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A Language Older Than Words
 
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A Language Older Than Words (Paperback)

by Derrick Jensen (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 25.95
Price: CDN$ 16.35 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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A Language Older Than Words + The Culture of Make Believe + As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial
Total List Price: CDN$ 76.95
Price For All Three: CDN$ 50.34

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  • This item: A Language Older Than Words by Derrick Jensen

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  • The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen

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  • As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial by Derrick Jensen

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Singular, compelling and courageously honest, this book is more than just a poignant memoir of a harrowingly abusive childhood. It relates the extraordinary journey of one man striving to save his own spirit and our planet's. Comparing his physically and sexually abusive father's destruction of his family with humankind's systematic destruction of civilization, New York Times Magazine contributor Jensen (Listening to the Land) tells a story about the hope for regeneration in a landscape of human and natural desolation. Throughout, Jensen mobilizes his experiences as student, teacher, environmentalist, beekeeper, high jumper, abused child and survivor to delve deeper inside his own wounded psyche while condemning the constrictions of a culture that fosters abuse. In lyrical prose, Jensen calls for accountability and urges people "to live in dynamic equilibrium with the rest of the world." Rather than na?vely proposing an answer to the ills of modernity, he demonstrates the complexity of the problems by examining an array of environmental and sociopolitical atrocities, including the Holocaust, and what he sees as the reckless production of plutonium to further space exploration and the maltreatment of indigenous peoples by self-serving neighbors. His visceral, biting observations always manage to lead back to his mantra: "Things don't have to be the way they are." Jensen's book accomplishes the rare feat of both breaking and mending the reader's heart. 15,000 first printing; 10-city author tour. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


The San Francisco Chronicle

"a powerful document of what it feels like to be a sensitive person living in a savage epoch of greed, violence, inequality and pointlessness." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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A Language Older Than Words
61% buy the item featured on this page:
A Language Older Than Words 4.7 out of 5 stars (51)
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Customer Reviews

51 Reviews
5 star:
 (45)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (51 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars Aren't Enough, Dec 11 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: A Language Older Than Words (Paperback)
_A Language Older Than Words_ is one of the best books I have ever read. Derrick Jensen is without a doubt my favorite author of all time, and I highly recommend all of his books.

_A Language Older Than Words_ is written in a unique style which blends Derrick Jensen's personal experiences, conversations with other authors and activists, critical cultural analysis, as well as historical and contemporary events and facts to back up his analysis.

If you are concerned with domestic violence, ecological destruction, how civilization is responsible for both, and where we should look for answers, then this is a book for you.

No other author has contributed more to the way I view the natural world, civilization, and this culture in particular than Derrick Jensen. I recommend all his books, but I think _A Language Older Than Words_ is probably the best of his books to start with.

_A Language Older Than Words_ is written in a very non-linear conversational style. What at first appears like unrelated tangents are masterfully woven into a complex vision of how the silencing of the natural world is related to the silencing of the oppressed and abused. Intertwined with those concepts are gut wrenching first hand accounts of both, as well as other attrocities in the culture at large. But while there is much that is dark, the book on a whole shows a hopeful path to reconnection with ourselves and the natural world.

I first read _A Language Older Than Words_ a few years ago, and I have continually lent my copy to friends, and recommended it to everyone I know. If there is any hope for humanity, and any hope that the natural world won't be completely decimated, I think some of the wisdom in this book will help guide the way.

The reason that I love this book the most is because it is intensely personal in the way that it is written, in the subjects that are discussed, and what the author reveals about himself. Derrick Jensen's cultural criticism and analysis is not some abstract intellectualized theory, but rather put together and put forth in a very down to earth and easy to grasp way. He pulls no punches, and is willing to go against cultural convention when necessary to speak what the pepetrators of abuse (domestic, ecological, economic, social, and political) would have us all remain silent about.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Transformational!, Dec 10 2003
By Nita Crabb (Harrisburg, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Language Older Than Words (Paperback)
Derrick Jensen is a master storyteller who skillfully weaves his own heartbreaking and heart-mending experiences together with a courageous and careful analysis of modern civilization and it's many causes and casualties. Jensen explores some of humankind's deepest and most personal questions and leads each of us to find our own answers by empowering and challenging us to simply turn to the natural world and ask. If you can put this book down, you will pick it up again (and again and again). You will be changed.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Reality, Nov 16 2003
This book is a great inspiration to anyone. The sadness of what humanity has done to the Earth with bring to the surface your guilt. It is not too late though. Derrick Jensen is a beautiful writer. His research is outstanding. Read this book and all of his work. He is a master at what he does. You will realize that there are other people out there that think the same way as you.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Pointless, yet avant garde diatribe
Jensen has a slew of problems and decides that the entire world works the way his childhood did. As an abused child who doesn't actually become a sentient person until his later... Read more
Published on Dec 5 2003 by Sarah Haroldsen

5.0 out of 5 stars I jolt to the spirit!!
I want to thank Derrick for writing this inspiring book. I give him a lot of credit for his honesty; for the ideas contained inside are connected with so many aspects of his life,... Read more
Published on Jul 10 2003 by Amy Davis

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking
This book is bound to challenge some of your deepest assumptions in life. Derrick's ultimate advice -- "Listen. Read more
Published on April 11 2003 by chaitanya pullela

5.0 out of 5 stars the truth about everything we dont want to know
Excellent book. Anyone with an interest in social justice or environmental issues should read this book. Check the facts-- Jensen is right on. Read more
Published on Mar 26 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars This is a GREAT book
This is definitely one of my all-time favorite books for its raw and uncensored examination of the world's problems. Read more
Published on Feb 7 2003 by j_dugas

5.0 out of 5 stars We are all intellegent enough to read this book!
This is about something that everyone should be aware of and interested in. It is our life on this planet! He is very honest and raw! Read more
Published on Jan 16 2003 by carol schumacher

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dance of World Destruction
Jensen opens with a series of body blows: "Do we think about nuclear devastation, or the wisdom of producing tons of plutonium, which is lethal even in microscopic does well over... Read more
Published on Sep 15 2002 by J.W.K

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dance of World Destruction
Jensen opens with a series of body blows: "Do we think about nuclear devastation, or the wisdom of producing tons of plutonium, which is lethal even in microscopic does well over... Read more
Published on Sep 14 2002 by J.W.K

4.0 out of 5 stars Realists beware
I'll try to make this short. This is a wonderful book, but it's not perfect. It comes from the long tradition of idealism born in the American West which includes such figures... Read more
Published on Sep 3 2002 by J. L. Albee

5.0 out of 5 stars POWERFUL
This is my favorite book by my favorite author. No way anyone could read this and not be changed in a profound way.
Published on Aug 8 2002 by ikata

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