Product Description
In the sixth century b.c.-twenty-five hundred years before Einstein-Heraclitus of Ephesus declared that energy is the essence of matter, that everything becomes energy in flux, in relativity. His great book, On Nature, the world's first coherent philosophical treatise and touchstone for Plato, Aristotle, and Marcus Aurelius, has long been lost to history-but its surviving fragments have for thousands of years tantalized our greatest thinkers, from Montaigne to Nietzsche, Heidegger to Jung. Now, acclaimed poet Brooks Haxton presents a powerful free-verse translation of all 130 surviving fragments of the teachings of Heraclitus, with the ancient Greek originals beautifully reproduced en face. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Difficult to Jump over your Own Shadow
If I did not think I could better the thinking in trnaslation of our mutual friend Heraclitus, I would not write this review. The Hillman forward suggests to me that there is too much "psychologizing"afoot here. But this is no legitimate criticism of the translation.So, let us look at Haxton's translation of 10."Phusis kruptesthai philei." I read the verb as amiddle voice infinitive: hence I would try "to hide itself" for "kruptesthai". You have "keep" here. Oh dear, this loses me.But you could mean the keep as in the keep of "to hold dear."More interesting.And is "things" such an illuminating word for the very difficult word "phusis?"I realize we are in trouble here, since "nature" is not a great translation for "phusis."This is a difficult problem.If it were my first attempt, I would try:"Emergenceconceals itself in itself."No, probably not so good.Perhaps better,I would try:"The flower in full bloom conceals itself." A little closer.The simpler and more usual "Nature loves to hide herself." is, I presently think,better than what you have.

But the author may have had tyrannical editors.

I know, I know, the author would say, well, if you think you can do better, then try it.Alas, I know it is too difficult, but for me it is easier to learn classical Greek. .THAT is the satisfying moment when the blossoming of the manifold meanings can come forth from their hiding places, like the flowers that bloom suddenly in the spring.

Abandoned in "Translation"
When I picked this volume up, I was quite excited to finally have the opportunity to read the fragments of Heraclitus.This particular volume is printed as a bilingual edition, with the Greek on the left page and the English "translation" on the right.This particular edition gives 130 Fragments as belonging to Heraclitus, but only translates 126 of them; the translator indicates that one was deleted in a prior edition (9), two fragments were repetitive (42 & 54), and another is omitted due to its overlapping with the two prior fragments.Apparently, the translator is going for some kind of narrative flow in the fragments and what the reader therefore gets is a Heraclitus that has been packaged for sale.

For aspiring scholars like me, however, the omission in the translation are only one concern.Of greater concern is when Brooks Paxton, the "translator", writes in his notes that he has "provided my own examples" (95, n. 16) within the actual text of the translation from other ancient Greek writings!So, not only are we getting a commodified Heraclitus, but a commodified Heraclitus that is also now intertextual with other ancient Greek literature that he not only never cited, but actually lived before they were written!Paxton then writes, "Heraclitus, no doubt, would have chosen other examples" (ibid.).One wonder why Paxton didn't just translate the examples that Heraclitus himself gave so that we might understand what it was that he was originally trying to get across.Further, Paxton even changes entirely the reference to a town in one of the fragments because little is known about the town that Heraclitus references (97 n. 112).

I myself do not know Greek, so I cannot comment upon how well translated these passages are.Given the above notes from Paxton's own hand, however, I am not willing to trust the translation - for all I know he has played fast and loose with it, going for the aesthetic feel of a word over (and perhaps even against!) what would actually communicate what Heraclitus actually wrote or said.I find it extremely disappointing that Penguin Classics would allow and publish such shoddy academic work.This book is of no use whatsoever to the lay person who wants to actually understand Heraclitus; it is of even less use to the student that would like a reliable translation to use for research.Fortunately, there are other translations - such Guy Davenport's Herakleitos and Diogenes - which aim at being responsible translations, in the belief that Heraclitus could - and will continue to - speak for himself.

Good for Greek, Despicable Translation
As a recent graduate of a Classics program and enthusiast of pre-Socratic philosophy, I was thrilled to see an edition of Heraclitus' fragments available with the original Greek text opposite an English translation (particularly because the Greek text of the Fragments is so hard to come by).To readers of Greek, the English translation will look poor if not atrocious and absurd. It aims to capture the 'sense' of the Greek while consistently avoiding more literal renderings. Sometimes a 'loose translation' is enjoyable, if not preferable - but here the supposedly 'poetic' translation is SO outrageous that I feel it does a grave injustice to Heraclitus' philosophy. There are two reasons to buy this book: 1) you are a student of Greek who can read the Greek text and appreciate it while ignoring the English translations on the right-facing pages, or 2) you want to read the English translations to get a taste of Heraclitus but feel inspired to learn the Greek by having its presence on the left-facing pages. No one should buy this book hoping to get an authoritative translation of Heraclitus.

Heraclitus and Fragments
This compilation of words by ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, is known as "Fragments" because there are no actual works by Heraclitus in existence today.There are only examples from antiquity where others quoted his long-lost works.This book is, therefore, a compilation of bits and pieces of Heraclitus' unique brand of philosophy.His thought reflects strains of ideas that the West did not hear of again until investigating the Buddha of the East.Heraclitus represents a kind of missing link of philosophy in a certain way, drawing our attention to a time in history when much different fundamental ideas could have shaped our minds to come for the next millenia.As an added benefit, each quote is shown with its representation in Greek as well as its translation in English.The author also supplies the reader with some background information to clarify and understand obscurities in his text that may not be so readily obvious.I found this to be an enjoyable book...

At Least it Has The Greek
If you know Greek, and don't care about using it as a reference work, this is a good, inexensive edition.It contains the fragments in Greek.

On the pages opposite the Greek, though, is not a translation.Instead, it is an adaptation into English.This adaptation is occasionally inspired, often mediocre, and almost never what Heraclitus said. ... Read more

Product Description
Behind the superficial obscurity of what fragments we have of Heraclitus' thought, Professor Kahn claims that it is possible to detect a systematic view of human existence, a theory of language which sees ambiguity as a device for the expression of multiple meaning, and a vision of human life and death within the larger order of nature. The fragments are presented here in a readable order; translation and commentary aim to make accessible the power and originality of a systematic thinker and the first great master of artistic prose. The commentary locates Heraclitus within the tradition of early Greek thought, but stresses the importance of his ideas for contemporary theories of language, literature and philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Still the standard, with good reason.
Kahn offers the fragments of Heraclitus in solid translation, with an extensive and thoughtful commentary that both takes account of a great deal of secondary literature and provides the author's own valuable insights.

