Book completed

Steps to an Ecology of Mind, by Gregory Bateson. Whew! My assigned book for May. The author would have been a very interesting person to know; this book collects a variety of essays and talks he wrote on multiple topics. Trained as an anthropologist, he also spent years working with schizophrenic people, then his ideas about cybernetics (information systems and how they work with feedback, redundancy, etc.) became important in the environmental movement in the 1970s. I read his Mind and Nature many years ago, but this one has always daunted me. And with good cause – his thoughts remain somewhat opaque, but the ideas he raises are also fascinating. I don’t think his thoughts on how family communication feeds into schizophrenia are necessarily current, but his ideas about confusion between metaphor and literal speech could be relevant for talking with people with autism. The chapters on genetics are probably seriously outdated, because they didn’t know about epigenetics back then, but I bet he would have loved all that. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. I would have welcomed more clarity, though – maybe I should reread Mind and Nature.

A pretty little concert

This afternoon for the Oregon Bach Collegium we got to hear works mostly from the English baroque - Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke, and William Lawes, along with an Italian composer who was greatly admired in England, Nicola Matteis. Such a lovely selection of pieces! At the end, we learned that violinist Emma Simmons, who's been featured in almost all of their performances this year and who has worked closely with Ryan on organizing the season, will be leaving in the fall for at least three years - she's pursuing a second master's degree in Lyon. I expect that will be a wonderful experience for her, but we will miss her!