe & Mail
(John Gray Globe & Mail 20100605)“[Robinson] is one of the best thinkers in American letters. Her new (nonfiction) work is a slashing attack on scientific fundamentalism, not on behalf of religion but of human consciousness and our traditional concept of mind.”--Maclean’s
(Maclean's 20100609)"[Robinson] makes the case with exceptional elegance and authority--the authority not only of one of the unmistakably great novelists of the age but of a clear and logical mind that is wholly intolerant of intellectual cliché. . . . This book has a greater density (and sophistication) of argument than many three times its length; but it is one of the most significant contributions yet to the current quarrels about faith, science and rationality."—Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Daily Telegraph
"Robinson is one of the greatest Christian thinkers alive today. She is also one of the world''s best novelists. . . . Absence of Mind is a slim but compelling volume."—Luke Coppen, Catholic Herald
(Luke Coppen Catholic Herald ) “Marilynne Robinson asks hard questions. She challenges readers with a severe, sophisticated and spellbinding style and a determination to change the conversation about contemporary American culture. . . . Absence of Mind is important not so much as a brief for religion but as a tenacious and often trenchant critique of modern Western thought.”—Glenn Altschuler, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
(Glenn Altschuler Minneapolis Star-Tribune ) “What Robinson has over both the parascientific writers whose work she rejects and the religion writers with whom she finds common ground is a long career (though few books) as a fiction writer, where she has demonstrated—and in her way, provided evidence of—the very contemplative, subjective lives of the faithful she defends in her new book.”—Scott Korb, The Revealer
(Scott Korb The Revealer )"These impassioned pages require and reward very close attention."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post
(Michael Dirda Washington Post )
"[Robinson reveals] how deep a debt both science and religion owe to art. . . . It is a rare treat to have a novelist express herself so forcefully, and so eloquently, in another medium."—Ingrid Rowland, American Scholar
(Ingrid Rowland American Scholar )
"The scope of Robinson''s erudition is stunning, and she shares it with generosity and no dissembling."—Linda McCullough Moore, Books & Culture
(Linda McCullough Moore Books & Culture )
"Marked by a luminous intelligence and a rather attractive intellectual severity. . . . One really must read it to appreciate how powerful a counterinsurgency it mounts against many of the peculiar superstitions of our age."—David B. Hart, Big Questions Online
(David B. Hart Big Questions Online )
"Robinson applies her astute intellect to . . . science, religion and consciousness. Crafted with the same care and insight as her award-winning novels, the book challenges postmodern atheists who crusade against religion under the banner of science."—Washington Times
(Washington Times )"Following the inward-looking path of her award-winning fiction, Marilynne Robinson''s Absence of Mind is a finely wrought treatise in favour of religious belief."—Chris Lehmann, The National
(Chris Lehmann The National )"This is a wonderful little book, full of wisdom, warmth and wit. . . . [Robinson] is able to apply her astute intellect, delicious sense of humour, incisive insight into human nature and down-to-earth philosophy of life."—Mark Patrick Hederman, Irish Times
(Mark Patrick Hederman IrishTimes )"I''m enjoying arguing and agreeing with Marilynne Robinson''s Absence of Mind."— Zadie Smith, The Observer
(Zadie Smith The Observer )
"Robinson''s argument is prophetic, profound, eloquent, succinct, powerful and timely." — Karen Armstrong, The Guardian
(Karen Armstrong The Guardian )
"I have barely scratched the surface of this dense and yet endlessly entertaining little book. Marilynne Robinson is herself the best evidence of her own thesis--the exceptional mystery of the human mind." — Bryan Appleyard, Literary Review
(Bryan Appleyard Literary Review )
"I enjoyed reading Absence of Mind. The reason: it is always a pleasure to keep company with a person who takes ideas seriously." — Siri Hustvedt, Financial Times
(Siri Hustvedt Financial Times )"It is worth admiring Robinson''s bravery and intellectual independence, and noting the sheer force and capacity of language like hers to persuade." — Geordie Williamson, The Australian
(Geordie Williamson The Australian )
"A book of dense philosophy from a brilliant novelist with a poet''s ear. It is stunning. It places Robinson among the very brightest of Christian history''s thinkers and writers. . . . I cannot praise it too highly."—Kurt Armstrong, Christian Week
(Kurt Armstrong Christian Week )
“This deeply informed essay affirms mystery, imagination and wonder against the 19th-century remnants of positivism still delimiting the human in the name of a reduced and reductive science.”—San Francisco Chronicle
(San Francisco Chronicle )Named a Best Book of 2010--Globe & Mail, "2010 Globe 100"
(Globe & Mail )"Readers interested in seriously thinking about science, culture, and religion, and their interrelationships, will find this book rewarding."—S. C. Pearson, CHOICE
(S. C. Pearson CHOICE )"One of the best things about the literature of the New Atheists is that, for all the supercilious question-begging, it has provoked a number of highly literate and memorable responses. This is one of them."—Barton Swaim, The Weekly Standard
(Barton Swaim The Weekly Standard )"Absense of Mind is a succinct and carefully reasoned challenge to those who would say that all our thoughts, beliefs, aspirations, and intimations of immortality are only a combination of wishful thinking and outdated primitive beliefs."—Dr. Jean McCurdy Meade, The Living Church
(Jean McCurdy Meade The Living Church )"Marilynne Robinson is one of those rare novelists whose work, though galvanized by a theological impulse, is adored by believers and atheists in equal measure. . . . We experience [her characters''] interiority almost as naturally as our own, and respond to it emotionally, intellectually, even spiritually. Robinson''s latest collection, Absence of Mind, gets to the hear of that creative force, while reminding us what little heed she pays intellectual fashion."—Stefan Beck, The New Criterion
(Stefan Beck The New Criterion )
Product Description
In this ambitious book, acclaimed writer Marilynne Robinson applies her astute intellect to some of the most vexing topics in the history of human thought—science, religion, and consciousness. Crafted with the same care and insight as her award-winning novels, Absence of Mind challenges postmodern atheists who crusade against religion under the banner of science. In Robinson’s view, scientific reasoning does not denote a sense of logical infallibility, as thinkers like Richard Dawkins might suggest. Instead, in its purest form, science represents a search for answers. It engages the problem of knowledge, an aspect of the mystery of consciousness, rather than providing a simple and final model of reality.