Kahn's approach to the interpretation of Heraclitus is orthodox but sensitive. He appreciates Heraclitus' intentional and artful prose style, including his use of ambiguity and wordplay to create a multiplicity of meanings in many of the fragments. He also gives proper attention to the resonance between fragments, often picking up an echo of a word or image from one fragment while interpreting another.

I enjoyed and learned much from Kahn's commentary, though I would rate his overall success at drawing a systematic Heraclitean worldview from the fragments a limited success at best. In this I think he is surpassed by Roman Dilcher and perhaps M.L. West as well. However, Kahn's command of the ancient material, the secondary literature (in several languages), and the history and culture of the ancient world in general, is truly impressive. His erudition serves the reader very, very well, opening up a wealth of other sources and making connections that only someone with such a mastery of classical and archaic literature can. I would also strongly advise interested folks to hunt down the hundreds of footnotes in his already weighty commentary, as they frequently provide a gem of a comment or an important bibliographical reference.

All in all, this book is essential for any serious study of Heraclitus. Its staying power is testament to Kahn's superb work. I personally feel deeply in Professor Kahn's debt for his fine volume, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. My one and only complaint has to do with his decision to reorder the fragments and number them with Roman numerals...it's truly and deeply annoying, but if this is the only fly in the ointment, I suppose we can forgive Charles Kahn. A wonderful book.

Interesting but there are alternatives
Rather than Charles H. Kahn's 'The Art and Thought of Heraclitus: An Edition of the Fragments with Translation and Commentary' (ISBN: 052128645X), I would suggest that those who are interested in acquiring an edition of Heraclitus which gives them the Greek text with translation and commentary look for a copy of Philip Wheelwright's possibly more interesting Heraclitus

I would also suggest that the more scholarly inclined turn to Thomas McEvilley's The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies where, in Chapter Two, 'The Problem of the One and the Many,' they will find a fascinating treatment of Heraclitus which goes far beyond anything Kahn has to offer.On page 149 of this same book they will find a valuable footnote (92) which will provide them with a good idea of the quality (or lack of it) of Kahn's 'scholarship.' (Readers might also care to read my Amazon review of McEvilley, 'Throwing Light on the Landscape of the Orthodox', April 12, 2007).

As for the general reader who simply wants to read an English translation of Heraclitus, their needs will perhaps be better served by a book such as Guy Davenport's 7 Greeks which gives an excellent translation of the complete fragments:

Davenport's translations really are superb and the 124 fragments he gives us, which are tragically all that remain of Heraclitus, take up a mere 12 pages of his book.As a bonus, the remainder of '7 Greeks' is devoted to equally fine translations of Archilocus, Sappho, Alkman, Anacreon, Diogenes, and Herondas.

Davenport's Heraclitus is pithy, pungent, and very much to the point:

16. "Awake, we see a dying world; asleep, dreams."

82. "Defend the law as you would a city wall."

97. "Life is bitter and final, yet men cherish it and beget children to suffer the same fate."

107. "Having cut, burned, and poisoned the sick, the doctor then submits his bill."

Another of Davenport's 7 Greeks, Diogenes, was for me a wonderful find and I'm still chuckling over this one:

Diogenes 109. "I've seen Plato's cups and table, but not his cupness and tableness."

The affluent student who simply must own every edition of Heraclitus should by all means acquire Kahn (and also McEvilley who translates and comments on many of the fragments).Others may find Davenport's translations adequate to their needs, somewhat more memorable than Kahn's, and his book better value for money.

man is the measure. . .
This text is not for the beginning student in philosophy or philology.As someone interested in the history of philosophy, works like this compilation/commentary by Kahn are always valuable.The aim of this text is to provide a method for organizing the fragments of Heraclitus' philosophy in a manner that differs from the original Diels-Kranz method.Kahn's translations are markedly different from the now standard translations of Kirk and Raven; the differences are intertwined with the method of organizing the order of the fragments.In assessing any particular fragment in this work, one should always consult the Kirk-Raven text on the Presocratic Philosophers, have at least a passing knowledge of Greek, have read some Heidegger, and know a good bit about the controversy surrounding the arranging of the fragments.The arrangement of Heraclitus' fragments is a project that is just as perilous as attempting to ascertain the order in which Plato wrote his dialogues.I don't particularly find this sort of lexicography to be very fruitful in terms of having definitive answers, but Kahn's arrangement here is very good at placing itself within the context of what has come before in the way of scholarship.Referring back to any particular fragment in Diels-Kranz or Kirk and Raven is easy because Kahn cross-references each of his numbered translations with their numbering systems.It is hard to challenge the authority of this work, but it is by no means the final word on Heraclitus.

The foundation of all Western thought......
Devoid of all "Slave Morality" influences from Semitic thinking, Heraclitus is pure European thought at its finest.It's usually proclaimed, that all Western philosophies are but a footnote to Plato.I disagree.Even Plato is subjected to Heraclitus.These fragments shine through, and Charles Kahn does an excellent job of giving his opinions about each fragment without forcing them down your throat and proclaiming his opinions as 100% the ONLY way they can be understood (but, in my opinion, he makes a good case for this reasons).After reading these 123 fragments, you'll see that philosophers such as Plato through Hitler among others owe much of their thinking to this one man.An Excellent Read.

Inspirational for Certain Philosophers
One of the things that is most interesting to me about this book is the way it illustrates how we can know so much about someone whose main book is not available to us.By writing about nature in a way that emphasized thepower of fire, war, and strife, Heraclitus produced a book that was so wellknown to ancient writers that many of them lifted ideas for their ownpurposes.This combination of the knowledge that we have from many sourcesproduces a picture of the permutations that basic philosophy is prone tofall prey to in a history which never finds any particular idea useful forlong.I find the application of such ideas most interesting in the fieldof deep politics, where the idea of "killing the killers,"mentioned in connection with the riddle which Homer couldn't guess at thetime of his death according to the tradition explained in this book, couldbe related to some modern despicabilities. ... Read more

Product Description
This bright, deep, meditative jewel-like study brings Heraclitus to life in a new way, and shows him to be one of the principal sources of Western mystical thinking. From Geldard's point of view, the study of Heraclitus is not just an academic matter but, on the contrary, presents us with very real existential and phenomenological challenges.

