Roberto CasatiReseñas

Ho sempre pensato che una definizione strettamente etimologica di filosofia fosse a dir poco semplicistica e ora, in questo piccolo libro, ecco l'illuminazione: la filosofia è anzitutto arte negoziale. E Casati è bravissimo a far capire che c'è chi la pratica senza saperlo, così come ci sono professori di filosofia che non la praticano affatto. In somma, un libro per chi pensa che la filosofia sia cosa astratta, slegata dal mondo: «Cambia il mondo, la filosofia serve; la filosofia accorre» (p.8).

"Stare sotto un albero completamente arancione cambia il colore dei nostri volti. Sorridiamo in continuazione, inebetiti."

Una anno accademico di una famiglia italo-francese nei boschi innevati del New Hampshire:adattabilità e riflessioni etico sociali. Decisamente interessante

This engaging book is written at a mature level of verbal sophistication, but presumes a philosophically and mathematically inexpert reader. For example, author Casati explains Plato's Myth of the Cave in a way that clearly assumes the reader will have had no acquaintance with it.

The bulk of the book surveys a history of science trained on shadows, and the resulting contributions to geography, astronomy, and other disciplines. It also draws on psychology of cognition and perception in an effort to understand what shadows are and why people interact with them in the ways that they do. There is no mention of the Jungian notion of the shadow archetype. Still, Casati does touch on the uncanniness of shadows, and the extent to which they elude our conscious object inventories and categories.

Despite the title, the book features no "club" as such, but presents a long string of personalities throughout history who were scientifically and philosophically engaged with shadows. Also, in later chapters, it includes a good bit of art history. Although Casati calls the 17th century--however metaphorically--the era of "the shadow wars," I never got a clear sense of opposing sides in the alleged conflict.

After exploring the evolution of solar timekeeping, Casati mentions, "If you open up a wristwatch, under the face you'll find balance wheels and gears. If you open up a sundial, you'll find a planet and its star" (86-87). I can recommend this section of the book in particular to practitioners of (or aspirants to) Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia. The Shadow is in the Light, not the light in the Shadow. Worship then the Shadow, and behold my light shed over you.

Never did get much out of reading this book. Perhaps it was not my time. Doubt I will ever return to it however.

(en cours)
Le chapitre 1 traite le livre comme linéaire et n'évoque pas la structure du codex
ch 2 une mesure radicale : le mois consacré à la lecture à l'école
(à suivre)
voir The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: Why Paper Still Beats Screens

Dit boek is een uit de hand gelopen artikel of een mooi voorbeeld hoe een filosoof die met de linkerhand een artikel schreef over een onderwerp er zo door gegrepen werd dat hij er alles over wilde weten en zijn vondsten wilde meedelen. Casati vertelt graag over de fascinatie die de schaduw altijd al uitoefende op mensen, met name op wetenschappers - astronomen, geografen, wiskundigen en degenen die het perspectief bestudeerden - en op schilders, maar ook op schrijvers, kinderen en gewone mensen. 'Schaduwen zijn wonderen van de geest', zegt hij, en nog altijd intrigeren ze, zelfs de 'moderne schaduwen' die niet zoals vroegere schaduwen bewegen, omdat er vaste lichtbronnen zijn. En daar draait Casati's verhaal om: de verhouding van licht en schaduw, of het om zons- en maansverduistering, fotografie of het schimmenspel gaat. Een mooi relaas, maar zorgvuldig gedocumenteerd, dat dankzij een uitvoerige bronvermelding te traceren valt: een fascinerend boek.

Overall an interesting book that covers history and science of shadows. The illustration by George Cruikshank on page 23 maybe the reverse image of the original.

The Italian author, a scientist, creates and ennumerates what humans have thought about what causes shadows and what children as they grow up think about shadows. One cannot help but think of shadow as metaphor.

We've all read pop science books that include a mixture of anecdotes and history along with their main subject matter. This book is of that genre, but is far superior to most of them, largely because of the intelligence, scepticism and wit of the author, an accomplished scientist.
Unlike most writers, rather than simply informing us of each anecdote or historical fact, he usually follows up by explaining issues around the fact, and concludes with a summary as to why the supposed fact, the received wisdom, is nonsense. This could be tiresome in the wrong author's hands, but works well here. (Don't be put off by the idiot subtitle, obviously forced on the author by the publisher.)

The subject matter is something of a random mixture, perhaps
* a third dealing with cognitive issues surrounding shadows (how do babies perceive shadows; how does the language we use to discuss shadows tell us something about how we naturally classify things; the naive physics of the prescientific mind),
* perhaps a third deals with how shadows (for example eclipses and transits) helped advance the science of astronomy,
* and a third is misc other things like how shadows helped renaissance artists come up with a theory of perspective.

It's rather a strange mixture, but if, like me, you're broadly interested in psychology, history, astronomy and just the world at large, every chapter is fascinating.½