or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a £0.25 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card
TechGnosis: Myth, Magic & Mysticism in the Age of Information: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information (Five Star Paperback)
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

TechGnosis: Myth, Magic & Mysticism in the Age of Information: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information (Five Star Paperback) [Paperback]

Erik Davis (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Price: £9.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Only 4 left in stock--order soon.
Want guaranteed delivery by Wednesday, May 30? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback £9.99   -- --
Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in TechGnosis: Myth, Magic & Mysticism in the Age of Information: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information (Five Star Paperback) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television (Console-ing Passions) by Jeffrey Sconce Paperback £14.24

TechGnosis: Myth, Magic & Mysticism in the Age of Information: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information (Five Star Paperback) + Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television (Console-ing Passions)
Price For Both: £24.23

Show availability and delivery details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Serpent's Tail; New Ed edition (12 Nov 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1852427728
  • ISBN-13: 978-1852427726
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.5 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 175,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Erik Davis
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Erik Davis Page

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The gap between the technological worldview and a mystical outlook may not be as great as it seems. In Techgnosis Erik Davis takes a look at modern information technology--as well as much previous technology--to reveal how it is often rooted in spiritual and mystical beliefs. He furthermore explores how those who embrace new technological advances often do so with expectations stemming from religious sensibilities.

Davis compares and contrasts the scientific attitude that we can know reality through technology with the Gnostic philosophy of developing ultimate understanding. The book comes in reasonably organised chapters but there's also a strong stream-of-consciousness component to Davis's writing as it moves back and forth across time and space to make connections. For example, one argument may run from information theory to the nebulous nature of Gnosticism to the philosophical problem of evil--all in just a few pages. But rather than being chaotic the result is a lively interplay of wide-ranging ideas. The style is equally lively and generally engaging even if it sometimes strays into the hip. Davis succeeds in revealing the spiritual side of what some may regard as cold technological thought. --Elizabeth Lewis --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"'Stimulating and original, learned and readable. Erik Davis offers a wide-ranging and consistently thought-provoking guide to the hidden circultry of the technological unconscious. Invaluable' Geoff Dyer; 'Beautifully written, carefully conceived and absolutely accessible' Observer"
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of the very few modern books that I shall go on re-reading every few years for the rest of my life (I can only think of rwo or three others: Gregory Bateson's Steps to an Ecology of Mind, George Lakoff's Women Fire and Dangerous Things and Richard Bentall's Madness Explained). The historical sweep, the originality and the relevance to so many contemporary questions are unrivalled. Amazingly, Davis was only thirty when he wrote it.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Erik Davis manages to show us how much we have learned, how sophisticated we have become and yet how much we are still the same beings we were 2000 or 4000 years ago in mythological, social and philosophical terms. He manages to dissect mankind in a cyber-philosophical way to show amazing analogies between our modern civilization and the antique and medieval world.
In my opinion, Davis manages to proof that a few things have never changed, and he also explains why.
This book took some time for me to read - not because it is hard to read, (it is actually very entertaining) but every few pages I had to stop and think a lot...There is a few things you will see in a different light after reading Techgnosis.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  18 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Stunning Debut Unveils Hermetic Underside To Cyberculture 14 April 1999
By Alex Burns (alex.burns@disinfo.net) - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Erik Davis' fine writing has graced the pages of The Nation, Village Voice, Lingua Franca, and 21.C for many years. 'Techgnosis' grew out of an essay that he wrote for the seminal cyber-crit anthology 'Flame Wars', edited by Mark Dery.

Unlike other authors, Davis has an incredibly open mind and lets the disenfranchised speak for themselves. There are some stunning sections on Scientology, the Gurdjieff Work, John Dee, the Extropians, and the interface between early 1980s role-playing games like Gary Gygax's 'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' and contemporary VR technology. Davis examines many of the integral examples of spirituality featured across many cyber-crit books, but his elegant writing and common sense inject a powerful dynamic into this work not often found elsewhere. He doesn't have the same hysterical tone often found in anti-cult literature for example, but is also balanced and can be subtly critical (confused yet?).

There are some strange omissions, notably an excellent piece Davis wrote for 21.C on the Mormons that appears to have been dropped by the publishers at last minute. Despite this, 'Techgnosis' is a strong debut that clearly conveys how the spiritual has transmutated into the technological at the end of the millennium. Fully referenced, Davis' book is a clear indication of the maturation of a defining authorial voice.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Looking to the future with roots in the past 25 April 2002
By Vargr - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was not expecting a classical Gnostic text when I picked this book up, perhaps that's why I'm not as dissapointed as others who have read it. I was looking for a work in the Gnostic tradition (not Tradition). Davis makes some compelling connections between the old and new seekers after Truth. References cited in this book were also good, and steered me toward other interesting works.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Techno wizard 20 Jan 2003
By Author Brian Wallace (Mind Transmission, Inc.) - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Techgnosis creatively runs the gamut of the language and human expression game - unfurled in such divergent media as computers, literature, and science.

Davis paints a vivid picture of worlds that have opened up as a result of cutting edge human thinking and natural extensions of the human nervous system which have made our lives - if not entirely more useful - at least a lot more interesting and enjoyable.

Davis is a modern shaman who ties together the mystical with the technological in ways that make sense.

Very nicely done.

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject




















i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges