Composing a Life

by Mary Catherine Bateson

Book Overview

This extraordinary book explores that act of creation that engages us all--the compostition of our lives. Through the comparative biographies of herself and four of her close friends, Mary Catherine Bateson provides a fascinating framework for her inquiry into the creative potential of complex lives, where energies are not narrowly focused toward a single ambition but rather are continually refocused and redefined.Each of the women in Composing a...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871133342
• ISBN13: 9780871133342
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Composing a Life by Mary Catherine Bateson

I first started to read what Ms. Bateson wrote because it was advertised as a life story of her famous mother Margaret Mead. Soon I was looking for everything that Ms. Bateson wrote. I found her view of her famous parents intriguing. What she told about growing up with "working parents" is certainly relevant in today's world. I have only one negative comment to offer to Mary Catherine Bateson. In the very descriptive narrative about her father's life she delineates in detail his opinions and theories about schitzophrenia. More recent medical research has shown that the theories of mental illness that blame the family and in particular the "mother" are totally unfounded. I would appreciate a disclaimer somewhere in the book that mentions much of the modern brain research about schitzophrenia. Families who have newly discovered this dread disease in their midst need to always have access to the newest scientific findings. Reading the totally out of date theories of Mr. Bateson could be devastating.

Subtly inspirational.

I can't remember why I investigated, ordered and then read this book other than it was written by Margaret Mead's daughter and I wanted to find out what the woman was like personally. What I found when I read the book was quite different. I felt such affinity with much that was presented about the lives of the women that I recommended the work to a friend. It is interesting that we both highlighted an event in Mary Bateson's life that we both had experienced in similar intensity. Bateson's candid verbalisation of the effect of the experience has helped to heal the wounds in both my friend and myself.

A Pleasant Accident

I was quite pleased to have accidentally stumbled onto this book in a search to find materials focused on the concept of "corporate anthopology". Like Ayn Rand's ability to model her concepts of epistemology in her fictional novels, Mary Catherine exemplifies the work of a cultural anthropologist by sharing her personal observations of her own life and the lives of others. I was so sparked by the "personal jewels" I was unable to uncover for my own use that I can't wait to follow on to read her next book, which I've just ordered online...

A must-read for adult learners and educators!

"Composing a Life" is a critically reflecting book on the lives of five women and the challenges they are faced with during their life roles.Mary Catherine Bateson has woven together several cross-functional areas of study including psychology, anthropology,multi-national studies, and behavioral sciences to explain the societal, ethnic, and economical pressures that women feel in the varying (and ambiguous) roles in their life.This is not a male-bashing book yet one that carefully explains the external and internal forces of women as they wear several hats as professionals, mothers, girlfriends, wives, lovers, and friends. Just as music can rapidly change in tempo or keys, so can the lives of women and the expectation of immediate adjustment and acclamation.A five-star book. Easy to read and great to reflect upon and journal your thoughts as they springboard from this introspective book.

A lucid and uplifting observation of modern life.

This very thoughtful and subtle book is good for just about anyone to read, although it particularly recounts the contemporary lives of five women. Mary Catherine Bateson is the daughter of two of the greatest of anthropologists, Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead, and her capacity for insight shines through. There is something energizing and exciting about seeing the quandries of modern life with perspective. We are not the first to have days filled with adversity and challenge, all the while trying to live in a way that does justice to ourselves and our world. You will hear about Joan Erikson, wife of Eric Erickson and an artist, a college president, an engineer in the business world, and Bateson herself. The interviews and observations span decades, but are so intriguing you find yourself thinking "and what happens next?" It's nearly impossible to write a book about decades of personal life, and see the kernels of wisdom about how we make personal decisions and deal with adversity, but it's here. In one elegantly slim volume. I'm sending it to one friend of 20 years, one of 40 and one of 80 this week.