The book includes new translations of all the essential fragments. Geldard, through his exploration of Heraclitus, shows us,

"The more that human beings openly and humbly seek higher knowledge, the more they develop the power to perceive it, until finally they penetrate to the hidden universal order. The result of this penetration is knowledge of the Logos, that 'which directs all things through all things.' The acquisition of this knowledge is not an event; it is a stance in the world. It is Being in its fullness." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Words of Wonder
Richard Geldard is the artist here. ... not Heraclitus.If you read other Geldard books you will see a man in search of truth. That is what I enjoy. We have no way of truly knowing the intent of Hericlitus's Fragments but Geldard molds the hints into an amazing thesis.In Remembering Heraclitus Geldard states " Materialist's insists that the brain is the only source of consciousness - which is the same as saying the radio box you own is the sole source of the programming"This simple analogy makes it easy for we the people to understand the focus of this search for truth...I highly recommend his books on Emerson also..

Finally....
....someone has given some long overdue credit to this brilliant pre-socratic philosopher.
Geldard has done a good job articulating and intelligently interpreting Heraclitus though, mildly clouded by his personal understanding and experiences.
In any case this is one of the best attempts to explain a very difficult and often confusing subject matter. The suggested readings at the back of the book were particularly helpful to me.

Heraclitus!
_Remembering Heraclitus_ is an exposition of the philosophy of Heraclitus as revealed to us in the few fragments of his that have been preserved.The book is quite profound and asks us questions that concern the very nature of man and his universe.The author describes Heraclitus as a thinker who rejected life in the political sphere for a life removed from the Greek polis where he could engage in speculation and his own researches into the process in all things.Central to his thought is the idea of Logos.This has influenced the thought of many future generations, as well as the Christian religion.By achieving contact with the Logos, man can achieve a more harmonious existence.Heraclitus can be understood using the concept of apophasis, or "affirmation through negation".This is a way of telling us what something is, by telling us what it is not.The author explains how this works for Heraclitus in much detail.The author also discusses such terms as physis (nature), ethos (human nature), and telos (purpose) and how they all play an essential role in the thinking of Heraclitus.He also discusses how Heraclitus' thinking is applicable to the modern day understanding of consciousness, modern day physics, society, and the historical understanding of the development of philosophy.Finally, the author discusses how one should view the notion of esotericism, esoteric thought, and whether we should reject, or alternatively, idolize the past.Heraclitus is indeed a fascinating figure, a philosopher, an alchemist, a teacher, and a profound thinker who has left his mark on Western civilization (and is even popular among some Eastern philosophers).And, this book is a fine survey of the meaning of his thought.

An academic and a brightly articulate study
In Remembering Heraclitus, educator and scholar Richard Geldard reveals Heraclitus as one of the principal sources of Western mystical thinking. With new translation of all the essential fragments of Heraclitus writings, readers are treated to both an academic and a brightly articulate study that present very real and contemporary existential and phenomenological challenges. Enhanced with appendices on "The Problem of the Text"; "The Essential Fragments"; Glossary of Greek Terms"; and "Suggested Readings", Remembering Heraclitus is rewarding and very highly recommended reading for students Greek antiquarian history, literature, culture, philosophy,religion, and metaphysics.

Looking for the Logos
Geldard does an admirable job of breathing life ("inspiring") into the few remaining fragments that we have from this foundational philospher.This book is a must-read if you are truly interested in intellectual history.Heraclitus stands as a hero of Western thought, challenging the mythopoetic conventions of the Archaic world, and really making possible the later investigations of the Sophists and Socrates himself.While I must confess to losing my way during some of Geldard's metaphysical arguments, such as our neural systems are some kind of antennae for tuning in the Logos as some kind of broadcast consciousness, I found the section on the Ethos as both compelling and relevant.I also recommend Beckett's "A New Stoicism" for those wishing to pursue a rigorous examination of the relevance of early ethical thought to our lives today, a period not dissimilar to the transition from the Archaic to the Classical period in Greece. ... Read more

Product Description
Heraclitus lived 2,500 years ago, but his adages, including "You can’t step in the same river twice" and "Dogs bark at what they don’t understand," remain surprisingly relevant today. Expect the Unexpected or You Won’t Find It uses 30 of Heraclitus’s epigrams to unleash creativity. Treating each saying as an inexhaustible source of inspiration, author Roger von Oech supplies anecdotes, riddles, questions, and hidden jokes designed to topple old modes of thought and fire the imagination. Reversing expectations, turning change to advantage, creating powerful metaphors — these concepts derived from Heraclitus can help anyone searching for new approaches to problem solving.Amazon.com Review
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus was the first "creativity teacher," says Roger von Oech, whose bestselling book A Whack on the Side of the Head set the standard for out-of-the-box thinking. In Expect the Unexpected, Von Oech uses 30 of Heraclitus's pithy and paradoxical epigrams to approach problems in a fresh manner. He explains his premise: "Creative thinking involves imagining familiar things in a new light, digging below the surface to find previously undetected patterns, and finding connections among unrelated phenomena."

Von Oech uses the epigrams as creativity exercises--accompanied by mental puzzles, anecdotes, questions, and punchy footnotes--to demonstrate that Heraclitus's 2,500-year-old creative insights have aged well. With his whimsical wand, von Oech transforms the epigram "A Donkey prefers garbage to gold" into an exploration of values. He uses Heraclitus's observation that "A wonderful harmony is created when we join together the seemingly unconnected" to examine the use of metaphors in understanding problems. When Heraclitus observes that "Dogs bark at what they don't understand," Von Oech crafts a meditation about criticism. Executives, students, teachers, and parents will find an exciting and entertaining map for changing thought patterns, tolerating ambiguity, confounding expectations, and searching for hidden meanings. --Barbara Mackoff ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Meaningless title, meaningless book ................
The worst creativity book I've found. And that's saying something. I think this author has been whacked on the side of the head one too many times.

His theme as usual is temporarily opening mental locks (this time courtesy of a guy who's been dead 2,500 years). But that will always be a superficial solution. The only way to be truly creative is to permanently remove mental locks. And that is something he doesn't know anything about, or he wouldn't be asking Heraclitus to help him out.

An Ancient Philosopher Meets Creative Think
Someone who knows me well recommended Roger Von Oech's book "Expect the Unexpected" to me because she knew of my interest in Heraclitus (c. 500, B.C.), an ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher. Heraclitus was a master of oracular, enigmatic sayings.He was known in antiquity as the "riddling" or as the "dark" philosopher.There are no surviving complete texts of Heraclitus.We know of him through brief quotations from other Greek philosophers and writers and from their descriptions and comments on his life and thought. Heraclitus is probably best-known for his doctrine that everything is in flux, in constant change."Everything changes", he said [panta rhei in Greek) and "you cannot step into the same river twice for other waters keep flowing on and on". Heraclitus was a great influence on other philosophers and writers from Plato and Aristotle to Alfred North Whitehead and Martin Heidegger.I have been fascinated by him since youth.

On the surface, Roger Von Oech seems an unlikely person to write about Heraclitus. Von Oech is the founder and president of a firm known as Creative Think, headquartered in California, which is a consulting firm that gives presentations and seminars to large businesses and other organizations on creativity and increasing productivity.A glance at Creative Think's website shows that Von Oech has written several books and invented a number of gimmicky-looking gadgets with the goal of helping people expand their thinking horizons.He is obviously and engaging and successful entrepreneur.This made me suspicious of the book.What could Creative Think have to do with Heraclitus?

From the book, I learned that Von Oech holds a PhD in the history of ideas and that he has been studying Heraclitus since 1971, while engaged in graduate work in Germany.And his book shows that Von Oech has given Heraclitus a great deal of thought. I was impressed with his respect for and understanding of this difficult thinker.I was even more impressed, upon reflection, with Von Oech's ability and interpret Heraclitus's texts in an engaging, lively way to audiences and people that otherwise would have had no use for him.It takes some bravura to write a self-help book such as this with Heraclitus as the mentor. Von Oech has done it well.

This short book begins with a brief overview of Heraclitus followed by a list of what Von Oech terms "the Creative Insights of Heraclitus", consisting of 30 of his characteristic sayings.Von Oech advises that his book can be read straight through, or that the reader can meditate on each individual saying over time, taking the sayings at random or in some form of order. (The time necessary to think through Heraclitus can be measured in years.)Von Oech then explores each of the 30 sayings individually in brief chapters.It is wonderful that he gives the Heraclitus texts in ancient Greek as well as in English for the reader to see, even readers who know no Greek.He offers a commentary on each text, together with questions, printed in red, for the reader to consider in responding to the text.In a short concluding chapter, Von Oech summarizes the lessons he has taken from Heraclitus.

In his interpretations, Von Oech uses many riddles, puzzles, and stories to help readers see things in a new way. What he says is short, but much of it is useful, and Von Oech ties his message in to the sayings of the Riddling Philosopher.Besides jokes and riddles, Von Oech illustrates his interpretations of Heraclitus from figures as diverse as Thomas Edison and Christopher Columbus to Herman Hesse and the Buddha.He stresses ambiguity, the ever-presence of change, thought, open-mindedness, and the elimination of arrogance.The difficulty of the sayings of Heraclitus mirrors the need of thinking closely to discover meaning.

I have some residual qualms about this book.Von Oech uses Heraclitus largely as a way to help managers and employees become more efficient and creative in performing their chosen tasks.His firm, Creative Think, is workplace oriented. Heraclitus's teachings are broader than this, in that they seem to be directed to challenging the fundamental and unexamined assumptions that people make about things such as the workplace, its values, and the importance of material success.Von Oech for the most part accepts these assumptions and uses Heraclitus within them. (He does make some exceptions. For example he tells the story of a coach of a rowing team who taught his crew to meditate to increase their coordination with each other. The team members did so, but they also lost their competitive streak as a result of their meditation experience.)Von Oech does not expressly ask his readers, as Heraclitus did, to reconsider their lives and goals.Thus he deemphasizes an important theme in Heraclitus.

Von Oech still has written a fine book.It fulfills his goal of awakening his readers to the thought of Heraclitus and of encouraging his readers to think about this great philosopher for themselves.There is a great deal of wisdom in what Von Oech says.In this book as in, I suspect, his lectures and seminars, Von Oech meets his task of improving workplace creativity but he opens the door to wider questions as well.One of the sayings of Heraclitus included in this book is "Lovers of wisdom must open their minds to very many things."So it is.I began with a skepticism of Von Oech and his enterprise, but found myself learning from him.

Robin Friedman

Excellent Guide for Creative Inspiration
Roger von Oech is one of the power houses in creativity books.This particular tome is an example itself of a creative endeavor.Perhaps some of these ideas are expressed elsewhere by Oech or others but the presentation here is what makes a difference.I found myself ruminating and thinking of how each of these sayings can help me out of current conundrums and I did find myself at least seeing situations from different perspectives, which can sometimes be the way to start finding a solution.The book is a very quick read and should be a reference in anyone's creativity book collection.

Interesting but more of the same
Seems to me a different approach and format with the same recommendations as his other books. Read the authors other stuff along the way and this one is creative in its layout and approach but found it more of the same. Had trouble staying with it.

A must-have book in your Creativity & Innovation Library, & must-have card deck on your desktop!
I am a raving fan of Roger von Oech's creative work as embodied in his books & card decks, namely:

Books:

- A Whack on the Side of the Head;
- A Kick in the Seat of the Pants;
- Expect the Unexpected;

Card Decks:

- Creative Whack Pack;
- Innovative Whack Pack;
- Ancient Whacks of Heraclitus;

I have used all his creativity stuff ever since I started my own strategy consulting (& book store) business in late 1991.

From my personal & professional experience, I would like to say that the entire collection of Roger von Oech's creative work has been designed to serve three strategic purposes:

- understanding - & removing - your mental blocks;
- breaking your habitual patterns;
- shifting your focus & changing your paradigms;

As a matter of fact, once you appreciate & commit to these three strategic purposes in your life, you will soon realise that there is nothing in this world to stop you from getting rid of old ideas & getting new & fresh ideas.

Allow me to quote Edward de Bono: "...the mind is habitually uncreative - it is usually preoccupied with organising masses of incoming data into convenient patterns. Once this pattern is established, then the mind tends to rely upon that pattern in future situations, in order to facilitate decision making & action in an otherwise complex world..." (The Use of Lateral Thinking).

Breaking old habitual patterns is definitely the first & foremost priority in your journey to creativity!

Once your shift your focus, you begin to change your paradigms or the way you look at the world around you. Always remember this: Your brain follows the direction of your dominant thought. Once you focus on something, that thing becomes the foreground. Everthing else will fall into the background. Most opportunties are unfortunately hidden in the background. The moment you begin to shift your focus, you are pushing the 'foreground' into the 'background', & pulls the 'background' into the 'foreground'. Get it?

'A Whack on the Side of the Head' will help you to break through your mental blocks. They will open up your mind for innovation. This book is filled with provocative puzzles, exercises, stories & helpful tips.

'A Kick in the Seat of the Pants' takes you on a guided tour through the four stereotype roles of the creative process - Explorer, Artist, Judge & Warrior. Understanding - & applying - these roles will fire up your personal & professional creativity. Tactically, they will change your mental focus as you change to play each of the four roles. I would like to add one more role from what I have learned from the Japanese creativity experts: Antique Dealer. This singular role will allow you to combine all the four roles into one.

'Expect the Unexpected' uses thirty of Heraclitus' (the world's first creativity master) epigrams as creative springboards. It has intriguing questions designed to topple old habits of thought & fire up your imagination.

All the three card decks are basically extensions of the three books, to allow convenient usage during brainstorming sessions.

From my strategy consulting experience, these three card decks have proven to be inexhaustible sources of inspirations.

In fact, the Innovative Whack Pack combines the creative power of both the 'Creative Whacks' & 'Ancient Whacks of Heraclitus'.

I strongly urge readers to seriously consider having the entire collection of Roger von Oech's creative work added to your Creativity & Inovation Library, & all the three card decks placed permanently on your desk top at all times.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I disagree
with T. Beers' otherwise excellent review: this book IS for specialists, and for specialists particularly interested in Heidegger, at that.

For others it's mildly interesting, as might be a reality show (without the vulgarity and banality, of course). But you have to know at least how to read Greek, as citations are not invariably translated (although the majority is), and only the first time they appear. Since the book has several misspellings in Greek (i.e., "Hesisdos" for "Hesiodos" in p. 43; unfortunately, as I didn't plan to write a review, I didn't take note of the pages where the others are located when I was reading the book, so I can't correct them here), this is a forbidding difficulty for nonspecialists.

The reality show (unfortunately deprived of its philological content, as we are informed in page 105, Note 1 to the text) consists of Fink, Heidegger and the seminar's participants reasoning aloud, as unselfconsciously as two teachers can before their pupils and viceversa (to top it, Fink had also been Heidegger's pupil a generation before), about the interpretation of "hen" (the one) and "ta panta" (all there is, the totality, the Universe, etc.), basing themselves on every surviving Heraclitean fragment where those words/concepts are explicitly or implicitly mentioned. The interpretations are, for me, sometimes too farfetched. They are tainted with Heidegger's very original and sometimes (to me) constrained views on the Greeks generally, and the Presocratics particularly (although during at least his early years H. admired Aristotle the most, see for example Brogan's "H. & Aristotle"), and also with his unsupported metaphysical belief that they had found another, more meaningful, way of looking at/understanding/intuiting reality. Always for me, the most interesting new thing I found is that H.'s "Unverborgenheit" is in the text rendered as "nonconcealment" instead of "unconcealment" as is customary. I don't think the Master would have approved.

A book for Heideggerians. One amongst very many indeed, as the totality of his written and spoken output is being slowly but surely published.

After all these years, still a great guide to early Greek
I would like to suggest that the widest stance that I have encountered reading philosophy shows up in Greek on page 18 of HERACLITUS SEMINAR: Martin Heidegger and Eugen Fink, translated by Charles H. Seibert (Northwestern University Press, 1993). The English translation was copyright 1979 by The University of Alabama Press. First published in German as HERACLIT. I have the second paperbound printing, 1994. The hermeneutical circle is correlated to fragment 7, translated in Note 4 on page 163, but the discussion of the Greek terms involving a moving relatedness of things that actually exist which elucidates an indeterminate number of things of a quintessential kind. "In smoke, to be sure, things become elusive, but it does not eliminate those distinctions which become evident . . ." (Fink, p. 18). Heidegger becomes interested in the gnosis of "grasping humans" on page 19.

This book does not have an index. The page guide on page 171 shows that every ten pages in English is 16, 15, 14, or 17 pages in the German. Heraclitus wrote a book which was familiar to many thinkers in the ancient world, but all we can do now is "cast light on an inner coherence of the fragments' meaning, but without pretending to reconstruct the original form of Heraclitus' lost writing, [On Nature]. We shall attempt to trace a thread throughout the multiplicity of his sayings in the hope that a certain track can thereby show itself. Whether our arrangement of the fragments is better than that adopted by Diels is a question that should remain unsettled." (Fink, p. 4).

I believe the Fr. 1 mentioned by Heidegger on page 7 is the beginning of Heraclitus' book. In the discussion, we have the exchange of ideas:

Heidegger: Since when do we have concepts at all?
Participant: Only since Plato and Aristotle. We even have the first philosophical dictionary with Aristotle.
Heidegger: While Plato manages to deal with concepts only with difficulty, we see that Aristotle deals with them more easily.(p. 7).

One of the problems with concepts is how they are applied:

Heidegger: Thus, you mean the transformation of things with respect to one ground.
Fink: The ground meant here is not some substance or the absolute, but light and time. (p. 10).

