Where we belong : beyond abstraction in perceiving nature
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Where we belong : beyond abstraction in perceiving nature
University of Georgia Press, c2003
Available at 2 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-242) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Gathered here in book form for the first time, the fourteen essays in Where We Belong exemplify Paul Shepard's interdisciplinary approach to human interaction with the natural world. Drawn from Shepard's entire career and presented chronologically, these pieces vary in setting from the Hudson River Valley to the American pralirie to New Zealand. Equally impressive is Shepard's spatial range, as he moves from subtle differences to grand designs, from the intimacy of an artist's brushstroke to a vista of the harsh Greek terrain. Alluding to a range of sources from Star Trek to Marshall McLuhan to the Bible, the writings discuss such topics as the geomorphology of New England landscape paintings, beautification and conservation projects, the Oregon Trail, and tourism. Whether Shepard is pondering why the Great Plains conjured up sea imagery in its early observers, or how pioneers often resorted to architectural terms - temple, castle, bridge, tower - when naming the West's natural formations, he exposes, and thus invites us to unshoulder, the cultural and historical baggage we bring to the physiological act of seeing. Throughout the book, Shepard seeks the antecedents of environmental perception and questions whether the paradigm that we inherited should be superceded by one that leads us to a greater concern for the ecological health of the planet. This volume is an important addition to Shepard's canon if only for the new view it offers of his intellectual development. More important, however, is that these selections demonstrate Shepard's grasp of a wide range of ideas related to the physical environment, including the various factors - historical, aesthetic, and psychological - that have shaped our attitudes toward the natural world and color the way we see it.
by "Nielsen BookData"