By defending the importance of individual reflection, Robinson celebrates the power and variety of human consciousness in the tradition of William James. She explores the nature of subjectivity and considers the culture in which Sigmund Freud was situated and its influence on his model of self and civilization. Through keen interpretations of language, emotion, science, and poetry, Absence of Mind restores human consciousness to its central place in the religion-science debate. (20100613)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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3.7 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
94 of 116 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Affirmation of mind, April 20 2010
By R. Taggart - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (Hardcover)
In quintessential Robinsonian non-fiction style (intelligent, well-read, affirmative, sarcastic), Marilynne Robinson refutes an atheism which posits itself as scientific. The book is not a vindication of religion or of theology, per se, but rather a rejection of what Robinson calls the "parascientific" nature of writings which seek to deny much of human experience. It is an affirmation of the complexity of the mind and of existence. My least favorite chapter was "The Freudian Self," but it was insightful in its own right. "The Strange History of Altruism" and "Thinking Again" were both very good. Fans of Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett will find something worth considering in this tendentious yet radiant prose.
54 of 71 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
In Defense of Consciousness, Jun 27 2010
By David Cook "David L. Cook, author: Visual Fit... - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (Hardcover)
It could be argued that like the American constitution, Culture relies for it's checks and balances on three branches: science, the humanities, and religion. Unbalanced, religion falters into inquisitions and holy wars; science, into eugenics and bell curves; the humanities, into übermenchen and madmen. As Aristotle's virtues rested in moderation, as Buddhism clings to the middle way, so must Culture find and maintain its equilibrium. At present, however, this equilibrium is disturbed. While hard science transforms matter into miracles, soft science maligns philosophy and religion, transforming the miracle of mind into matter if not dust, banishing the supernatural while highlighting the unnatural--the twentieth century having witnessed the ultimate flourishing of unnatural death to date.ABSENCE OF MIND: the Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self by Pulitzer prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson provides a thoughtful case helping to restore cultural balance. She coins parascience to describe the theories of "self-declared rationalists" spreading the gospel of "objectivity" to reduce people into objects. The reasoning of her polemic is acute as she vivisects arguments to sweep aside the cultural wonders of consciousness and the human mind. She ridicules "the assumption that humankind is itself fearful, irrational, deluded and self-deceived, excepting, of course these missionaries of enlightenment [the parascientists themselves]." Always brilliant, Robinson is at times ironic, at times laugh-aloud funny. Her wit, intelligence and incisiveness seriously contest the notion that those disguising themselves in the wool of science have any monopoly on reason, logic or truth. At its best, her prose captures the consciousness of self and what it means to be human.
ABSENCE OF MIND is four chapter defense of the human mind: "On Human Nature," exposes and criticizes modernity's theme that the mind, beguiled by evolutionary forces and a paucity of perception, cannot be trusted. " The Strange History of Altruism," questions the tendency to rationalize and spirit away human compassion on the wings of insect models. "The Freudian Self", places Freud's sexually- beleaguered unconscious mind (again, a mind discrediting human thought) in the social context of the hysteria and denial engendered by antisemitic, pre-holocaust Europe. Finally "Thinking Again" argues for the primacy of the "history of human thought" and its "ancient instinct" to ask the "greatest questions," a glory that cannot be reduced or constrained by the inadequate, parochial theories of parascience, a term that deserves to find its way into the common vocabulary of our culture, separating the dregs of ideology from the fine wine of science.
70 of 93 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Take That, Reverend Paley, May 11 2010
By Ben B. Barnes "analog geezer" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (Hardcover)
This little volume by an accomplished novelist ("Gilead," "Housekeeping," "Home") is her erudite and intriguing venture into philosophy and metaphysics, taking the Good Housekeeping broom to the likes of Freud and Nietzsche while seeming to be cautiously protective of spirituality in general, Descartes and Jung in particular.The work, published by Yale Press, consists of four loosely coupled essays, any one of which can stand alone, titled "On Human Nature," "The Strange History of Altruism," "The Freudian Self," and "Thinking Again."
In attempting to find a pithy phrase to convey the thrust of Robinson's work, I am of necessity reduced to oversimplification. Suffice it to say she agrees with the position which I believe has been stated repeatedly and effectively by Professor Seale, that science is only a tool which we use to chip away at the shadows, never an end or a solution in itself.
One of Robinson's paragraphs may replace Mark Twain's account of Tom whitewashing the fence as my favorite ever. From "Thinking Again:"
". . . What is man? One answer on offer is, An organism whose haunting questions perhaps ought not to be meaningful to the organ that generates them, lacking as it is in any means of "solving" them. Another answer might be, It is still too soon to tell. We might be the creature who brings life on this planet to an end, and we might be the creature who awakens to the privileges that inhere in our nature - selfhood, consciousness, even our biologically anomalous craving for "the truth" - and enjoys and enhances them. Mysteriously, neither possibility precludes the other. . . ."
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