Fink: . . . The transformations of fire then imply that everything goes over into everything; so that nothing retains the definiteness of its character but, following an indiscernable wisdom, moves itself throughout by opposites.
Heidegger: But why does Heraclitus then speak of steering?
Fink: The transformations of fire are in some measure a circular movement that gets steered by lightning, . . . The movement, in which everything moves throughout everything through opposites, gets guided.
Heidegger: But may we speak of opposites or of dialectic here at all? Heraclitus knows neither something of opposites nor of dialectic.
Fink: True, opposites are not thematic with Heraclitus. . . . (p. 11).

The set-up is basically a dialog, and considers topics like:

Fink: The problem of constitution in Husserl's phenomenology . . . (p. 84).

Heidegger: From this it follows once again that we may not interpret Heraclitus from a later time. (p. 85).
Fink: All the concepts that arise in the dispute over idealism and realism are insufficient to characterize the shining-forth, the coming-forth-to-appearance, of what is. It seems to me more propitious to speak of shining-forth than of shining-up. . . . (p. 85).

The poem "Hyperion" mentions Heraclitus and Heidegger discusses being as beauty in Hegel along with "The one that in itself distinguishes itself." (p. 113).

Participant: "There is no sentence of Heraclitus' that I have not taken up in my LOGIC."
Heidegger: What does this sentence mean? (p. 113).

Fr. 88 of Heraclitus, as Diels translates, "And it is always one and the same, what dwells (?) within us: living and dead and waking and sleeping and young and old. For this is changed over to that and that changed back over to this." (p. 118).

Heidegger then has to correct himself on Hegel by reading some lecture:

"The true deficiency of the Greek religion as opposed to the Christian is that in it appearance constitutes the highest form, in general, the whole of the divine, while in the Christian religion appearing obtains only as a moment of the divine." (p. 122).

But he can also complain about being translated into French:

Heidegger: In French, Dasein is translated by [being there], for example by Sartre. But with this, everything that was gained as a new position in BEING AND TIME is lost. Are humans there like a chair is there? (p. 126).

Heidegger is quite interested in how well he is understood in German, but he finally comes back to the plight of what is unthought in the end.

needless to say, it was all "Greek" to me...
I must admit from the outset that my familiarity with Heidegger's philosophy, not to mention Fink's (a philosopher I'd never heard of), is not up to par with my fellow commentators (this is a generous assessment in my favor, to say the least--and obvious). That said, this review is not intended to sway Heideggar junkies one way or the other re: purchase, nor will it aid those who know Heraclitus' Fragments backwards and forwards; I am not in a position to do either. I aim to address only those nonspecialists who--like myself--are interested in Heraclitus, and who are considering making a purchase for that reason, and that reason alone.

I ordered "The Heraclitus Seminar", perhaps naively, in order to gain a better understanding of Heraclitus and his Metaphysics--I came away from the ordeal completely dumbfounded. This is partially my own fault--I knew going in that Heidegger makes for difficult reading, and that his precipitous works are, almost without exception, extremely abstruse. As such, his books require great dedication and patience. This, I was prepared for. However, I came to an impasse with the book almost immediately. This resulted from the multitude of passages that were written, within the body of the text, in Attic Greek--with *no* translations. (no kidding)

This one is better left for the later grad students and/or their profs--that is, unless you happen to be an extremely patient novice, who can read Greek without a lexicon, and who has a penchant for Heideggarian analysis of the pre-Socratics.

A Great Intro. to Difficult Thinking
Martin Heidegger's special intellectual relationship with the Presocratics is often discussed as if the German philosopher was some sort of romantic originalist or nostalgist. But Heidegger always insisted that the point about going back to Heraclitus, Parmenides and rest was not to recover the specific contents of their thought (or, worse, to wallow in their supposed primitive "purity"), but to recapture the spirit of their efforts to "think the question of Being." You won't find a better presentation of this - or a more candid glimpse of Heidegger as a working philosopher - than in this text. It presents the record of a seminar on Heraclitus conducted by Heidegger and the German scholar Eugen Fink in the late 1960s. Heidegger's discussion of specific Heraclitian texts makes for difficult reading but is, generally speaking, quite lucid. And the dialog with Fink and student participants is eye-opening. (Heidegger's pronouncements are by no means always taken as Gospel!) Most important, in spite of their rather recondite subject matter, these seminar records wonderfully illuminate Heidegger's own philosophical development in the last two decades of his life. Although this book does require familiarity with Heidegger's work and somewhat unique philosophical terminology, as well as familiarity with the history of philosophy generally, I wouldn't call it a text "for specialists only." Unless, of course, all readers of philosophy are specialists! And it does provide a welcome corrective to current "New Age" tendencies to view Heraclitus and the other Presocratics as authors of quasi-religious wisdom manuals. No dumbing-down here; just a tough confrontation with difficult material!

Heidegger Freaked
In terms of personal experiences, Heidegger is most revealing on page 5, in the first session of a seminar in the winter semester of 1966-67, when he mentions in his third comment to the participants, "Suddenly I sawa single bolt of lightning, after which no more followed.My thought was:Zeus."This experience is a link to the antiquity also experienced inthe Biblical book of Job, in the speech of Elihu, at Job 36:27-33 and Job37:3-24, leading up to the speeches of Yahweh.By page 7 of thistranslation of the seminar, Heidegger is demonstrating his link with"Fr. 1" of Heraclitus by quoting more than five lines in theoriginal ancient Greek.Those who would prefer to know the English aregiven the Diels version in Note 3 on page 163.I find that Note 4, theDiels translation of Fragment 7, quoted (in Greek) by Eugen Fink in thesecond session of these seminars, is a bit easier for me to understand. The Glossary on pages 166 to 169 is a great guide to the Greek words forthe major topics in this book.There is no index, but the approach beingpursued in the fashion of this book could hardly gain any clarity by anattempt to locate the ideas in this book by any system related to pagenumbers.My comment on this reflects Heidegger's reaction to a participantwho noted that the first philosophical dictionary didn't occur untilAristotle.(p. 7)Before things were sorted out, Heraclitus was trying tocommunicate something in Fr. 11 about "Everything that crawls . .." (p. 31).The excitement picks up on page 32, when Fink quotes apoem by Holderlin called "Voice of the People." ... Read more

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Taken from the Great Philosphers, Volume II.
... Read more

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The Phoenix Pre-Socratic series is designed for modern students of the Pre-Socratic philosophers.This volume provides the Greek text of Heraclitus with a new, facing page translation together with a commentary outlining the main problems of interpretation and the philosophical issues raised by Heraclitus' work.The volume also contains an English translation of substantial material from the ancient testimonia concerning Heraclitus' life and teaching, and offers selective bibliographic guidance.

