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A Language Older Than Words | the Official Derrick Jensen Site FREE A LANGUAGE OLDER THAN WORDS PDF Derrick Jensen | 412 pages | 01 Mar 2004 | Chelsea Green Publishing Co | 9781931498555 | English | White River Junction, United States A Language Older Than Words | The official Derrick Jensen site At once a beautifully poetic memoir and an A Language Older Than Words of the various ways we live in the world, A Language Older than Words explains violence as a pathology that touches every aspect of our lives, and indeed affects all aspects of life on earth. Readers are initiated into A Language Older Than Words stifling world of child and spousal abuse, and then beyond, where Jensen finds the same dynamics tricked out on the grand stage of Western civilization. The prose is as lyrical and cogent as it is convincing. The masterful intertwining of all these elements elevates A Language Older than Words above and beyond an engrossing book, giving readers what might even be described as a curative outlook on life. Proceed at your own risk. Stunningly original, grippingly A Language Older Than Words, this book will shock you to your core while at the same time quickening your deepest yearnings for reconnection with Earth and all its creatures. Jensen has achieved the impossible: a book that is simultaneously horrifying and uplifting, terrifying and beautiful. I could not put it down. Passages from this book will stay with me forever. Language is a wake-up call to embrace life, beauty, and truth. The wisdom in this book will change you forever. Fox, author, nationally syndicated columnist, veterinarian. Language is must reading for anyone in the least concerned about the nature of our common future. Join the email list to receive information on upcoming shows, events, and releases. Sign and share Open Letter to Reclaim Environmentalism. Subscribe to the Reading Club and read exclusive works in progress by Derrick Jensen. French and German translations of Earth at Risk are now available. There is a whole world waiting for us, ready to welcome us home. A Language Older Than Words. Continue Shopping. A Language Older Than Words Summary & Study Guide Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. At once a beautifully poetic memoir and an exploration of the various ways we live in the world, A Language Older Than Words explains violence as a pathology that touches every aspect of our lives and indeed affects all aspects of life on Earth. This chronicle of a young man's drive to transcend domestic abuse offers a challenging look at our worldwide sense of community a At once a beautifully poetic memoir and an exploration of the various ways we live in the world, A Language Older Than Words explains violence as a pathology that touches every aspect of our lives and indeed affects all aspects of life on Earth. This chronicle of a young man's drive to transcend domestic abuse offers a challenging look at our worldwide sense of community and how we can make things better. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 6. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. May 30, Alex rated it it was ok Recommends it for: environmentalists. Shelves: non-fictionshelved-unfinished. This is one of the few books I have consciously decided not to finish in recent years. I agree wholeheartedly with Jensen's basic premise-- that we are rendering the world uninhabitable and committing atrocities against its human and nonhuman residents, A Language Older Than Words that our ability to do this depends on our denial of reality and our disconnecting from the people around us. I cannot, however, support the belief structure he builds up around this premise. Jensen equates studying science with raping childr This is one of the few books I have consciously decided not to finish in recent years. Jensen equates studying science with raping children, and treats public schools as analogous with genocide. He condemns all modern western social structures and sources of knowledge, and offers only eco-terrorism and unverified personal gnosis as alternatives. I was reading this book hoping for solutions I could apply in my own life, and I found only contempt for my not having found them already. In my opinion, A Language Older that Words leaves the most important questions unanswered. If medical animal research can never be justified, should all the advances A Language Older Than Words modern medicine be reversed? If factory faming is never acceptable, must every person including the entire continent of Africa and most of Asia who does not have access to sustainable farmed staple foods starve? Does Jensen actually believe that every human whose children, pets, or livestock have been killed by a wild animal simply failed to communicate with the predator? And if he believes that we participate in structures of oppression by participating in society, just how far has he dropped out? He owns a car-- how does he justify driving it? Does he wear clothing whose fibers were cultivated on industrial farmland or synthesized in a third world factory, whose threads were spun by children in China and whose pieces were assembled in a sweatshop? Or does he go naked? Does he use only products silverware, cleaning products, furniture? He turns such a condemning eye to everything he sees in our society, and yet never presents a viable alternative, or turns his scathing contempt on himself. Jensen's own fatalism, hatred and hypocrisy are as sickening to me as is the abuse he experienced as a child. Two wrongs don't make a right-- hatred and rage in the name of the environment is no less damaging than hatred and rage in the name of the ego. In the end, one absolutist ideology is much like another. Jensen is an environmental fundamentalist-- he believes that there is no room for compromise or even discussion with A Language Older Than Words viewpoints. As such, I see no reason to continue reading his opinions; he A Language Older Than Words have no interest in mine. I give this book two stars because I think it has something to teach. I'll leave it at my local coffeehouse because I hope its ideas may be valuable to some people who can use them constructively. I, alas, wasn't able to find anything constructive here. View all 10 comments. May 09, A Language Older Than Words rated it it was ok. The secret about Derrick Jensen is that all of his books are the same: they use the same metaphors and repeat the same points over and over again. Additionally, he has given the same public talk at every speaking event he's done for years yes, the Star Wars bit is funny the first time. He is a good writer and speaker, but he uses this skill to cover up his lack of analysis and creativity. Yes, logging is bad, killing salmon is bad, the Nazis were bad, child abuse is bad. One would hope that so The secret about Derrick Jensen is that all of his books are the same: they use the same metaphors and repeat the same points over A Language Older Than Words over again. One would hope that someone writing about these subjects for so long could move beyond simple moral denunciation, but he has no reason to give up his hustle if people keep buying it groups actually pay him money for him to talk to them on the phone! I must admit that my review is biased by the fact that Jensen reduced a friend of mine to tears when he was ostensibly supposed to be "supporting" her. Between this and how repetitive he is, I think he's an inconsiderate charlatan. Read one of his books, and you've read them all. Or really, read a few chapters A Language Older Than Words one of this A Language Older Than Words, and you've read them all. A final note on the content of this one: the assertion A Language Older Than Words "his" chickens want to be killed and eaten is a disturbing case of psychological projection. This self constructed myth of consent illustrates Jensen's lack of ethics vis-a-vis non-human animals and is indicative of the general poverty of his perspective. Aug 01, Anthony rated it it was amazing Shelves:natureanti-civre-readphilosophy. Great book. All of it being good, a few passages stuck out at me. The first was an explanation of where the dinners of he and a friend came from, going from origin to the plate. The second was a good A Language Older Than Words of the chapter "A Time of Sleeping," which helped me out by providing something to go to to point out why I want nothing to do with the wage economy. The whole book, more than anything else, also echoes something I've tried to keep in mind for a long time: to overcome the present predicament wil Great book. The whole book, more than anything else, also echoes something I've tried to keep in mind for a long time: to overcome the present predicament will require more than simple policy changes, more than a little activism here and there.
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