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Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It
Lean Logic is David Fleming s masterpiece, the product of more than thirty years work and a testament to the creative brilliance of one of Britain s most important intellectuals.
A dictionary unlike any other, it leads readers through Fleming s stimulating exploration of fields as diverse as culture, history, science, art, logic, ethics, myth, economics, and anthropology, being made up of four hundred and four engaging essay-entries covering topics such as Boredom, Community, Debt, Growth, Harmless Lunatics, Land, Lean Thinking, Nanotechnology, Play, Religion, Spirit, Trust, and Utopia.
The threads running through every entry are Fleming s deft and original analysis of how our present market-based economy is destroying the very foundations ecological, economic, and cultural on which it depends, and his core focus: a compelling, grounded vision for a cohesive society that might weather the consequences. A society that provides a satisfying, culturally-rich context for lives well lived, in an economy not reliant on the impossible promise of eternal economic growth.A society worth living in. Worth fighting for. Worth contributing to.
The beauty of the dictionary format is that it allows Fleming to draw connections without detracting from his in-depth exploration of each topic. Each entry carries intriguing links to other entries, inviting the enchanted reader to break free of the imposed order of a conventional book, starting where she will and following the links in the order of her choosing. In combination with Fleming s refreshing writing style and good-natured humor, it also creates a book perfectly suited to dipping in and out.
The decades Fleming spent honing his life's work are evident in the lightness and mastery with which Lean Logic draws on an incredible wealth of cultural and historical learning from Whitman to Whitefield, Dickens to Daly, Kropotkin to Kafka, Keats to Kuhn, Oakeshott to Ostrom, Jung to Jensen, Machiavelli to Mumford, Mauss to Mandelbrot, Leopold to Lakatos, Polanyi to Putnam, Nietzsche to Naess, Keynes to Kumar, Scruton to Shiva, Thoreau to Toynbee, Rabelais to Rogers, Shakespeare to Schumacher, Locke to Lovelock, Homer to Homer-Dixon in demonstrating that many of the principles it commends have a track-record of success long pre-dating our current society.
Fleming acknowledges, with honesty, the challenges ahead, but rather than inducing despair, Lean Logic is rare in its ability to inspire optimism in the creativity and intelligence of humans to nurse our ecology back to health; to rediscover the importance of place and play, of reciprocity and resilience, and of community and culture.
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Recognizing thatLean Logic s sheer size and unusual structure could be daunting, Fleming s long-time collaborator Shaun Chamberlin has also selected and edited one of the potential pathways through the dictionary to create a second, stand-alone volume, Surviving the Future: Culture, Carnival and Capital in the Aftermath of the Market Economy.The content, rare insights, and uniquely enjoyable writing style remain Fleming s, but presented at a more accessible paperback-length and in conventional read-it-front-to-back format.
A dictionary unlike any other, it leads readers through Fleming s stimulating exploration of fields as diverse as culture, history, science, art, logic, ethics, myth, economics, and anthropology, being made up of four hundred and four engaging essay-entries covering topics such as Boredom, Community, Debt, Growth, Harmless Lunatics, Land, Lean Thinking, Nanotechnology, Play, Religion, Spirit, Trust, and Utopia.
The threads running through every entry are Fleming s deft and original analysis of how our present market-based economy is destroying the very foundations ecological, economic, and cultural on which it depends, and his core focus: a compelling, grounded vision for a cohesive society that might weather the consequences. A society that provides a satisfying, culturally-rich context for lives well lived, in an economy not reliant on the impossible promise of eternal economic growth.A society worth living in. Worth fighting for. Worth contributing to.
The beauty of the dictionary format is that it allows Fleming to draw connections without detracting from his in-depth exploration of each topic. Each entry carries intriguing links to other entries, inviting the enchanted reader to break free of the imposed order of a conventional book, starting where she will and following the links in the order of her choosing. In combination with Fleming s refreshing writing style and good-natured humor, it also creates a book perfectly suited to dipping in and out.
