The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge. Jeremy Narby

The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge


The.Cosmic.Serpent.DNA.and.the.Origins.of.Knowledge.pdf
ISBN: 0874779642,9780874779646 | 275 pages | 14 Mb

Download The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge



The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge Jeremy Narby
Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam


Anthropologist Narby's very personal account of his encounters with Amazonian shamanism and his passionately researched syntheses of anthropological, biochemical, neurological and mythological scholarship fascinate but do not convince. His defense of the rights of indigenous peoples against usurpation by capitalist, technological countries is admirable; his methodology is not. Throughout, Narby appears to mistake enthusiasm for evidence and he takes similarities of form (e.g., any helical pattern, hexagon or snakelike figure) to be proof of identity or of casual connection: that the serpent of shamanic lore is DNA. Of his assertion that the Amazonians' specific knowledge of pharmacology derives from hallucinogenic trance (and not from some other more diffuse source), he undertakes no experimental test, offering the typical complaints that the "presuppositions" of science are too narrow to permit the test. Narby does well to question the assumptions of scientists who dismiss all teleology in favor of mechanistic interpretations that are often deeply inadequate, and he does well to inquire into the meaning of the vast commonality of forms between science and world mythologies, but his answers too often come off as groundless invention. He provides an intriguing detective story, wondrous visions and a wealth of fascinating information on genetic science, shamanism, etc., and he also offers some valuable thoughts on the parochial smallness of official science, but, overall, his book's greatest value, perhaps, is as a case study in the excesses of scholarship gone astray.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

MORE EBOOKS:
Crystallography: An Introduction, 3rd Edition pdf download
Identification of parametric models: from experimental data download pdf
The Speed of Dark download







Tags: The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge ebook pdf epub djvu mobi rar
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge pdf epub djvu free download
Download The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge free ebook pdf epub
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge read online free book
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge cheap ebook for kindle and nook
Jeremy Narby ebooks and audio books
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge download pdf epub rar rapidshare mediafire fileserve 4shared torrent depositfiles scribd