<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GoodreadsResponse>
	<Request>
		<authentication>false</authentication>
		    <method><![CDATA[]]></method>
	</Request>
	
<book>
  <id>59927</id>
  <title><![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[009927695X]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9780099276951]]></isbn13>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59927.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59927.jpg</small_image_url>
  <description><![CDATA[How we know that a cat is a cat is a nice philosophical poser, and has been since the time of Plato. Why we should all agree on calling the animal a cat is equally interesting, yet it throws up the problem that lies at the heart of all modern philosophy: how much do our perceptions of things depend on our cognitive ability, and how much on our linguistic resources? Where, and how, do these two questions meet? Having decided against a systematic treatment of his subject, Umberto Eco undertakes a series of idiosyncratic and typically brilliant explorations, starting from the perceived data of common sense, from which flow an abundance of 'stories' or fables, often with animals as protagonists, to expound a clear critique of Kant, Heidegger and Peirce. And, as a beast designed specifically to throw spanners in the works of cognitive theory, the duckbilled platypus naturally takes centre stage.]]></description>
  <work>
  <best_book_id type="integer">59925</best_book_id>
  <books_count type="integer">12</books_count>
  <desc_user_id type="integer" nil="true"></desc_user_id>
  <id type="integer">1837478</id>
  <media_type>book</media_type>
  <original_language_id type="integer" nil="true"></original_language_id>
  <original_publication_day type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_day>
  <original_publication_month type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_month>
  <original_publication_year type="integer">1997</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>Kant e l'ornitorinco</original_title>
  <rating_dist>total:216|5:47|4:84|3:72|2:12|1:1|</rating_dist>
  <ratings_count type="integer">216</ratings_count>
  <ratings_sum type="integer">812</ratings_sum>
  <reviews_count type="integer">508</reviews_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">6</text_reviews_count>
</work>

  <average_rating><![CDATA[3.76]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[9]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[1]]></text_reviews_count>
  
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59927.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59927.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition]]></link>
  <authors>
    <author>
    <id>1730</id>
        <name><![CDATA[Umberto Eco]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1217498277p5/1730.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1217498277p2/1730.jpg]]></small_image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1730.Umberto_Eco]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.86</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>30427</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>2689</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
    <author>
    <id>33795</id>
        <name><![CDATA[Alastair McEwen]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-200x266.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33795.Alastair_McEwen]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.96</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>589</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>63</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
  </authors>
    <reviews start="1" end="20" total="508">
      <review>
  <id>413721</id>
    <user>
    <id>37381</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Yifot]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Bloomington, IN]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/37381-yifot]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1193095276p3/37381.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1193095276p2/37381.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59927</id>
  <isbn>009927695X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780099276951</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59927.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59927.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59927.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.44</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>9</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[How we know that a cat is a cat is a nice philosophical poser, and has been since the time of Plato. Why we should all agree on calling the animal a cat is equally interesting, yet it throws up the problem that lies at the heart of all modern philosophy: how much do our perceptions of things depend on our cognitive ability, and how much on our linguistic resources? Where, and how, do these two questions meet? Having decided against a systematic treatment of his subject, Umberto Eco undertakes a series of idiosyncratic and typically brilliant explorations, starting from the perceived data of common sense, from which flow an abundance of 'stories' or fables, often with animals as protagonists, to expound a clear critique of Kant, Heidegger and Peirce. And, as a beast designed specifically to throw spanners in the works of cognitive theory, the duckbilled platypus naturally takes centre stage.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="littheory" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Mar 24 16:16:29 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Mar 24 16:18:59 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I only started it, it was very interesting but very... philosophy of language.  There's a great story in it about galileo coming to the americas and discovering the unicorn.  Upon writing back to his country he descries - We were quite mistaken about the unicorn, it is gray, large, and rather ugly. ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/413721">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/413721]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/413721]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>78584671</id>
    <user>
    <id>2852525</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Michelle]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Lake Hiawatha, NJ]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2852525-michelle]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1255985928p3/2852525.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1255985928p2/2852525.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>193</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="on-hold" />
        <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Nov 21 18:38:49 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Nov 23 20:13:03 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Okay, Eco.  I concede.<br/><br/>I am interested in what you have to say and everything, but I'm going to have to do some studying first.  <br/><br/>Evidently I don't know as much about the Kant as I thought.  (!)<br/><br/>I'll check back in, you know.  Next winter.  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78584671]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78584671]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>54028425</id>
    <user>
    <id>2242333</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Shannon]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Bloemfontein, 03, South Africa]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2242333-shannon-mayne]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>true</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="currently-reading" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Apr 26 12:33:55 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Apr 26 12:31:38 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Apr 26 12:34:00 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I was told that this was one of the best expositions of one side of the approach to identity... Let's see if it's that.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54028425]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54028425]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>20073975</id>
