The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (Ann Arbor Paperbacks)

A true classic. I first read it in 1968, my freshman year a college. It has forever changed my viewpoint on the human condition and human knowledge. If you can open your mind to another viewpoint then READ THIS BOOK. Boulding while techically an economist was a student and lover of humankind. In the late 60s he coined the term "Spaceship Earth" to call attention to the threats to humankind of unwise exploitation of the Earth.

This is a book that integrates many disparate themes into a surprisingly coherent whole. It is, first and foremost, a systems approach to social science. But it is more than that. It is also a unifying evolutionary framework and a plausible world view. It provides an intuitively satisfying integration of biological, mental and social processes. It is also well written. And I would have to agree with the reviewer who called it one of the best books he had ever read. It is truly a little jewel.

I read this in graduate school (communication), and found it clear and concise. I never got back the copy I loaded to a friend, and wanted to read it again.

Not as great as hoped.

I paid less than $2 for this book, and I paid too much. This was clearly a vanity effort from a famous psychologist with delusions of adequacy and far too many drugs. I will be burning my copy for heat this winter.

Different Color and water damage..

awesome thank you

I purchased this book 40 years ago (same cover except the listed price was 1.95). I started it way back then, got a few chapters into it and for some reason or other I can't remember, never finished it; while unpacking after a recent move I came across it and decided to read it through. Sometime you get a second chance at something really good and this was one of those times. Boulding packs a lot of knowledge into this work, and deals with this very abstract topic in a very enjoyable and concise manner. Each chapter is well arranged, and I particularly enjoyed his discussion of latent vs. manifest. A lot has happened since I purchased this book and it is still as relevant now as it was then. I am not sure if he ever found his Joshua, but the promised land certainly seems closer because of his having written The Image.

A landmark essay. dgp