I is an other : the secret life of metaphor and how it shapes the way we see the world

“Sherlock Holmes could glance at a bowler hat and tell that its owner's wife had ceased to love him. In this brilliant book about metaphor James Geary is no less astonishing, as he deciphers the subtle implications embedded in advertising slogans, familiar slang and government double-talk.... You'll scarf down every page of I Is an Other and then ask for more.” —Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of Book by Book and Classics for PleasureFor lovers of language and fans of Blink and Freakonomics, New York Times bestselling author James Geary offers this fascinating look at metaphors and their influence in every aspect of our lives, from art to medicine, psychology to the stock market. Geary's Adept Explication Of The Metaphor's Role In Defining Perceptions Analyzes How Metaphors Are Used In Advertising, Scientific Discoveries, Economics, And Politics, As Well As How Metaphors Play In Conceptual Comprehension And Long-term Memory. Foreword : Why I Is An Other -- Metaphor And Thought : All Shook Up -- Metaphor And Etymology : Language Is Fossil Poetry -- Metaphor And Money : How High Can A Dead Cat Bounce? -- Metaphor And The Mind : Imagining An Apple In Someone's Eye -- Metaphor And Advertising : Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads In Them -- Metaphor And The Brain : Bright Sneezes And Loud Sunlight -- Metaphor And The Body : Anger Is A Heated Fluid In A Container -- Metaphor And Politics : Freedom Fries And Liberty Cabbage -- Metaphor And Pleasure : Experience Is A Comb That Nature Gives To Bald Men -- Metaphor And Children : How Should One Refer To The Sky? -- Metaphor And Science : The Earth Is Like A Rice Pudding -- Metaphor And Parables And Proverbs : Mighty Darn Good Lies -- Metaphor And Innovation : Make It Strange -- Metaphor And Psychology : A Little Splash Of Color From My Mother -- Backword : The Logic Of Metaphor. James Geary. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [229]- 289) And Index.