How Forests Think

Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human

By: Eduardo Kohn

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Can forests think? Do dogs dream? In this astonishing book, Eduardo Kohn challenges the very foundations of anthropology, calling into question our central assumptions about what it means to be human - and thus distinct from all other life forms. Based on four years of fieldwork among the Runa of Ecuador's Upper Amazon, Kohn draws on his rich ethnography to explore how Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit one of the world's most complex ecosystems.

Whether or not we recognize it, our anthropological tools hinge on those capacities that make us distinctly human. However, when we turn our ethnographic attention to how we relate to other kinds of beings, these tools (which have the effect of divorcing us from the rest of the world) break down. How Forests Think seizes on this breakdown as an opportunity. Avoiding reductionistic solutions, and without losing sight of how our lives and those of others are caught up in the moral webs we humans spin, this book skillfully fashions new kinds of conceptual tools from the strange and unexpected properties of the living world itself. In this groundbreaking work, Kohn takes anthropology in a new and exciting direction - one that offers a more capacious way to think about the world we share with other kinds of beings.

©2013 The Regents of the University of California (P)2017 Tantor

Mind blowing

I'm an anthropologist and this book really helped me to think about some of my own experiences in a different way. I highly recommend it.

Mind blowing. Provocative. Timely

A must read for all who cares about how to save ourselves from ourselves. A radical rethinking of humanity as all the patterns of relationships that we maintain.

very annoying wrong pronunciation of French names

very interesting book if you are into social sciences or semiotics. very productive interpreation of Peirce. a very challenging discourse about difference. however the book underestimates Saussurean seniotics and its developments.

the pronunciation of French last names is always wrong and is very annoying. unbeleavable

An Academic Reflection on An Animist Culture

Incredibly dense, technical, and informative. The author digs into both the spiritual and academic realities based in their experience with the Runa people, treating them with respect and recognizing the implications of understanding a more-than-human approach to anthropology and animism itself in a Western setting. He takes lessons learned directly from the Runa and applies them to our own understanding, creating a kind of dialogue between. I found it thoughtful, and an incredible work, despite many patches of dry anthropology theory and lengthy explanations for which the Runa themselves have both, in my understanding of the material he brings forward, more simple and complex ways of understanding and communicating.

Powerful insights. Quite mind altering!!!

I am very impressed by the insights in this book...the breadth and dimensionality of it would elude the superficial readers and picky reviewers. So very profound and multilayered.

Only a book for those who want to stretch their consciousness without drugs or inductions.
Dynamic and rich...