Islands of the Mind: How the Human Imagination Created the Atlantic World

by John Gillis

In Islands of the Mind , John R. Gillis takes us on a rich and fascinating journey through the centuries and across the ocean in search of the meanings of islands in the collective imagination and history of the western world. Islands, he shows, have always sparked the imagination with notions of danger, adventure, isolation and even perfection. They have lured explorers and been the reason for battles between colonizing empires. Islands have given birth to unique cultures, they have prompted scientists and anthropologists with clues to human beginnings, and have been known to occasionally disappear without a trace. Gillis unravels both the actual and conceptual history of islands, beginning with the imagined lands of Homer's Odyssey and ending with a look at modern-day cruise destinations. This multifaceted survey shows how and why islands have occupied such a central place in the western imagination, and how they came to be master symbols and inexhaustible metaphors for so many different things.

Genres: History, Geography, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 6, 2004

Reviews

[Patricia Macías García · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mí se me metió en la cabeza hacer un trabajo para mi asignatura Monarquía Hispánica sobre cómo el descubrimiento de América pudo influir en la aparición de la ciencia ficción. Al principio, la verdad, no tenía ni idea de en qué fuentes consultar porque mi tema era una locura y toparme con este libro por casualidad en la biblioteca de la uni es una de las mejores cosas que me pudo pasar.

[Šári · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely MIND-BLOWING text. Quite dense and impossible to pick up to just read a couple pages but right now, it's definitely at the top of my most useful dissertation resources.

Warning: Might make you painfully aware of humanity's flabbergasting IDIOCY and inability to consider the consequences of its own actions.