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Dec 17, 2009

Naeem rated it:

This book changed my life. It has short chapters, 5-10 pages. you can get most of what you need from chapters 1-3 and the epilogue.

It explains the structure of metaphor. Turns out, at least for me, that theory is metaphorical, language is metaphorical, life itself is metaphorical.

So what does that do for us? It makes it possible to realize the perspectivism is not an ideal to shoot for in some pristine Kantian space, but the very quantum material of social life. More...

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Jul 13, 2011

MJ rated it:

Helpful to have some background in structuralism before reading. Written in the 70's. Essentially: the metaphor form pervades every facet of our conceptual structure, influencing every aspect of our lives on a daily basis. The authors assert the reasonably simple and inarguable premise that the things we say influence how we think and what we do. Many of our most important concepts are entirely metaphorical in nature (i.e., LOVE). We define these concepts entirely by relating them to other More...

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May 18, 2011

Leslie rated it:

This book is apparently important in the history of linguistics. Although it is about 30 years old, it provides important insights into the ways human thought and understanding are structured. Much of our thinking is metaphorical, and modern neuroscience appears to be bearing this out.

Its major philosophical weakness is its assumption that truth is in the human realm. It posits that the problems objectivism and subjectivism have connecting meaning, understanding, and truth are solved More...

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Mar 09, 2011

Trevor rated it:

I first read parts of this book nearly 20 years ago. I meant to get my hands on the whole thing back then too and read it from cover to cover, but for one reason or another I never seemed to get around to it. This is a pity, as it is the sort of book I really ought to have read in full back then and perhaps again a couple of times since. This really is an interesting book.

The main idea is that rather than metaphors being curious literary devices, that they in fact are central to how More...

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Feb 11, 2010

Ryan rated it:

The point is that everything we think or say is a metaphor. This seems obvious, but the authors' examples constantly catch me off-guard. The afterword, written a few years ago, is important.

The book begins with the metaphors of "time is money" and "arguement is war". Respective examples are: "Is it worth your while?" and "Disagree? Go ahead, shoot". Lakoff and Johnson make the point that societies exist in which time is not a resource- sitting More...

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Apr 10, 2009

Adrian rated it:

This book was published in the early 70s but is still a relevant, compact and powerful attack on Cartesian dualism, the proposed split between mind and body that has plagued us for centuries.

(Not all Descartes's fault as I understand. Socrates came up with the idea of the soul as some pure realm of ideas. Then the Christian's picked it up once it became obvious that the end was not quite as nigh as they were hoping so the preservation of body promised by Paul in Corinthians seemed m More...

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Dec 02, 2010

Therese rated it:

This scholarly book's argument in favor of a new approach to metaphor -- differentiated from objectivist or subjectivist approaches -- profoundly changed how I, a poet, think about poetic and all other kinds of metaphors. My simplifying summary of this work's basic proposition is: a human being's physical body, interacting with the world, engenders natural concepts which structure metaphors which expand human experience. Fundamental metaphors (e.g., up/down, front/back) shape our lives to such a More...

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Aug 09, 2010

Matt rated it:

I'd read _More than Cool Reason_ earlier in the summer and found it kind of a mixed experience-- parts of it I thought were great and insightful, but most of it I found really repetitive, or else too slow moving for me.

This is a totally different kind of book: brisk, smart, and with a slowly revealed bone to pick with traditional explanations of metaphor and more broadly with ontological philosophies. I'm not altogether qualified to judge what Lakoff and Johnson say here, but I thought More...

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Jan 06, 2009

Kim rated it:

A ground-breaking book written by two scholars of linguistics. The primary author, George Lakoff, teaches at UC Berkeley and was a student of Noam Chomsky. He has done extensive, well-regarded research that completely shifts our current view of "how we are" in the world. Some observations that can be derived from this book include (1) Images play a fundamental role in human intelligence and reasoning. (2) Imagination also plays a fundamental role in human intelligence and reasoning. (3 More...

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Apr 13, 2010

Adam rated it:

From my perspective, the ideas in this book don't seem particularly new, though they are profound and very important. However, the way they use their thesis/topic, metaphors, to elucidate both post-modern philosophy and cultural comparative anthropology is wonderful. Not that they delve into anthropology or linguistics at all - the implications are pretty obvious, though. Metaphors are one of the central vehicles of culture - one of a culture's defining characteristics, which affects its cust More...

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Sep 17, 2009

Brandon rated it:

This book changes the way I think about the world.

My Notes:
p121 Interactional properties -> p162 in truth
p140 List of Love metaphors
p153 Old definition of metaphors v. the authors new definition
p156 summery
p157 Metaphors have the power to define reality (by revealing/hiding)
p159 Truth
p169 When we desire to explain instead of answering true or false...
p179 Truth is a function of our conceptual system
p184 Meaning comes from peop More...

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Oct 15, 2011

Frankie rated it:

Whether or not you're a layman, an awareness of the pervasiveness of metaphor alone makes it worth the read. The text begins by calling attention to basic metaphors (like MORE AS UP) that we hear and use every day. As in a true dissertation, each chapter climbs in difficulty, but the writers attempt to remain comprehendible by review and repetition. When jargon words like "parameterization" pop up, repetition can be a real deterrent to readability.

Anyone dabbling in linguisti More...

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Oct 14, 2008

Romel Anthony rated it:

This read will turn your world around. And metaphorically, that is the only thing you need to know about it.

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Oct 21, 2011

Ash rated it:

This book literally changed the way I see the world.

This is the way I introduce this book to see if anyone is listening out for metaphors. Lakoff's argument is that metaphor is not a superficial aspect of (poetic or flowery) language, but it is actually the basis of how we think.

