Imaginary Landscape: Making Worlds of Myth and Science

Critical supporter of New Age thinking, Thompson ( At the Edge of History ; Pacific Shift ) envisions "a planetary culture in which myth is understood to be isomorphic, but not identical, to science." Weighted down by portentousness and self-sustaining rhetoric, these five loosely related essays, in part, defend the Gaia hypothesis, which posits planet Earth as a single living organism. Thompson offers insightful commentary on the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy, the "illusory conservatism of Ronald Reagan," the gropings of New Age visionaries; the essays also interweave a self-indulgent tribute to four friends who influenced the author's thought: neurophysiologist Francesco Varela, mathematician Ralph Abraham, and co-inventors of the Gaia hypothesis, James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis. Thompson links "the plagues of AIDS and pollution" as he discusses responses of living systems to "the emerging planetary bioplasm."
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Thompson, author of other works on mythology, here sees myths as fundamental insights into the patterns of nature. Using especially the myth of Gaia the Earth Goddess, he speculates on the future in areas where recent advances in science have tended to require a whole new way of grasping reality. "The Gaia hypothesis proposes that the Earth has been so shaped by life that it makes no sense to look upon the planet as a rock that circles the sun . . . ; rather, we should think of the Earth as a self-regulating entity." The mind must find its own way of adapting to this ongoing Planetization, and mythology can be a valuable part of the reach for emergent meaning in a changing reality. A fascinating but difficult work that is probably beyond the average reader. Recommended for larger collections and areas with reader interest in mythology and New Age philosophy.
- C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., W. Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.