Pronouns and Amateur Efforts

Posted by Jack on 09.02.2008 at 1:33 pm

Sometime this summer I saw an article about the inherent egotism of the “i” in so many products (how over saturated is this world going to get, honestly?) such as the iPod, iHome, etc… The article stipulated that this focus on the “I” was causing a further sense of me vs. the world and less community focused feelings.  One particular reader argued that “YouTube” and the double entedre “Wii” were counters to her claim, but fundamentally the story remained the same.  (I can’t figure out where I saw this artile either, anyone?)

I’m not going to weigh in on the societal effects created by product names, it’s not what I’m good at.  What I am good at, however, is finding books for you to check out if this kind of thing interests you.

It’s a little bit of a heady book at times, and don’t let it’s small stature fool you, it’s a bear, but “I and Thou” is also a fantastic philosophical look into the way our own language and understanding of it changes our feeling or tinges it.  Martin Buber navigates claustrophically narrow nuances of language and blows them into vast expanses of thought.  Whether it’s the difference between saying “I’m sorry” where you just free yourself or asking someone “forgive me” and putting the power to them to free you, this book endeavors to show that sometimes the Thesaurus is not more factual that a bad English translation.

Currently we have none in stock but we do have this excellent analysis:

| Tagged Book Reviews, book reviews, martin buber, new york times, philosophy