Metaphors We Live By

I purchased this book without knowing much about it. My expectation was that it would relate in some detail how we use metaphorical language in a subconscious manner to describe the experiences of our lives. And my expectation turned out to be woefully insufficient to cover the reality of what the book delivered. To wit, my expectation was met and exceeded.Lakoff and Johnson do not only discuss how we use metaphorical language absentmindedly in our day-to-day living, but also delve into how we utilize metaphor to structure, conceptualize, and share our understanding of reality. It might not be obvious what exactly is the difference. In effect, the authors argue that metaphor is not just a matter of language, but a process of internally organizing our understanding of the external world. The first half of the book makes the positive case that our perceptions of reality are built upon metaphor. The second half of the book makes the case that other philosophical views fail to adequately account for such conceptual structuring. In the end, the authors argue that an "experientialist" view of truth and meaning not only account for our metaphorical comprehension of reality, but also retain and unite the most compelling aspects of other schools of thought that fail to do so.I think the first half of the book is a roaring success. The authors provide many and thorough examples of how our understanding of reality is structured metaphorically and how these metaphorical concepts are organized into coherent systems. They provide an explanation of why some mixed metaphors work and why others appear absurd. The idea that some arguments are covered in gargoyles, for example, shall stick with me for some time.I think the second half of the book is a bit less successful. Bear in mind, I am not well-versed in the philosophy of language nor am I well-acquainted with the objectivist and subjectivist views described by the authors. However, their argument seems to falter along one glaring fault (because an argument is a building, you see). The authors appear to assert in an absolute and unconditional manner that there are no absolute and unconditional truths. I want to be charitable here and assume that the authors were merely being careless, and that they meant something different than what they appear to be saying. However, the theme is repeated several times throughout the rest of the book, so it's difficult to tell.The difficulty ought to be obvious. At some level, there must be some kind of objective truth if we are to make anything resembling an objective truth claim -- even those fundamental claims about truth itself. I suspect that the authors are more inclined to affirm that truth cannot be communicated between individuals in an objective manner -- hence, the significant focus on language -- but their claims are stronger than that. If they intend only to claim, say, that we cannot exhaustively describe in an absolute and unconditional manner all (or even most) objective truths concerning reality, I'd be much more persuaded to hop on board. Instead, the authors seem to blunder at this crucial step. It's possible they clarify such a stance in the afterword (which I did not read), in which case this criticism may widely miss its mark. Otherwise, it appears quite fatal.There's another criticism I could leverage - namely, that the authors appear to view human interest in truth as based in its survival value (if that were true, we wouldn't have books like _Metaphors We Live By_) - but I'm not convinced the book was aimed at defending such a position. On a positive note, I thought the authors' attempt to wed objective and subjective accounts of truth into a unified view were admirable and reached closer to the mark than a strict objectivist or subjectivist account of reality. As such, on the whole, I liked the book. It was pretty good. But I also think the ultimate argument is the kind of thing that either says too little to justify such length and breadth of discussion or says too much to be taken seriously. For those interested, it should at the least be read for its delightful and rigorous first half.

This book builds a foundation for how metaphors structure our thinking. The first eleven chapters should be read by everyone. Ideas like "Argument is war." because we often say "We've been fighting all day." or "I lost the argument." rather than say "We've been problem solving all day." or "We finally found a solution."But the last nineteen chapters are laborious. I felt chained to every chapter, struggling to find even a sliver of the gold that was the first eleven.Buy this book. Invest in the first eleven. Skim the last nineteen. It's well worth your time.

This is the pop-up book of the brain. The brain is asked to tell itself how it is doing. The brain does wall painting, singing, depicting, falling,rising through the sounds that invisibly carry our inner states outward, coded and transmitted to another's wall. Prior to reading and living with this material, words held their meaning like bricks on a path way stretching into the distance. This book tipped the path way up, allowed cracks between the words, produced mountains to climb, oceans to swim in, brooks to listen to.I laughed, cursed with surprise, was stunned into wide eyed wonder. And wondered why it has taken so long for the brain to write this book about the brain. I don't know how to end this effort: I am stuck, and feel like I have fallen into a hole. Overnight, I hope a tunnel opens up so I can get out of here, out of this box. Do you know what I mean?t

"The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another." That's simple enough. But this classic analysis explains how metaphors are far more than figures of speech or literary embellishments. Metaphors are the filter through which we see, understand and describe our world -- our reality.The examples are engaging and entertaining. I'll leave you with this one: The waitress says, "The ham sandwich wants his check." -- dehumanizing the person who is characterized as a paying customer. But completely reasonable in the context of a busy restaurant at lunchtime. Plunge in and read more about how we see and describe and understand our world by using metaphors we're not even aware of.

Too much repetition for my tastes with far too much time spent explaining simple concepts in excruciating detail.

In an interesting (though a bit technical) way George Lakoff describes (quite convincingly and with evidence, I must say) his vision of the role metaphors play in our life.Several concepts:- metaphors are fundamentally conceptual. We first of all think in metaphors. Metaphors language is secondary- metaphors are based on everyday experience- many concepts are defined primarily metaphorically (e.g. love is a journey, partnership, magic, madness, dissolution of two into one, ...)- metaphors not only can describe, but can form reality. By highlighting some aspects of experience and hiding another, they influence our concepts, which influences our thoughts and feelings, which influences our actions, thus changing reality- as a consequence metaphors can become self-fulfilling prophecies- it is important to be conscious about what metaphors do we useOverall I would recommend this book to readers who are:- interested in linguistics- interested in perception, cognition and psychology in general- who are not afraid to fight through somewhat technical text

I had hoped for some flash of linguistic illumination from this book, but alas, it quickly becomes tiresome. The central premise, I'm sure, us sound enough. But it's not a sufficiently significant one to merit a book. A few thousand words would have done the job, and I am sorry to say I lacked the patience or stamina to finish it. Life's too short.

It is a great book as it opens a way to think about how we use language and how it developed, Heavy going and I can't say I actually finished it, but having read 'The Patterning Instinct' by Jeremy Lent, it compliments the theses in that wonderful book. So to sum up 'Metaphors We Live By' is great but be prepared to dust off the brain cells.

A brilliant book that explores metaphors and how we use them. This has been a starting point for so many modern therapy techniques that it's worth reading if you have any interests in this area. I wouldn't limit it to therapists though. If you are a writer and are serious about your art, this is worth delving into. Metaphors invade almost every aspect of our speech, and using them effectively will lift your writing to a new level!

It's probably an amazing book for linguists but it's not an easy read for an average Joe. I found it fascinating but at times difficult; its scope wasn't "useful" for me.But I'm the "average Joe" in this story - if you're a a linguist, you'll most likely enjoy it.

Lakoff and Johnson's seminal text on metaphor laid the foundations for an entire field of study. The style is clear, simple and written in a language one can easily understand. I bought this text when writing a paper on economic metaphor use and was able to read through it in a matter of hours.An key text for anyone interested in metaphor (and metonymy).