SKU: 55758738047

Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition

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Gardens: An Essay on the Human ConditionHumans have long turned to gardens both real and imaginary for sanctuary from the frenzy and tumult that surrounds them. Those gardens may be as far away from everyday reality as Gilgamesh's garden of the gods or as near as our own backyard, but in their very conception and the marks they bear of human care and cultivation, gardens stand as restorative, nourishing, necessary havens. With Gardens, Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful,

Humans have long turned to gardens--both real and imaginary--for sanctuary from the frenzy and tumult that surrounds them. Those gardens may be as far away from everyday reality as Gilgamesh's garden of the gods or as near as our own backyard, but in their very conception and the marks they bear of human care and cultivation, gardens stand as restorative, nourishing, necessary havens.

With Gardens, Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful, wide-ranging examination of the many ways gardens evoke the human condition. Moving from from the gardens of ancient philosophers to the gardens of homeless people in contemporary New York, he shows how, again and again, the garden has served as a check against the destruction and losses of history. The ancients, explains Harrison, viewed gardens as both a model and a location for the laborious self-cultivation and self-improvement that are essential to serenity and enlightenment, an association that has continued throughout the ages. The Bible and Qur'an; Plato's Academy and Epicurus's Garden School; Zen rock and Islamic carpet gardens; Boccaccio, Rihaku, Capek, Cao Xueqin, Italo Calvino, Ariosto, Michel Tournier, and Hannah Arendt--all come into play as this work explores the ways in which the concept and reality of the garden has informed human thinking about mortality, order, and power.

Alive with the echoes and arguments of Western thought, Gardens is a fitting continuation of the intellectual journeys of Harrison's earlier classics, Forests and The Dominion of the Dead. Voltaire famously urged us to cultivate our gardens; with this compelling volume, Robert Pogue Harrison reminds us of the nature of that responsibility--and its enduring importance to humanity.

I find myself completely besotted by a new book titled Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition, by Robert Pogue Harrison. The author . . . is one of the very best cultural critics at work today. He is a man of deep learning, immense generosity of spirit, passionate curiosity and manifold rhetorical gifts.--Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune

This book is about gardens as a metaphor for the human condition. . . . Harrison draws freely and with brilliance from 5,000 years of Western literature and criticism, including works on philosophy and garden history. . . . He is a careful as well as an inspiring scholar.--Tom Turner, Times Higher Education

When I was a student, my Cambridge supervisor said, in the Olympian tone characteristic of his kind, that the only living literary critics for whom he would sell his shirt were William Empson and G. Wilson Knight. Having spent the subsequent 30 years in the febrile world of academic Lit. Crit. . . . I'm not sure that I'd sell my shirt for any living critic. But if there had to be one, it would unquestionably be Robert Pogue Harrison, whose study Forests: The Shadow of Civilization, published in 1992, has the true quality of literature, not of criticism--it stays with you, like an amiable ghost, long after you read it.

"Though more modest in scope, this new book is similarly destined to become a classic. It has two principal heroes: the ancient philosopher Epicurus . . . and the wonderfully witty Czech writer Karel Capek, apropos of whom it is remarked that, whereas most people believe gardening to be a subset of life, 'gardeners, including Capek, understand that life is a subset of gardening.'"--Jonathan Bate, The Spectator



Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 09/01/2009
ISBN: 9780226317908
Pages: 248
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 0.70d

Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 10/11/2009 pg. 20
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RVGregoryZ
Cuba, US
★★★★★ 5
My experience with the Anker Products is Great.
Style: 7 in 1 【1 HDMI】
Anker USB C Hub (7-in-1) I now have several Anker Products in my home. These folks just know how to build products. Affordable and durable, stable and easy to use. This 7 in 1 is all Plug and Play. I am using an external power supply, and this product delivers it to all of my connected devices. The stability of every thing plugged into the USB Ports keeps everything connected just as it should. I recommend the Anker Product Line and this product in particular. SO, if you're in need of additional USB Ports, go with Anker.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2026
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Bimmer369
Boise, US
★★★★★ 5
Solid; long lasting
I use this adaptor to hard wire an ethernet internet connection straight into a Samsung Galaxy S10+ with PD (charges phone while connected). I also use an S8+ which works, too. This is a great option for those of us who understand the dangers of being exposed to low-powered microwaves all day and night (AKA Wi-Fi). While hard wired to ethernet, you can enjoy the internet with airplane mode on, which is a big plus! I've used several different branded adaptors (the ones without PD kill your device's battery QUICKLY) for this purpose, and this Anker outshines them all. Most other brands (I've tried Belkin, Ugreen, and some other somewhat obscure brands) work fine for a short time and then begin to get spotty, losing and regaining connection intermittently until crashing and not working at all over a short period of time, usually not longer than 3 to 4 months if you're real lucky. However, I've had this Anker for nearly a year (10 months and change), and it's still going strong. Now, it's not perfect. It does lose connection from time to time and then regain connection just like the others, but nowhere near as frequent, and if you are mindful of the orientation of the cords and take care not to twist or put torque on them once they're connected to a device, it usually keeps connection very nicely. Be sure to put the device in the proper orientation through which you'll be looking at it, and THEN connect the adaptor (don't connect the adaptor and then have to roll the phone over to look at the screen, as this is the fastest way to kill the adaptor and loosen your phone's charging port). When first attaching, I plug the ethernet cable into the adaptor and use a hair-tie rubber band to wrap around the end of the ethernet cable, making sure it's tight with no slack, then I secure it around the BASE of the type-C cable coming out of the opposite end of the adaptor (see attached picture). Then LEAVE IT. If you incessantly disconnect and reconnect this adaptor, I guarantee it will not last as long. As for the features of this adaptor, I can only speak on the ethernet connection, the PD port, and the type-C 5gbps port. The PD port is nice because if you try connecting to the internet and doing pretty much anything without it, your device's battery is going to drain quite rapidly. How fast depends on how good your device's battery is to begin with. S10+ probably won't last half the time without PD as it does with PD. Just realize that your device is not going to gain power while charging through the PD port, but rather the battery will merely die at a slower pace, giving you more time before having to recharge your device. The other factor is how long your charging cable is (the shorter it is, the longer the battery will last). Tip: While using PD port, your device will not warn you of your battery about to die since it is technically charging, so if you're doing something important, you had better keep an eye on your battery percentage, lest it dies unexpectedly. I've not used the hdmi port at all, so nothing to speak on there. The 5gbps type-c port is nice if you want to connect an external hard drive while either A: connected to the internet, B: still being able to charge your phone, or both! I use the Samsung Portable SSD T7, and the Anker is great for saving large videos/files straight from the internet onto the external hard drive. The Anker is also good for freeing up space on your phone by moving existing files to the hard drive while continuing to charge your phone (otherwise, the hard drive connects directly to your phone, so your charging port is being used, and if your battery is low, no charging). Also, if you disconnected the ethernet cable from the Anker while moving files to an external drive, I suspect that the PD port would actually add battery percentage instead of merely slowing down the loss of battery percentage. To summarize: - Don't get Wi-fried: use a hard-wired ethernet connection instead! - Great adaptor that lasts longer than all others I've tried. - PD is a must have feature, but your device will still eventually die. - Great for saving videos/large files straight from internet to external hard drive while being able to charge device simultaneously. This Anker is the one you're looking for! Cheers.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2022
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Amiga95
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 5
Excellent quality with just the right amount and type of connection points I needed!
Extremely good quality. I've used many Anker product over the years and this one didn't disappoint! Needed it to run a laptop on my network in isolation mode and to have accessible connections for ethernet as well as a wireless mouse and extra cooling fan as my laptop has only 1 standard size USB 3.0 port. This is the mini version so It won't necessarily supply enough juice to charge your laptop at the same time (there's another 8 in 1 made by Anker for that) but it can supply enough power to maybe get you through a very trying session, very short term. Super-easy to connect and just works. Fits comfortably in my carry bag too. Very light weight, good heat dissipation although I didn't really have any or at least not much. Compatible with all the connectors you see in the picture. In my case at least, it wasn't a luxury it was a necessity and it proved it's value immediately.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2026
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Lars Bogard
New York, US
★★★★★ 5
USB ports charge.
Relatively cheap, lightweight, and better than most. It gets warm, but not hot. The Video adapter was immediately recognized by my Macbook and works flawlessly at all resolutions made available (much higher than Windows PCs) I used it both as the recipient of my 65W Mac charger, and the Mac received its power from this device; I also had the 65W Mac charger plugged directly into the Mac, and this plugged into the second USB-C plug on the mac. It works (HDMI monitor) both ways. It says that the ports are not for "charging", however be aware that they do charge when devices are connected, for example my iPhone to the extra USB-C port, or the USB-A port. My Logi back-lighted keyboard lights up too. I don't know why they say it is not for charging. Perhaps it is simply saying there are no ports expressly intended to do charging without connecting to your computer.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2026
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J. Stewart
Alexandria, US
★★★★★ 5
High quality and all the right connection types
This works great. I've used it for both my MAC and PC. I really love the Ethernet on the end and the HDMI connections (which modern laptops don't include at times). This is a great adaptor and highly recommend.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2026

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