    <user>
    <id>298301</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Hathaway]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Canada]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/298301-hathaway]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Apr 13 13:54:36 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Apr 22 21:32:27 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I am biased. I love Umberto Eco. This review is therefore useless.<br/><br/>Eco is brilliant. And funny. And a million times smarter than all of us. I admit to having to slog through some parts, due to my own ignorance of what he was discussing. This is the kind of book that exemplifies why I comm...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20073975">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20073975]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20073975]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>74807280</id>
    <user>
    <id>2522956</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kimber]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Copenhagen, ON, Denmark]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2522956-kimber]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1250450363p3/2522956.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1250450363p2/2522956.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Oct 17 04:57:50 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 17 04:58:48 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[language modeling prevented me from sleeping for weeks while reading this book....]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74807280]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74807280]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>23195153</id>
    <user>
    <id>1191890</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Keith]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1191890-keith]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed May 28 22:45:53 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Nov 24 08:49:36 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[he's too smart]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23195153]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23195153]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>82184591</id>
    <user>
    <id>668995</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Rachael]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Bowling Green, OH]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/668995-rachael]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1197489444p3/668995.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1197489444p2/668995.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Dec 27 11:01:08 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Dec 27 11:01:08 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/82184591]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/82184591]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>82042848</id>
    <user>
    <id>3074059</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Andy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United Kingdom]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3074059-andy]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Dec 25 19:36:04 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Dec 25 19:36:04 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/82042848]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/82042848]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>81486407</id>
    <user>
    <id>576427</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jeff]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Austin, TX]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/576427-jeff]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="currently-reading" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Dec 19 10:34:21 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Dec 19 10:34:24 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81486407]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81486407]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>81100934</id>
    <user>
    <id>148949</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Sara]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/148949-sara]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1205689301p3/148949.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1205689301p2/148949.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="currently-reading" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Dec 15 11:27:31 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 15 11:27:31 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81100934]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81100934]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>80780132</id>
    <user>
    <id>3019068</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Gonza]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[rome, 00168, Italy]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3019068-gonza-bassa]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1260220012p3/3019068.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1260220012p2/3019068.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">1837441</id>
  <isbn>8845228681</isbn>
  <isbn13>9788845228681</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">0</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant e l'ornitorinco]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1837441.Kant_e_l_ornitorinco</link>
  <average_rating>3.50</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>2</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Dec 12 13:41:12 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Dec 13 02:07:23 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80780132]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80780132]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>80623230</id>
    <user>
    <id>2869455</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Geoffrey]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2869455-geoffrey]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Dec 10 21:07:49 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 10 21:07:49 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80623230]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80623230]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>80605896</id>
    <user>
    <id>2881111</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Andrew]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[New York, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2881111-andrew]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Dec 10 18:20:56 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 10 18:20:57 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80605896]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80605896]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>80270287</id>
    <user>
    <id>1005542</id>
    <name><![CDATA[michael]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chicago, IL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1005542-michael]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1260271256p3/1005542.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1260271256p2/1005542.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Dec 08 02:35:39 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 08 02:35:39 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80270287]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80270287]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>80005951</id>
    <user>
    <id>3012786</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Natalie]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3012786-natalie]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Dec 05 15:33:56 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Dec 05 15:33:56 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80005951]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80005951]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>79928742</id>
    <user>
    <id>3010409</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ben]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Juarez, 15, Mexico]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3010409-ben-beltran]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1260181065p3/3010409.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1260181065p2/3010409.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59927</id>
  <isbn>009927695X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780099276951</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59927.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59927.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59927.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[How we know that a cat is a cat is a nice philosophical poser, and has been since the time of Plato. Why we should all agree on calling the animal a cat is equally interesting, yet it throws up the problem that lies at the heart of all modern philosophy: how much do our perceptions of things depend on our cognitive ability, and how much on our linguistic resources? Where, and how, do these two questions meet? Having decided against a systematic treatment of his subject, Umberto Eco undertakes a series of idiosyncratic and typically brilliant explorations, starting from the perceived data of common sense, from which flow an abundance of 'stories' or fables, often with animals as protagonists, to expound a clear critique of Kant, Heidegger and Peirce. And, as a beast designed specifically to throw spanners in the works of cognitive theory, the duckbilled platypus naturally takes centre stage.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Dec 04 19:08:41 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Dec 04 19:13:30 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79928742]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79928742]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>79814263</id>
    <user>
    <id>1537712</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Rachel]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1537712-rachel]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Dec 03 17:59:30 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 03 17:59:35 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79814263]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79814263]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>79719340</id>
    <user>
    <id>2831001</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Talia]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Gainesville, FL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2831001-talia]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Dec 02 20:41:47 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 02 20:41:47 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79719340]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79719340]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>79655850</id>
    <user>
    <id>595490</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Joelle]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/595490-joelle]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59925</id>
  <isbn>015601159X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780156011594</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">5</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59925.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59925.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59925.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Describing Umberto Eco as a writer is like describing the platypus as an animal. What do readers expect when they see the author's name on a book jacket? It's a tricky question to answer, given his range and versatility: he has produced studies of semiotics, children's books, medieval history, essays on contemporary culture, and, of course, novels--most notably <em>The Name of the Rose</em> and <em>The Island of the Day Before</em>. So first, a word of warning. Anyone familiar with Eco the novelist or essayist might well be dismayed by <em>Kant and the Platypus</em>, for this new book returns to his preoccupations of the 1960s and 1970s--to semiotics and cognitive semantics. As such, it can be a daunting volume (the initial chapter, for example, riffs on the numerous philosophical concepts of being). And second, a word of encouragement: this is a wonderful engagement with the issues of language itself. Even as he beckons the reader into one linguistic thicket after another, Eco always keeps a commonsensical perspective, using stories to explicate the knottiest concepts.<p>  Why did Marco Polo describe the rhinoceros as a type of unicorn? Why couldn't 18th-century observers figure out how to classify the duck-billed platypus? Given a dictionary or encyclopedia definition of a mouse, how easy would it be to identify one if we had never seen one before? These are some of the examples that Eco uses to explore the ways in which we see and describe the world--the ways, that is, in which cultures develop taxonomies. If you want to know &quot;why we can tell an elephant from an armadillo,&quot; or why mirrors do <em>not</em> in fact reverse images, this book will tell you. In fact, it will also tell you why you know what I am talking about when I say &quot;this book.&quot; Got it? No? Then get it. <em>--Burhan Tufail</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Dec 02 11:15:35 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 02 11:15:35 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79655850]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79655850]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>78056209</id>
    <user>
    <id>629281</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Edwardian_ice]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Moscow, Russian Federation]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/629281-edwardian-ice]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1239635318p3/629281.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1239635318p2/629281.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">59927</id>
  <isbn>009927695X</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780099276951</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303m/59927.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537303s/59927.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59927.Kant_and_the_Platypus_Essays_on_Language_and_Cognition</link>
  <average_rating>3.76</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>216</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[How we know that a cat is a cat is a nice philosophical poser, and has been since the time of Plato. Why we should all agree on calling the animal a cat is equally interesting, yet it throws up the problem that lies at the heart of all modern philosophy: how much do our perceptions of things depend on our cognitive ability, and how much on our linguistic resources? Where, and how, do these two questions meet? Having decided against a systematic treatment of his subject, Umberto Eco undertakes a series of idiosyncratic and typically brilliant explorations, starting from the perceived data of common sense, from which flow an abundance of 'stories' or fables, often with animals as protagonists, to expound a clear critique of Kant, Heidegger and Peirce. And, as a beast designed specifically to throw spanners in the works of cognitive theory, the duckbilled platypus naturally takes centre stage.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1997</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="to-read" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Nov 17 04:40:33 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Nov 17 04:40:33 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78056209]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78056209]]></link>
</review>
    </reviews>
  <popular_shelves>
          <shelf name="to-read" />
          <shelf name="currently-reading" />
          <shelf name="philosophy" />
          <shelf name="non-fiction" />
          <shelf name="linguistics" />
          <shelf name="language" />
          <shelf name="nonfiction" />
          <shelf name="essays" />
          <shelf name="eco" />
          <shelf name="italy" />
      </popular_shelves>
  <book_links>
    <book_link>
  <id>8</id>
  <name><![CDATA[WorldCat]]></name>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=59927</link>
</book_link>
  </book_links>
</book>
</GoodreadsResponse>