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Daniel Miller (1) (1954–)

Auteur van The Comfort of Things

Voor andere auteurs genaamd Daniel Miller, zie de verduidelijkingspagina.

31+ Werken 799 Leden 13 Besprekingen

Over de Auteur

Daniel Miller is Professor of Anthropology at University College London
Fotografie: Daniel Miller

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Werken van Daniel Miller

The Comfort of Things (2008) 115 exemplaren
Stuff (2009) 90 exemplaren
Materiality (2005) 69 exemplaren
A Theory of Shopping (1998) 66 exemplaren
Tales from Facebook (2011) — Auteur — 37 exemplaren
Digital Anthropology (2012) — Redacteur — 35 exemplaren
Material Cultures: Why Some Things Matter (1997) — Redacteur — 33 exemplaren
Acknowledging Consumption: A Review of New Studies (1995) — Redacteur — 28 exemplaren
Domination and Resistance (1989) — Redacteur — 24 exemplaren
Consumption and Its Consequences (2012) 23 exemplaren
Unwrapping Christmas (1993) 17 exemplaren

Gerelateerde werken

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Geboortedatum
1954-03-24
Geslacht
male
Nationaliteit
UK
Opleiding
University of Cambridge
Beroepen
anthropologist
Organisaties
University College London

Leden

Besprekingen

Location : NWS
 
Gemarkeerd
newEPbooks | 2 andere besprekingen | Feb 14, 2023 |
Excellent anthropological study of the support networks of those assisted by an English hospice. It touches on various issues including the loneliness of many Englishmen and the use of different media for support, and is well written eschewing anthropological jargon so that it can be read and enjoyed by a wide audience.
 
Gemarkeerd
sefronius | Oct 26, 2017 |
This book is an interesting one almost throughout, Miller's questions and conclusions are pertinent ones, and I've only a slight doubt that his study was conducted with a rigour and discipline that are not alwaus apparent in his presentation of it.

One of the editorial reviews refers to 'beautiful' writing. My eye beholds otherwise. Clauses that don't refer, as I turned the pages, aren't so comely as that. Sentences that aren't quite. Dickinsonian use of--dashes. These weird constructions and punctuations are only occasional but they do force one to stop and re-read a phrase or sentence to get the meaning. It struck me that Miller must have dictated the book--in speech the problems mightn't have been problems--and the tapes transcribed by someone not up to the job. When I read that 'wicker' was a version of witchcraft, I was certain I'd hit upon it. In the afterword Miller speaks of writing up his interviews, though, so apparently the blame lies with him. (There are other wonderful howlers: that famous Irish patriot Michael Douglas is mentioned, and we're told that the Rosebud of Citizen Kane was a snowboard.)

There is also far too much Daniel Miller in the book. Miller is observer not subject, and so why must he inform us that he's a bit of a romantic? I don't care what football team he supports, I really don't care what he thinks of Mark Rothko, and I really and truly don't care about his love of John Peel. Less obviously but even less forgivably he seems to want to force his own reactions to certain subjects upon the reader. He's all but fawning when discussing one family, and tells us of crying after interviewing a lonely man. I don't see that any of these things has a place in a quasi-academic book.

The last reservation I have about the book is that in the descriptions of the subjects and their belongings there's no clue as to the source of Miller's remarks. There's little direct quotation and no internal evidence as to whether a statement like 'the pet iguana's grin was a form of welcome' is an indirect quotation or paraphrase of an iguana's owner, an impression or speculation of Miller's, or a conclusion Miller drew from what he learned during the visit. This to me is the biggest problem with Miller's writing. There's a big difference between deciding to keep the writing casual and witholding necessary information from the reader.

I don't mean to suggest this is a bad book; it isn't. I've gone on at such length to let readers know what to expect; some of them might be hoping, as I was, for writing more scholarly than this. Perhaps this should have been broken into and published as two different books, one outlining the study, reporting the possessions and interviews, and detailing conclusions in a much longer afterword and the other given a title like like Life is a Funny Old Thing: Musings from an Anthropologist and marketed to a different set of readers.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
bluepiano | 2 andere besprekingen | Dec 30, 2016 |
Esta obra es un estudio del fenómeno de la celebración de la Navidad bajo diversos contextos sociales y su alcance global.
 
Gemarkeerd
BibliotecaUNED | 1 andere bespreking | Dec 3, 2014 |

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Statistieken

Werken
31
Ook door
1
Leden
799
Populariteit
#31,915
Waardering
½ 3.6
Besprekingen
13
ISBNs
178
Talen
4

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