It's quite easy to demonstrate how much language is metaphor. In this sentence alone, for example, I can convey two metaphors: that sentences are containers, and that meanings are objects that can More...

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Mar 06, 2010

Lobstergirl rated it:

I probably wouldn't have picked up this book on my own. I was assigned it in college and hated it so much I never got beyond chapter 4 or so. (The margins of these early pages are so filled with embarrassing personal notes and stream of consciousness ramblings that I would be too embarrassed to sell it or give it away.) Whereupon it sat on a shelf until, lo all these years later, I decided to give it another shot.

If you're interested in the intersection between linguistics and phi More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2008

Denis rated it:

My expectation was that a work that does such a good job of reworking fundamental elements of how we look at the world would have as its ultimate goal some sort of radical intellectual or societal revolution, so I kept waiting for L & J to present some conclusion that would cause me to rebel against the whole system that they so convincingly presented, but that never happened.

The fact that they tear down the edifice of literal, objective knowledge without erecting something in its pl More...

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Aug 14, 2011

Liam rated it:

This book was such a joy to read that it's moved me to poetry.

I call this one, "Traversing the boundless seas"

Ideas are objects
Expressions are containers
Communication is sending.

Theories are buildings
Ideas are people
Ideas are plants
Ideas are products
Ideas are commodities
Ideas are resources
Ideas are money
Ideas are cutting instruments
Ideas are fashions
Understanding is seeing
Ideas;

More...

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Dec 30, 2010

Ray rated it:

In his seminal work, Lakoff and Johnson carefully builds and clearly presents his position that almost all use of language is metaphorical. Starting with orientational metaphors such as "I'm feeling up today" he moves on to ontological metaphors, and our broader conceptual system of thought. He constructs a solid framework that accounts for the coherent structuring of human experience. The book is very thought provoking and accessible to a non-technical audience.

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Oct 26, 2010

Sherry rated it:

This is a perfectly respectable linguistics text that seemed to me, reading as a poet, to spend a lot of time making obvious points and making them over and over again.

It's dry.

I will take away from it a heightened awareness of the way we shape our reality metaphorically, even when we think we're being objective and scientific.

I read the original edition.

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Dec 17, 2008

Scott rated it:

So much of how we read nowadays has its foundations in Lakoff's writings. While he can be very political, this is one of his least overtly so. If one says context is king, this explains how it was crowned. I suggest you look it up - and down - if you like linguistics, anthropology, user experience, literature and how all of this is installed into our brains.

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Mar 29, 2009

Jordan rated it:

This book starts as a nuts and bolts introduction to how metaphors operate, establishes the concept of central grounding metaphor in culture and then finishes on a revolutionary philosophical note on how these concepts apply to our everyday experience. I would highly recommend this book if you wish to see the world in a new, experiential way.

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Mar 03, 2009

Heather rated it:

Interesting exploration of the depth to which human thinking is fundamentally metaphorical. I think I'll notice assumed metaphors like time=money, argument=war, and good=up more from now on. My first thought was that this wasn't tremendously useful, but then I realized that a more specific understanding of the metaphors that underlie our thought processes would be very useful in organizing writing.

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Apr 09, 2011

Shengzhi rated it:

A book that has shapes our understanding of everything touched by language: not only do metaphors affect how we conceive things in language, but also how we think, act, and experience. Easy to understand and insightful for acquiring greater understanding of ourselves and others; cultures and others' cultures.

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Aug 19, 2010

Thomas rated it:

This book enlarged my understanding of metaphorical language and how it guides the learning process. Very clearly written and packed full of clear examples. I believe this book will prove quiet helpful to communicators, teachers, and writers in their attempt to connect their thoughts with their audience's mind.

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Jan 02, 2010

Manny rated it:

This book is very frequently quoted by linguists - I just looked it up on Google Scholar, and found a staggering 13517 citations. Nearly everyone has at least glanced through it, and the ideas have permeated the field.

There was a nice Lakoff-related moment during one of the invited talks at a conference I attended during the summer. The speaker, who was giving an excellent presentation on loan-words related to food, hadn't been able to resist putting in a slide where he glanced at a More...

10 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2009

Adam rated it:

I built most of my master's thesis, on metaphor and thought, on this seminal work - which is very insightful, yet common sense. Essentially, they argue that metaphor isn't just a figure of speech: it's foundational to the way we think (notice all the metaphors floating around this review?).

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Nov 09, 2010

Cody rated it:

ayo, lingual n00b here so nmever read this before, realdeal gamechanger if you want a grip of cool new ways to think about world/word around you... metaphrs crazy dude, like wolfgang pucks jewish pizza, both adds to our understandin gof pizza and jewish food simulteanously... The Truth Is Out THere

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Nov 12, 2010

Joe rated it:

This book is amazing! Makes you smarter overnight. (Blows your mind, etc.)

So, really bright--but easy to read.

Tells you: everything is metaphor. Great examples.

For example, up and down. Really directions, but then: emotion...and so much more!

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May 03, 2009

Jrobertus rated it:

I read this book many years ago, and found it intriguing. His observations are interesting and I think important. As time passes, and cognitive science improves, I feel sure that his notions about the role of metaphor will be but on a strong physical basis.

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Oct 15, 2008

Paul rated it:

There are some interesting ideas thus far, but I'm concerned that Johnson/Lakoff haven't addressed the possibility that the words we use for spatial experiences, for instance, are actually metaphors for their usage in other ontological categories. What I mean by this is that we talk about there being a "deep well" and a "deep depression", and J/L want to say that our sense of emotional depths and such is a metaphor for sense-data type experiences--what if it's the other way a More...

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