While much of the commentary follows lines of interpretation that have won general acceptance, it differs from many in its claim that the logos of which Heraclitus speaks in fragments 1, 2 and 50 means, essentially, 'statement.'This statement, uttered in words by Heraclitus, reflects that statement everlastingly uttered by the cosmos itself, which descriptively tells of how things are and prescriptively lays don patterns of cosmic activity that serve as the basis for human laws (fragment 114). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The runt of the litter...
The Phoenix Pre-Socratics is a good book series, but I wasn't too impressed by this offering. Inwood's The Poem of Empedocles: A text and translation with a commentary (Phoenix Supplementary Volume) was a strong and substantial book, and Gallop's slim Parmenides of Elea: A text and translation with an introduction (Phoenix Supplementary Volume), despite its diminutive size, came with a fairly insightful commentary at the beginning.

T.M. Robinson's book on Heraclitus has its virtues. The translation is good. It often offers the original context in which a Heraclitean fragment was quoted by the ancient source. It is a handy, compact, quick reference to the fragments for the student or scholar who doesn't want to dig around in Charles Kahn's maze with only a jumble of Roman numerals to light the way (The Art and Thought of Heraclitus: An Edition of the Fragments with Translation and Commentary), and thus makes a good compliment to that or another edition of Heraclitus.

But the commentary is uninspired and anemic. I should note that Robinson is never foolish or careless--he is clearly competent. But his commentary is unremarkable and all too often fails to arrive at any real conclusions about Heraclitus' meaning. In fact, it pretty much seems cobbled together from the work of a few other scholars and the result is a fairly bland, fairly inconclusive series of notes on Heraclitus.

Thus, I highly recommend the book as an edition and translation of Heraclitus, but not as a general introduction to his writings. It makes an excellent companion to other works, and offers a few interesting bibliographical pointer, but that's about it.

history of scholarship neglected
In this text of the fragments there is not a single mention of the Bywater edition or of the excellent edition, now out of print,which includes the Bywater with a translation and commentary by Patrick ? --sorry, forgot the last name; but this edition can be borrowed from major academic libraries. What's the deal? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

A Tragedy of Translation
I was given this book as a gift and I read it with great eagerness and subsequent amazement for the mind of Heraclitus. However, the English translation of the ancient Greek text is beyond imaginative. In certain instances the English translation does not correspond to the Greek text at all. My recommendation is to give the faithful translation first(so that the public can comprehend the essence of the philosopher) and if the author wishes to offer a poetically rephrased version such would be fine too.

After all, Mr. Haxton having undertaken the task of re-introducing Heraclitus' thoughts he might want to avoid being a target of the philosopher's own words:

"The majority of people have no understanding of the things with which they daily meet, nor, when instructed, do they have any right knowledge of them, although to themselves they seem to have".

Scholastically Incorrect But Philosophically Satisfying
Hillman's Fragments is not the most scholarly study of Heraclitus. Here Charles Kahn's dry as dust, ponderous tome, The Art and Thought of Heraclitus is better. It's also incredibly dull and a chore to read. If you are more interested in memorable meaning than scholarly explanation buy this edition but remember what you are getting. I own both and the Kahn source is a great depth book. Buy both and double the value of your experience of Heraclitus.

Heraclitus, Fragments
These fragments don't always fit together, but because of the unusual nature of a collection like this it is more than tolerable. The fragments are in Greek or Latin on the left side of the page with a translation on the right. The translations are vivid, almost poetic, although some of the terms that are explained in the introduction can throw off the flow of the words. Heraclitus is insightful, intriguing, and startlingly contemporary. The price may be a bit high, but is worth it for those who seek wisdom.

Poets Make the Best Translators
I know enough Greek to question the faithfulness of most of these poetic transliterations of the original.But that is beside the point.If you want a literal translation pick up a Harvard LCL edition and scan the dry as dust academic parallel rendering.I sometimes wonder if poets don't make the best translators.Here is a text vivid and gripping and sounding in modern ears with a booming resonance.

Additional thoughts:

1. This a beautifully produced edition with the Greek on the left and Haxton's fine poetry on the right.As usual, I skipped the foreward and notes preferring to commune directly with the Master rather than through the medium of a posturing chorus of academic factotums.

2. The information age was supposed to witness the twilight of the great age of printing.How wrong.It is a miracle that in this age Viking is publishing a side by side Greek and English version of a book two and half millennia old!Perhaps the great age of the Printed Book is only now dawning.

Possibly an "E" for "effort"..... maybe
As another reviewer said, (and i was thinking the same thing before i read their review), it seems geared toward upper middle class, bored housewives with little or no previous interest in ancient Greek philosophy.To still use the word "God" (capitalized) in a Heraclitus fragment is so blatant that it would surprise me if anyone who knows anything about the pre-socratics, and who has thought about their ideas would bother with such a book.No doubt that is what Mr. Haxton was wagering on before putting the original Greek next to the English translations.

I'm not degrading this merely because it is a coffee table book, i'm attacking it because it is in bad taste and adds absolutely no fresh perspective to Heraclitus' fragments or his life.I suggest looking at, instead, Luciano DeCrescenzo's "The History of Greek Philosophy Volume I:The Pre-Socratics" for a lively and interesting read (including biographical details).

"The Collected Wisdom..." is a hard cover as well, which makes not a lot of sense (other than the nice presentation) considering the length of the book.You could happily buy a book with all the fragments for nearly the same price or cheaper.No doubt the reason why Amazon knocked $6 off the original price was because there were too many unopened boxes collecting dust.Let the bookworms eat these ones.

