An edition of Michelangelo's Finger (2010)

Michelangelo's finger

an exploration of everyday transcendence

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Last edited by MARC Bot
January 2, 2023 | History
An edition of Michelangelo's Finger (2010)

Michelangelo's finger

an exploration of everyday transcendence

  • 1 Want to read

"The ability of the human index finger to point is truly unique in the animal world. In Michaelangelo's Finger Raymond Tallis shows just how central this seemingly insignificant difference has been in determining the amazing evolutionary pathway of the human being. In this startlingly original and persuasive book, Raymond Tallis shows that it is easy to underestimate the influence of small things in determining what manner of creatures humans are. He reveals that over time the repeated and multiple effects of the seemingly insignificant can make an enormous difference and argues that the independent movement of the human index finger is one such easily overlooked factor. Indeed, not for nothing is the index finger called 'the forefinger'. It is the one we most naturally deploy when we want to winkle things out of small spaces, but it plays a far more significant role in an action unique to us among primates: pointing. In Michelangelo's Finger, Raymond Tallis argues that it is through pointing that the index finger made a significant contribution to hominid development and to the creation of a human world separate to the rest of the natural world. Observing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the hugely familiar and awkward encounter between Michelangelo's God and Man through their index fingers, Tallis identifies an intuitive indication of the central role of the index finger in making us unique. Just as the reaching index fingers of God and Man are here made central to the creation of our kind, so Tallis believes that the simple act of pointing is central to our extraordinary evolution."--Publisher's description.

Publish Date
Publisher
Atlantic
Language
English
Pages
166

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Michelangelo's Finger
Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence
2012, Yale University Press
in English
Cover of: Michelangelo's Finger
Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence
2011, Atlantic Books, Limited
in English
Cover of: Michelangelo's Finger
Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence
2010, Atlantic Books, Limited
in English
Cover of: Michelangelo's finger
Michelangelo's finger: an exploration of everyday transcendence
2010, Atlantic
in English

Add another edition?

Book Details


Table of Contents

1. How to point: a primer for Martians
2. What it takes to be a pointer
3. Do animals get the point
4. People who don't point
5. Pinning language to the world
6. Pointing and power
7. Assisted pointing and pointing by proxy
8. The transcendent animal: pointing and the beyond.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Published in
London

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
128
Library of Congress
P117.7 .T355 2010

The Physical Object

Pagination
xxii, 166 pages
Number of pages
166

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL35605063M
Internet Archive
michelangelosfin0000tall_a3u1
ISBN 10
1848871198
ISBN 13
9781848871199
OCLC/WorldCat
506242279

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January 2, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
December 8, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
June 18, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 22, 2020 Created by ImportBot import new book