Beyond Fate

by Margaret Visser

Book Overview

Many people today are afflicted with a sense that they cannot change things for the better. They feel helpless, constrained, caught -- in a word, fatalistic. Beyond Fate examines why. In her characteristically lively prose, Margaret Visser investigates what fate means to us, and where the propensity to believe in it and accept it comes from. She takes an ancient metaphor where time is seen and spoken of as though it were space and examines...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887846793
• ISBN13: 9780887846793
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: House of Anansi Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Destiny Rides Again

Margaret Visser is a rarity: a deep, scholarly thinker who expresses herself with great clarity, and has a genuine affection for her subjects as well. "Beyond Fate" is a collection of lectures exploring the roles of fate and destiny (they are not the same thing, we're told), and how these concepts inform our thinking today. Visser walks us through a simple path to illustrate and anchor her points, such as using "Drawing a Line" to describe our thinking about the concept of time. Our views of fate and destiny and their ramifications in society, like fine embroidery, grow more intricate and detailed as Visser makes her case. Her knife-sharp rhetorical skills reminded me of a Jeremy Begbie or a C.S. Lewis, but Visser's talent doesn't really need the comparisons. This book makes me think and dream, which is why I recommend it highly. Added note: Visser also has an audio book of "Beyond Fate." She's a terrific reader of her own work (due in part to her years on the radio, no doubt), and it's as entertaining to listen to her speak as it is to read the book. Her voice reminds me of a genetic splicing of Julia Child and Lynn Truss.

A lifetimes worth of insights from a brilliant classics scholar

I've listened to this audiobook a few times, its almost like therapy listening to her analysis of metaphor and culture and how it defines the circumference of our thinking. It's five one hour lectures. Great for anyone interested in questions of heritage and storytelling and how it binds modern western culture.