The last thing we need is for the words of a man like Heraclitus to end up on bad robot-rock album covers or as band names (the same fate that Nietzsche now, regretfully, seems to be suffering from).It would seem that Roger Von Oech has decided to try his hand at the craps table as well with "Expect the Unexpected (Or You Won't Find It): A Creativity Tool Based on the Ancient Wisdom of Heraclitus".Are people really so dumb that they need these pre-digested, refined, books full of preservatives to inspire them?I am all for more simplified introductions, but if that means pandering and studying current trends, then what you'll always get is an ugly bastardization.The whole point of philosophy is to make people think!!

And yes, i realize that basically every translator of any kind of philosophy (regardless of time or place) uses "God" as a substitute for the original thinker's conception and belief system.I would call it Christian revisionism ... though it may also be because most translators cannot give their readers the benefit of the doubt and compromise their writings by pandering or making the work more digestible.Or simply because so few can translate from a more neutral standpoint or stand outside their religion for the sake of the writing.

a.n.

p.s. If anyone knows of any good translations of pre-Christian/non-Christian European philosophy which does not suffer from the aforementioned peccadillos, i would be interested to find out more about them ... Read more

Product Description
This work provides a text and an extended study of those fragments of Heraclitus' philosophical utterances whose subject is the world as a whole rather than man and his part in it. Professor Kirk discusses fully the fragments which he finds genuine and treats in passing others that were generally accepted as genuine but here considered paraphrased or spurious. In securing his text, Professor Kirk has taken into account all the ancient testimonies, and in his critical work he attached particular importance to the context in which each fragment is set. To each he gives a selective apparatus, a literal translation and and an extended commentary in which problems of textual and philosophical criticism are discussed. Ancient accounts of Heraclitus were inadequate and misleading, and as Kirk wrote, understanding was often hindered by excessive dogmatism and a selective use of the fragments. Professor Kirk's method is critical and objective, and his 1954 work marks a significant advance in the study of Presocratic thought. ... Read more

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If Heraclitus is one of our most ancient writers, Kafka seems especially modern. They share in a struggle between disclosure and obscurity that is perhaps as old as writing itself. In this lucid and engaging volume, David Schur takes us from philosophy to literature and back in a sustained examination of a fundamental philosophical metaphor: the way or path of method. Through close readings of texts by Heraclitus, Plato, Heidegger, Blanchot, and Kafka, he follows the development of a rhetorical commonplace into a distinctly Heraclitean paradox of method, concluding that Kafka's account of the way beyond mortal existence renews Heraclitus's emphasis on oblivion in the search for truth.

Customer Reviews (1)

Most insightful Kafka scholarship I've ever read.
In all my years I've never read a more thrilling account of Kafka's relation to the Western literary tradition.This is the sort of thing Stephen King might write if comparative literature was his field.Schur'sinsight about the role of the path in the Western canon was so profoundthat when I first read it I slid out of my rocking chair onto the floor. Fantastic. ... Read more

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Heraclitus of Ephesus, known as 'The Obscure,' was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Ephesus in Asia Minor.

As with other pre-Socratics, his writings only survive in fragments quoted by other authors.He disagreed with Thales, Anaximander, and Pythagoras about the nature of theultimate substance, but instead claimed that the nature of everything is changeitself; he uses fire as a metaphor rather than his solution to material monism.This led to the belief that change is real, and stability illusory. ... Read more

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This English translation of Heraclitus' fragments combines all those generally accepted in modern scholarship. Dennis Sweet maintains the "flavor" of the Greek syntax as much as meaningful English will allow, and uses more archaic meanings over the later meanings. In the footnotes he includes, along with various textual and explanatory information, variant meanings of the most important terms so as to convey some of the semantical richness and layers of meaning which Heraclitus often utilizes. Contents: Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Part One: Translation; Part II: Analysis; Analysis of Themes; Index of Persons; Index of Terms; Bibliography. ... Read more

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Famous for their enigmatic ambiguity, the fragmentary texts of the Presocratic philosopher Heraclitus have puzzled and fascinated readers for over two millennia. This comparative analysis of Heraclitus and Jacques Derrida reveals the ancient roots of Derrida’s contemporary discourses on deconstruction, logocentrism, and différance. It also demonstrates that reading Derrida enhances further elaboration of the arguments in the Heraclitean fragments. An excellent resource for students of philosophy, comparative literature, and literary theory, this groundbreaking study offers an accessible account of the ancient antecedent to a major trend in the contemporary theory of language, literature, and philosophy. ... Read more

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A cohesive overview of the philosophy of Heraclitus. ... Read more

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THIS 7 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Torchbearers of Spiritualism, by Mrs. St. Clair Stobart. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766131009. ... Read more

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Who is Heraclitus, and what is he whacking, you ask? Heraclitus was an ancient Greek philosopher, widely considered the world's first creativity teacher. The deck has 32 cards, each containing a "whack," or eye-opening exercise based on the epigrams of Heraclitus. They will spur creative thinking and allow you to look at a problem from a fresh perspective. Created by Roger von Oech, author of the best-selling book, A Whack on the Side of the Head and the Creative Whack Pack. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Same Stuff Over and Over Again
Writer is a very talented person. If you read one of his books you will get lots of valuable insights. But he found a way to make money. He is using the same ideas and content for writing different books. So if you do read any book of this person... Do not buy this book... Because you will feel like "i saw this before"...

This books makes you do the work!!!...
Alot of people will not understand this book because their minds are not used to working on problems in the manner of imagining "what might be", and "what if" scenarios that that compel you to think in different dimensions. It feels very strange to think in different dimensions. These exercises take alot of mental persistance and practice to get over the initial feelings of strangeness that accompany the skills and powers that these exercises convey!!!

Heraclitus is the Man!
The Ancient Whacks of Heraclitus have jolted my thinking. It's a great creativity tool and I'm recommending it to all of friends. It's a splendid follow-on product to Roger's Creative Whack Pack.

A Wonderful Thought-Provoking Creativity Tool!
Looking for creative inspiration? Try consulting the world's first creativity teacher: Heraclitus of Ephesus (flourished circa 500 BC). This card deck consists of 30 of Heraclitus' best enigmatic epigrams,illustrated by George Willett, and with commentary by Roger von Oech. Lotsof good ideas! This deck is a wonderful complement to Roger's other work:"A Whack on theSide of the Head" and the "Creative WhackPack." ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more