The decades Fleming spent honing his life's work are evident in the lightness and mastery with which Lean Logic draws on an incredible wealth of cultural and historical learning from Whitman to Whitefield, Dickens to Daly, Kropotkin to Kafka, Keats to Kuhn, Oakeshott to Ostrom, Jung to Jensen, Machiavelli to Mumford, Mauss to Mandelbrot, Leopold to Lakatos, Polanyi to Putnam, Nietzsche to Naess, Keynes to Kumar, Scruton to Shiva, Thoreau to Toynbee, Rabelais to Rogers, Shakespeare to Schumacher, Locke to Lovelock, Homer to Homer-Dixon in demonstrating that many of the principles it commends have a track-record of success long pre-dating our current society.
Fleming acknowledges, with honesty, the challenges ahead, but rather than inducing despair, Lean Logic is rare in its ability to inspire optimism in the creativity and intelligence of humans to nurse our ecology back to health; to rediscover the importance of place and play, of reciprocity and resilience, and of community and culture.
------
Recognizing thatLean Logic s sheer size and unusual structure could be daunting, Fleming s long-time collaborator Shaun Chamberlin has also selected and edited one of the potential pathways through the dictionary to create a second, stand-alone volume, Surviving the Future: Culture, Carnival and Capital in the Aftermath of the Market Economy.The content, rare insights, and uniquely enjoyable writing style remain Fleming s, but presented at a more accessible paperback-length and in conventional read-it-front-to-back format.
656 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2016
21 people are currently reading
657 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 22, 2016
Goodreads wants to know the date I finished this book, but I'm not sure I ever will. It's just not one of those you read from start to finish. More a 'choose your own adventure' book. An uncategorizable one at that. I thought at least I knew that it was non-fiction, but then realized it's sort of fiction too - laying out a more beautiful future that's somehow within grasp.
I really don't know how to describe this book, but maybe that's because it's one of those rare books that breaks out from the categories we're used to? Maybe it will birth a whole genre, or maybe it's part of a genre already that I've never heard of?
Either way, it's a beautifully-written (and illustrated) inspiration of a book, by turns funny and playful and enlightening and educational. To say that it's shifting my perspective is an understatement - it's making me think completely anew about what's important in society and in life. I wish the author were still alive.
I can only encourage you to read his work and come back here and let us all know if you can figure out how to categorize it!
I really don't know how to describe this book, but maybe that's because it's one of those rare books that breaks out from the categories we're used to? Maybe it will birth a whole genre, or maybe it's part of a genre already that I've never heard of?
Either way, it's a beautifully-written (and illustrated) inspiration of a book, by turns funny and playful and enlightening and educational. To say that it's shifting my perspective is an understatement - it's making me think completely anew about what's important in society and in life. I wish the author were still alive.
I can only encourage you to read his work and come back here and let us all know if you can figure out how to categorize it!
May 3, 2018
David Fleming my be my favorite mind of the lat century. The man is a true philosopher of gifted insight, balanced with a heart for the read subtle details of live experience. This is a book to be chearished, and it cannot truely be finished, every entry comes alive in a new light on and give day it is read. This book more than any other on its shelf is a treasure from our civilization to the future, help carry it on, please.
September 27, 2017
A difficult book to review. How do you review a dictionary? Anyway, whatever topic comes to your mind (food, eroticism, currency, place, etc.) just flip to that page and give the entry a read, it will leave you thinking. Certainly one of the best books I own and one I will be returning to many more times.
March 6, 2017
Densely packed with good information. The drawbacks: the format makes it cumbersome (at best) to read and repetitive.
October 26, 2017
I found "Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It" to be an interesting quirky book.
A great deal of the information that was provided I was already aware of. However, I read non-fiction reference ninety-nine percent of the time though.
A great deal of the information that was provided I was already aware of. However, I read non-fiction reference ninety-nine percent of the time though.
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September 17, 2019While a great many of his observations resonate with me, the book needs serious organizational work.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews