John Gray is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including The Immortalization Commission, Black Mass, and Straw Dogs. A regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, he is Emeritus Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics.
"Gray's godless mysticism asks us to look outside ourselves and
simply see. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds . . .
Sometimes I think John Gray is the great Schopenhauerian European
Buddhist of our age. What he offers is a gloriously pessimistic
cultural analysis, which rightly reduces to rubble the false idols
of the cave of liberal humanism." --Simon Critchley, The Los
Angeles Review of Books"[Gray's is] a powerful message, and not
without elements of profundity. And it is conveyed with eloquence
of language and dignity of thought." --Robert W. Merry, The
National Interest"Gray's fans should find much here to please them.
The range of literary, historical and philosophical extracts--from
Conrad and Zweig to Borges and John Ashbery, and from Nietzsche and
Freud to Robinson Jeffers and Czeslaw Milosz, to name only a
few--is broad and deep. Gray's own utterances are by turns
characteristically dark, audacious and outrageous." --Caspar
Henderson, The Telegraph"Silence of Animals is a beautifully
written book, the product of a strongly questioning mind. It is
effectively an anthology with detailed commentary, setting out one
rich and suggestive episode after another, each of which becomes
only more suggestive by the juxtaposition." --Philip Hensher, The
Spectator
-Gray's godless mysticism asks us to look outside ourselves and
simply see. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds . . .
Sometimes I think John Gray is the great Schopenhauerian European
Buddhist of our age. What he offers is a gloriously pessimistic
cultural analysis, which rightly reduces to rubble the false idols
of the cave of liberal humanism.- --Simon Critchley, The Los
Angeles Review of Books-[Gray's is] a powerful message, and not
without elements of profundity. And it is conveyed with eloquence
of language and dignity of thought.- --Robert W. Merry, The
National Interest-Gray's fans should find much here to please them.
The range of literary, historical and philosophical extracts--from
Conrad and Zweig to Borges and John Ashbery, and from Nietzsche and
Freud to Robinson Jeffers and Czeslaw Milosz, to name only a
few--is broad and deep. Gray's own utterances are by turns
characteristically dark, audacious and outrageous.- --Caspar
Henderson, The Telegraph-Silence of Animals is a beautifully
written book, the product of a strongly questioning mind. It is
effectively an anthology with detailed commentary, setting out one
rich and suggestive episode after another, each of which becomes
only more suggestive by the juxtaposition.- --Philip Hensher, The
Spectator
Gray's godless mysticism asks us to look outside ourselves and
simply see. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds . . .
Sometimes I think John Gray is the great Schopenhauerian European
Buddhist of our age. What he offers is a gloriously pessimistic
cultural analysis, which rightly reduces to rubble the false idols
of the cave of liberal humanism. "Simon Critchley, The Los Angeles
Review of Books" [Gray's is] a powerful message, and not without
elements of profundity. And it is conveyed with eloquence of
language and dignity of thought. "Robert W. Merry, The National
Interest" Gray's fans should find much here to please them. The
range of literary, historical and philosophical extracts--from
Conrad and Zweig to Borges and John Ashbery, and from Nietzsche and
Freud to Robinson Jeffers and Czeslaw Milosz, to name only a
few--is broad and deep. Gray's own utterances are by turns
characteristically dark, audacious and outrageous. "Caspar
Henderson, The Telegraph" "Silence of Animals" is a beautifully
written book, the product of a strongly questioning mind. It is
effectively an anthology with detailed commentary, setting out one
rich and suggestive episode after another, each of which becomes
only more suggestive by the juxtaposition. "Philip Hensher, The
Spectator""
"Gray's godless mysticism asks us to look outside ourselves and
simply see. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds . . .
Sometimes I think John Gray is the great Schopenhauerian European
Buddhist of our age. What he offers is a gloriously pessimistic
cultural analysis, which rightly reduces to rubble the false idols
of the cave of liberal humanism." --"Simon Critchley, The Los
Angeles Review of Books""[Gray's is] a powerful message, and not
without elements of profundity. And it is conveyed with eloquence
of language and dignity of thought." --"Robert W. Merry, The
National Interest""Gray's fans should find much here to please
them. The range of literary, historical and philosophical
extracts--from Conrad and Zweig to Borges and John Ashbery, and
from Nietzsche and Freud to Robinson Jeffers and Czeslaw Milosz, to
name only a few--is broad and deep. Gray's own utterances are by
turns characteristically dark, audacious and outrageous." --"Caspar
Henderson, The Telegraph"""Silence of Animals" is a beautifully
written book, the product of a strongly questioning mind. It is
effectively an anthology with detailed commentary, setting out one
rich and suggestive episode after another, each of which becomes
only more suggestive by the juxtaposition." --"Philip Hensher, The
Spectator"
"Nothing will get you thinking as much as this brilliant
book."--George Walden, "The Sunday Telegraph"
"At once daunting and enthralling, Gray's remarkable new book shows
us what it would be like to live without the distraction of
consolations."--Adam Phillips "This is a very important book, and,
I believe, a great one which will in the future, if we have one, be
read by wiser generations than ours." --Bryan Appleyard, "Literary
Review" "An absorbing book, full of challenging ideas you want to
argue with." --Joan Bakewell, "New Statesman" "Extraordinary . . .
Gray is undeniably a force to be reckoned with. He is the most
lucid and compelling writer about political theory since Isaiah
Berlin." --Johann Hari, "The Independent" "Remarkable . . . Straw
Dogs is that rarest of things, a contemporary work of philosophy
devoid of jargon, wholly accessible, and profoundly relevant to the
rapidly evolving world we live in. Straw Dogs is a simple tool
wielded effectively to devastating effect . . . After reading it
you'll find that everything remains exactly the same--but appears
very different. And that is disturbing." --Will Self, "The
Independent " "[Gray] blends lyricism with wisdom, humour with
admonition, nay-saying with affirmation, making in the process a
marvellous statement of what it is to be both an animal and a human
in the strange, terrifying and exquisite world into which we straw
dogs find ourselves thrown."--John Banville, "The Guardian""A work
of modern philosophy that is no less readable and compelling for
being rigorously bleak."--"Publishers' Weekly" ""
"A work of modern philosophy that is no less readable and
compelling for being rigorously bleak." --"Publishers' Weekly"
"[Gray] blends lyricism with wisdom, humour with admonition,
nay-saying with affirmation, making in the process a marvellous
statement of what it is to be both an animal and a human in the
strange, terrifying and exquisite world into which we straw dogs
find ourselves thrown." -- John Banville, "The Guardian"""
"[Gray] blends lyricism with wisdom, humour with admonition,
nay-saying with affirmation, making in the process a marvellous
statement of what it is to be both an animal and a human in the
strange, terrifying and exquisite world into which we straw dogs
find ourselves thrown." -- John Banville, "The Guardian"""
Praise for "The Immortalization Commission
""A chilling reflection on the post-Darwinian world." --Jill
Lepore, "The New Yorker
""Gray is in serious danger of making philosophy exciting and fun
to read . . . A fascinating piece of intellectual history".""
--Clancy Martin, "The New York Times"
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