The Message in the Bottle: How Queer Man is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do With the Other (Paperback)

by Walker Percy (Author) "In the beginning was Alpha and the end is Omega, but somewhere between occurred Delta, which was nothing less than the arrival of man himself..." (more)
Key Phrases: knowledge sub specie aeternitatis, autonomous object interest, triadic behavior, Helen Keller, Grand Canyon, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The Message in the Bottle is a delight . . . a pleasure to read."--Larry McMurtry, The Washington Post Book World

"Walker Percy has an intellectual range and rigor few American novelists can match."--Thomas Leclair, The New York Times Book Review

"This book is worth examining for the confusions it reveals about the study of language and about what can be expected from it."--Thomas Nagel, The New York Review of Books
-- Review

Review

"The Message in the Bottle is a delight . . . a pleasure to read."--Larry McMurtry, The Washington Post Book World

"Walker Percy has an intellectual range and rigor few American novelists can match."--Thomas Leclair, The New York Times Book Review

"This book is worth examining for the confusions it reveals about the study of language and about what can be expected from it."--Thomas Nagel, The New York Review of Books

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st Picador edition (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312254016
• ISBN-13: 978-0312254018
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #296,069 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant and relatively unknown work, December 3, 1998

By	Zoë (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Message in the Bottle (Paperback)

This dense, well-written and extraordinary book is an excellent introduction to the works of a great 20th century thinker. In this collection of essays, Percy manages to confront some difficult philosophical questions in an exciting and readable context. Percy was first a novelist, and his writing is seldom inaccesible. He deals in everything from religion to science, from literary theory to travel. His best writing relates to theories of language and the human being. Yet like some of the greatest X-Files episodes, Percy leaves many things unresolved, liminal, only suggested. Message in a Bottle is designed to stimulate the reader rather than fill them with useless information. I finished reading this book with the desire to read it again, and whenever I see it on the bookshelf I am comforted by the thought that there are people in the world who think for themselves, and who have the courage to print what they think.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Always the Novelist, November 12, 2001

By	Jonathan A. Boulineau (Columbus, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The precursor to the, in comparision, pithy 'Lost in the Cosmos,' Message in a Bottle is less accessible than his later, more famous, book. However, Message... provides all of the necessary academic rigor that 'Lost in the Cosmos' lacks (not that LC is not a great book, it is).

Percy claims that he is, in fact, not philosopher or scientist. Rather, he wishes to be thought of as mere novelist writing as he perceives scientists and philosophers. In fact, this is a sort of claim of superiority in the sense that Percy thinks he knows more about philosophers and scientists than they know about themselves (which may be true). Even so, Percy's methods are quite scientific and philosophic. Message in a Bottle deals with the most important question of all: What is Man? Percy contends, as any good Heideggerian would, that we are essentially castaways on an island. We aren't quite sure how we got here and we don't quite know what we're supposed to do now that we are here. But Percy is a Thomist, not an existentialist (although the two are connected). While Percy finds the greatest evidence for our essential 'lostness' in the altogether baffling phenomenon of language, Percy is nevertheless concerned with what we are to do about out anxiety about existence. Percy is interested in pursuing the Thomistic project; 'completing' reason with revelation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, February 18, 2008

By	some guy - See all my reviews

In a see of charlatans, hucksters, half-truths and snake-oil salesmen, we find this island of wisdom. Percy, a psychiatrist turned novelist, was ever a scientist. He takes his aim at a very difficult scientific issue-the study of man. It is very hard for many to study himself, but percy believes the answer to understand man lies in the study og language. As Percy himself said, just because a primate can be taught sign-language words doesn't mean we are anywhere close to understanding human language. It is a shame this author isn't more well-known.