A01=Marcel Danesi
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anthropology
Author_Marcel Danesi
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Book III
Caesar Ciphers
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=CFB
Category=HPM
Category=JH
Category=QDTM
Checker Board
classic puzzles
cognitive mechanisms in puzzle solving
cognitive psychology
COP=United Kingdom
Cretan Labyrinth
Crossword
Crossword Puzzle
cultural semiotics
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Hamiltonian Cycle
Henry King
human culture
Individual's DNA
Individual’s DNA
James III
Josephus Problem
Jungian archetypes
Klein Bottle
Language_English
Left Pan
Liar Paradox
logic reasoning skills
Magic Square
mathematical cognition
Monty Hall
neural mechanism
Nonperiodic Tilings
Odd Vertex
PA=Available
Pope Paul III
Price_€100 and above
problem solving research
PS=Active
puzzling organ
Recreational Mathematics
softlaunch
Tangram Puzzle
Vice Versa
White Counter
Word Search Puzzle
Word Squares
Product details
- ISBN 9781350089853
- Weight: 462g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 13 Dec 2018
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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An Anthropology of Puzzles argues that the human brain is a "puzzling organ" which allows humans to literally solve their own problems of existence through puzzle format. Noting the presence of puzzles everywhere in everyday life, Marcel Danesi looks at puzzles in society since the dawn of history, showing how their presence has guided large sections of human history, from discoveries in mathematics to disquisitions in philosophy. Danesi examines the cognitive processes that are involved in puzzle making and solving, and connects them to the actual physical manifestations of classic puzzles. Building on a concept of puzzles as based on Jungian archetypes, such as the river crossing image, the path metaphor, and the journey, Danesi suggests this could be one way to understand the public fascination with puzzles. As well as drawing on underlying mental archetypes, the act of solving puzzles also provides an outlet to move beyond biological evolution, and Danesi shows that puzzles could be the product of the same basic neural mechanism that produces language and culture. Finally, Danesi explores how understanding puzzles can be a new way of understanding our human culture.
Marcel Danesi is Professor of Semiotics and Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Toronto, Canada. He has published extensively and is editor-in-chief of Semiotica, leading journal in the field of semiotics. He is author of The Semiotics of Emoji (Bloomsbury, 2016).
