Freya Mathews - "For the love of matter: A contemporary panpsychism" & "Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a recovery of culture"

I have just been reading two of Freya Matthews' books. A REAL delight - I found myself mumbling out loud at regular intervals "Yes!"and "Marvellous!" She writes with absolute clarity, beauty and grace. If this blog makes any sense to you - or you wish that it did! - do check Mathews' work out for she expresses a lot of what I am trying to explore far more clearly and perspicaciously than I have so far. Extracts from both books can be checked out on Google Books at the links below.

Here are a couple of reviews of For the love of matter: A contemporary panpsychism

"For Love of Matter is a complex work that offers us insights into how an ecological and philosophical worldview can make possible a life of trust and fulfillment for all.” — Environmental Values

"The most important thing about this book is that it is an attempt to develop, in a modern ecological and psychoanalytically sophisticated context, a new version of very ancient and often now disparaged views of the world. The kind of materialist philosophy the author describes and attacks remains dominant and largely unquestioned. She questions it, in a philosophically informed and thought-provoking way." — Clare Palmer, University of Lancaster

"This book is well written, well argued, and important. Its main thesis is philosophically bold, novel, and grand. Mathews draws on relevant scholarship and scientific theory in ways that are helpful to both describing and differentiating her position from historical scholars." — Karen J. Warren, Macalester College

Here are a couple of reviews of Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a recovery of culture:

"There is probably no other topic in environmental thinking that is more important. The attempt to uncover both the origins of our misplaced environmental sentiments while offering a shining alternative is crucial for clear environmental thinking. The writing is crisp and clear, the argumentation is sound, and the content is brilliantly provocative." — Michael P. Nelson, coauthor of American Indian Environmental Ethics: An Ojibwa Case Study

"Mathews is a first rate thinker thinking the original thoughts we need to look at culture critically in the face of human and ecological disasters. The author's ideas of being native, of becoming votary, of this kind of engagement in history and technology, attentiveness, grace, living locally, and wisdom are important insights that are well expressed. The reader feels included on a journey where these insights are occurring naturally and being evidenced before one's eyes." — Glen A. Mazis, author of Earthbodies: Rediscovering Our Planetary Senses

Here is a review essay by Kate Rigby:
Minding (about) Matter: On the Eros and Anguish of Earthly Encounter. A review essay engaging with Freya Mathews' two recent titles: For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism and Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture