Notes on the Need for Beauty: An Intimate Look at Essential Quality - Softcover

Gendler, J. Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1569242925 ISBN 13: 9781569242926

Publisher: Balance, 2007

Synopsis

The introduction of this book reads, "Beauty, like every other quality — courage, fear, ugliness, trust, truth, wisdom — is a part of us and apart from us, inside us and outside us, personal and impersonal. Beauty invites us to build bridges and make connections between the senses and the soul, between contemplation and expression, between ourselves and the world." In this wide-ranging and deeply felt book, artist and writer J. Ruth Gendler invites us to reclaim and celebrate the often misunderstood quality of beauty as one of the most profound and essential forces in our lives. Drawing upon observations from art and mythology, science and nature, contemporary culture and personal experience, the author looks at her subject in its most generous implications — not simply as a reflection of surface and image, but as a pathway to wholeness, integrity, coherence, and ultimately, to love. Written with curiosity, courage, a discerning eye and a lyrical sensibility, and illustrated with evocative line drawings by the author, Notes on the Need for Beauty displays the strong personal voice that has made her previous book, The Book of Qualities so beloved. It is a work to savor and to share.

About this title

About the Author

J. Ruth Gendler is an artist, writer, and teacher. She is the author of The Book of Qualities and the editor of Changing Light: The Eternal Cycle of Night and Day.The Book of Qualities, now in its thirty-fifth printing, has been adapted as a two-act theater piece and translated into German, Japanese, and Chinese, as well as being widely excerpted in literary, psychological and educational publications. In addition to personal essays and poems, Gendler writes about the arts, education, health, and books. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally.

Gendler has taught writing and art in a variety of settings for twenty years. She has been an artist in residence with both California Poets in the Schools and Young Audiences of the Bay Area and leads writing and creativity workshops nationally. She received her B.A. in English and Communications from Stanford University, and she now resides in Berkeley, California.

Review

"Notes on the Need for Beauty is delicious, a feast for the soul. Ruth Gendler's eye and heart are true and the vividness, constancy, and meticulousness of her meditation calls us to the banquet of beauty like music heard across a meadow. This is an utterly nurturing book, savory with loveliness from the exquisite cover art to the last morsel of wisdom." -- Tim Farrington, author of The Monk Downstairs and Lizzie's War

"Beauty is as beauty does and Ruth Gendler outdoes herself with this completely charming illustrated compilation of information and inspiration. Notes on the Need for Beauty is warm, winsome and very, very wise." -- Donna Henes, author of The Queen of My Self

"Gendler doesn't just teach people how to reach into their creativity--she exudes it." -- Catherine Girardeau, independent radio producer

"In this time when we are losing our own senses by one percent per year, rediscovering the sense for beauty is an urgent priority that requires conscious employment. In Notes on the Need for Beauty, Ruth Gendler presents us with faceted seeds that can be planted in our own souls for rumination. She urges us to look at everything as aesthetic events, to not just look, but to look as if with our arms open. This book is a lighthouse of a gift for individual reimaginations for beauty wherever we uncover it." -- Paulus Berensohn, author of Finding Your Way With Clay

"Like a rose disciple, Ruth Gendler takes note of what's beautiful and assembles this wholly original text, full of children talking, mystical insight, the history of cosmetics, sublime etymologies, and big mirrors that someone attached to the sides of the NYC sanitation trucks. Look out. Here comes the aquarium." -- Coleman Barks, author of A Year with Rumi

"Subtle and complex, these more-than-clever gems become addictive once you begin reading." -- Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle

"The Qualities are wise and express truth in a personal way." -- Jean Bolen, author of Goddesses in Every Woman

"The very act of reading Notes on the Need for Beauty will change the way you see things. It will awaken you to notice beauty, to make beauty, to remember beauty. And this is a cause for celebration." -- Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

"Through Gendler's work, you see beauty in an entirely new way." -- Valerie Geller, Creating Powerful Radio, international radio consultant

"Who does not have a thirst for more beauty in their life? Who has provided themselves with the necessary time to savor the beauty that already surrounds them. Ruth Gendler's book, Notes on the Need for Beauty, is studded with wise counsel and crafted prose coaxing us gently, to turn from our current ways to better witness and so be nourished by the infinite beauties of the world--just as it is." -- Peter London, author of No More Second Hand Art

Edition details

• Publisher: Balance
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1569242925
• ISBN 13: 9781569242926
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256