This succinct and thoughtful essay is the text of a talk commissioned for a symposium entitled The Future of Reading which was held at RIT in June 2010. Reading could have a rich and interesting future, because it does have a rich and interesting past. But if no one remembers that past, it may not mean much to the future. This succinct and thoughtful essay is the textof a talk commissioned for a symposium entitled The Future of Reading which was held at RIT in June 2010. Written and designed by Robert Bringhurst, this limited edition is carefully crafted and letterpress printed. Printed on Mohawk Ticonderoga paper. ROBERTBRINGHURST was the 2016 recipient of the RIT Frederic W. Goudy Award for Typographic Excellence.

"Poems, where I come from," writes Robert Bringhurst, "are spoken to be written and written to be spoken. The Tree of Meaning is a book of critical prose composed in the same way." Together, these thirteen lectures present a superbly grounded approach to the study of language, focusing on storytelling, mythology, comparative literature, humanity, and the breadth of oral culture. Bringhurst's commitment to what he calls "ecological linguistics" emerges in his studies of Native American art and storytelling, his understanding of poetry, and his championing of a more truly universal conception of what constitutes literature. This collection features a sustained focus on Haida culture, the process of translation, and the relationship between beings and language. Compiling ten years of work, this book is remarkable not only for the cohesion of its author's own ideas, but for the synthesis of such wide-ranging perspectives and examples of cultures both human and nonhuman. Applying his trademark enthusiasm and ecologically conscious, humanitarian approach, Bringhurst produces a highly personalized and active study of Native American art and literature, world languages, philosophy, and natural history.

"Truth-filled meditations about grace in the face of mortality." -MargaretAtwood In this powerful little book, two leading intellectuals illuminate the truth about where our environmental crisis is taking us. Writing from an island on Canada's Northwest coast, Robert Bringhurst and Jan Zwicky weigh in on the death of the planet versus the death of the individual. For Zwicky, awareness and humility are the foundation of the equanimity with which Socrates faced his death: he makes a good model when facing the death of the planet, as well as facing our own mortality. Bringhurst urges readers to tune their minds to the wild. The wild has healed the world before, and it is the only thing that stands any chance of healing the world now -- though it is unlikely to save Homo sapiens in the process.