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The Blackwinged Night
Creativity in Nature and Mind

What does the creation of matter in the universe have to do with humanity's creative spirit? What is the connection between, on the one hand, art, literature, and music, and, on the other hand, mathematical theorems and scientific theories? Taking an overarching scientific view of the universe and our place in it, scientist-philosopher F. David Peat explores the incredible similarities and connections between the Universe's "creativity," which reveals itself in the laws of nature, and the creativity of human consciousness. He provides an unparalleled view of the origins of the universe and asks: What acts to transform matter into art? And how does creativity enter into the lives of each of us?

Brilliant and wide-ranging, The Blackwinged Night explores the very essence of the creative spirit and the way it animates the physical world, giving us the power to experience beauty-whether gazing into the night sky or listening to Bach's B-minor Mass.

Note: David Peat is offering a Free Internet course based on this book. It will run for eight weeks, starting 4 June, 2001 and will be held on the Pari Center for New Learning's web site www.paricenter.com. To register email info@paricenter.com

 

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Publishing Information

F. David Peat
Hardcover, 256 pages
Perseus Books
April 2000
ISBN 0738202053
pre-order this edition now

This book will be published in April 2000. You can pre-order a copy today from Amazon.com at a special discount price and it will be shipped to you as soon as it is available.

 

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Praise for The Blackwinged Night

"David Peat never fails to illuminate unexpected aspects of whatever subject attracts his attention, and The Black Winged Night is no exception."
- Brian Goodwin, author of How the Leopard Changed its Spots.

"David Peat is exceptionally well qualified to write about creativity, because he combines being a physicist with a wide knowledge of the arts. This book is packed with illuminating insights"
- Dr, Anthony Storr, author of The Dynamics of Creatition, Churchill's Black Dog and Music and the Mind.

""As one of our culture's most entrancing theorists, F. David Peat can always be counted on to have something unexpected up his sleeve. With this book, he leaves us to ponder the molecular substrates and quantum possibilities of creativity, showing how everything in the unvierse is shot through with it, in much the way that glimmer is attached to phosphorus."
- Suzi Gablik, author of The Reenchantment of Art and Conversations Before the End of Time.

 

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Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Living Universe
Chapter 3: The Big Bang
Chapter 4: Silence and the Void
Chapter 5: Language
Chapter 6: All About Time
Chapter 7: Creativity and the Body
Chapter 8: Conclusions

 

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Author Comments:

The Blackwinged Night was a joy to write and I hope that it will be a pleasure for you to read. I enabled me to gather together many of the ideas I have been exploring over the years, in particular the connections between art and science, the role of silence and suspension, the creative nature of language and reflections on the mystery of time.

In particular this book gave me the opportunity to develop ideas about creativity within the body. This is something that came to be first in the forms of feelings and intuitions and was only later worked out in more detail. For me it continues to remain an area of deep interest.

Finally I should add the role of the village of Pari in this book. I came to Pari as a visitor in 1994 and returned as a permanent resident in 1996. Here, living in a medieval hilltop village, I can look out over the wooded Tuscan countryside. I believe that living within a community whose roots are well over a thousand years old has given me a new perspective with which to view the world and look into the future.

  


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