Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology

This man, as all pioneers, geniuses and mavericks is still misunderstood, after all these years he's already gone. His work is so "next level" and as such requires a higher level of intelligence to understand it in full, that the scientific community preferred to treat him always as an outsider and let his theories and corpus of work be quietly forgotten. Because status quo science doesn't like neither foster minds like Bateson's. But it won't be forgotten. As the time goes by more people will achieve the required understanding to get to the core of his work and take it from there, and we will witness a huge enrichment of science by the hands of those ones who take the challenge of picking Bateson's work and continue it. As per me, I am not a scientist, but communication is my passion and epistemology. But beyond merely intellectual interest, Bateson's work still is and has been life saving for me, as per the knowledge I came to have about the double bind theory and some other profound insights he share on the human mind like in his work on alcoholism, which helped me understand myself and my mental health in the context of my family dynamics and my relation to my mother. I don't need positive peer review from blind scientists to know that what Bateson posits on his Theory of Schizophrenia and the double bind theory is true, is real, is an exceptionally sensible and sensitive approach to mental illness (not only this one but many others but which were not "invented" yet). If you want to give yourself a chance for enlightenment, this book is a must. And as it is a collection of essays, it's very easy to pick and leave and pick again, for years and years. My recommendation: Read this book.  

Review: Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology

Playfully brilliant! I came across this book by reading Deleuze (there is a rather long footnote about the double-bind in several of his books) and this shocked me by its use of humor, something very few 'serious' scholars are supposed to do...then again, I enjoyed this book immensely. Read full review