A leading American anthropologist analyzes the many vitally important ways in which people "talk" to one another without the use of words. "The Silent Language shows how cultural factors influence the individual behind his back, without his knowledge." —Erich FrommThe pecking order in a chicken yard, the fierce competition in a school playground, every unwitting gesture and action—this is the vocabulary of the "silent language." According to Dr. Hall, the concepts of space and time are tools with which all human beings may transmit messages. Space, for example, is the outgrowth of an animal's instinctive defense of his lair and is reflected in human society by the office worker's jealous defense of his desk, or the guarded, walled patio of a Latin-American home. Similarly, the concept of time, varying from Western precision to Easter vagueness, is revealed by the businessman who pointedly keeps a client waiting, or the South Pacific islander who murders his neighbor for an injustice suffered twenty years ago.

People like to keep certain distances between themselves and other people or thigns. And this invisible bubble of space that constitutes each person's "territory" is one of the key dimensions of modern society. Edward T. Hall, author of The Silent Language, introduced the science of proxemics to demonstrate how man's use of space can affect personal and business reltions, cross-cultural interactions, architecture, city planning, and urban renewal. "One of the few extraordinary books about mankind's future which should be read by every thoughtful person." —Chicago Tribune"This is a book of impressive genius, replete with unusually sharp observations." —Richard J. Neutra, Landscape Architecture

This book explores the topic of time as a cultural element; that is, how do different cultures express and use time, consciously or unconsciously? Because time is one of the fundamental structures of culture, culture plays a crucial role in understanding time as a cultural structure. The Dance of Life joins a group of books that have explored human beings, culture, and behavior. It examines the most intimate experiences: how do individuals relate to one another despite being isolated by invisible rhythms and invisible walls of time? We examine time as a language, a principle that organizes any activity, as a factor of composition and integration, a means of setting priorities and organizing the material that gives us experience; as a control mechanism that reflects the course of events; as a criterion for judging competence, effort, and success; and finally, as a system of private messages that reveal how individuals perceive themselves, indicating whether they are capable of agreement among themselves. One of the purposes of this book is to consider how living organisms live in a single communicative world.

A leading American anthropologist analyzes the many vitally important ways in which people "talk" to one another without the use of words. "The Silent Language shows how cultural factors influence the individual behind his back, without his knowledge." —Erich FrommThe pecking order in a chicken yard, the fierce competition in a school playground, every unwitting gesture and action—this is the vocabulary of the "silent language." According to Dr. Hall, the concepts of space and time are tools with which all human beings may transmit messages. Space, for example, is the outgrowth of an animal's instinctive defense of his lair and is reflected in human society by the office worker's jealous defense of his desk, or the guarded, walled patio of a Latin-American home. Similarly, the concept of time, varying from Western precision to Easter vagueness, is revealed by the businessman who pointedly keeps a client waiting, or the South Pacific islander who murders his neighbor for an injustice suffered twenty years ago.

People like to keep certain distances between themselves and other people or thigns. And this invisible bubble of space that constitutes each person's "territory" is one of the key dimensions of modern society. Edward T. Hall, author of The Silent Language, introduced the science of proxemics to demonstrate how man's use of space can affect personal and business reltions, cross-cultural interactions, architecture, city planning, and urban renewal. "One of the few extraordinary books about mankind's future which should be read by every thoughtful person." —Chicago Tribune"This is a book of impressive genius, replete with unusually sharp observations." —Richard J. Neutra, Landscape Architecture

This book explores the topic of time as a cultural element; that is, how do different cultures express and use time, consciously or unconsciously? Because time is one of the fundamental structures of culture, culture plays a crucial role in understanding time as a cultural structure. The Dance of Life joins a group of books that have explored human beings, culture, and behavior. It examines the most intimate experiences: how do individuals relate to one another despite being isolated by invisible rhythms and invisible walls of time? We examine time as a language, a principle that organizes any activity, as a factor of composition and integration, a means of setting priorities and organizing the material that gives us experience; as a control mechanism that reflects the course of events; as a criterion for judging competence, effort, and success; and finally, as a system of private messages that reveal how individuals perceive themselves, indicating whether they are capable of agreement among themselves. One of the purposes of this book is to consider how living organisms live in a single communicative world.