Evocative Objects: Things We Think With

by Sherry Turkle (Editor)

Autobiographical essays, framed by two interpretive essays by the editor, describe the power of an object to evoke emotion and provoke reflections on a cello, a laptop computer, a 1964 Ford Falcon, an apple, a mummy in a museum, and other "things-to-think-with." For Sherry Turkle, "We think with the objects we love; we love the objects we think with." In Evocative Objects , Turkle collects writings by scientists, humanists, artists, and designers that trace the power of everyday things. These essays reveal objects as emotional and intellectual companions that anchor memory, sustain relationships, and provoke new ideas.These days, scholars show new interest in the importance of the concrete. This volume's special contribution is its focus on everyday the simplest of objects—an apple, a datebook, a laptop computer—are shown to bring philosophy down to earth. The poet contends, "No ideas but in things." The notion of evocative objects goes objects carry both ideas and passions. In our relations to things, thought and feeling are inseparable. Whether it's a student's beloved 1964 Ford Falcon (left behind for a station wagon and motherhood), or a cello that inspires a meditation on fatherhood, the intimate objects in this collection are used to reflect on larger themes—the role of objects in design and play, discipline and desire, history and exchange, mourning and memory, transition and passage, meditation and new vision.In the interest of enriching these connections, Turkle pairs each autobiographical essay with a text from philosophy, history, literature, or theory, creating juxtapositions at once playful and profound. So we have Howard Gardner's keyboards and Lev Vygotsky's hobbyhorses; William Mitchell's Melbourne train and Roland Barthes' pleasures of text; Joseph Cevetello's glucometer and Donna Haraway's cyborgs. Each essay is framed by images that are themselves evocative. Essays by Turkle begin and end the collection, inviting us to look more closely at the everyday objects of our lives, the familiar objects that drive our routines, hold our affections, and open out our world in unexpected ways.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Essays, Psychology, Design, Art, Cultural

396 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 2007

About the author

Sherry Turkle is Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the founder (2001) and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. Professor Turkle received a joint doctorate in sociology and personality psychology from Harvard University and is a licensed clinical psychologist.

Professor Turkle writes on the "subjective side" of people's relationships with technology, especially computers. She is an expert on mobile technology, social networking, and sociable robotics. Profiles of Professor Turkle have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Scientific American, and Wired Magazine. She has been named "woman of the year" by Ms. Magazine and among the "forty under forty" who are changing the nation by Esquire Magazine. She is a featured media commentator on the social and psychological effects of technology for CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, the BBC, and NPR, including appearances on such programs as Nightline, Frontline, 20/20, and The Colbert Report.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book of essays for its terrific merging of science and the humanities. Turkle, an MIT prof, asked a range of mostly scientists to pen essays around an "evocative object" in their lives, something that connects in very primary ways with their lives and careers. She links the project to Claude Levi-Strauss's idea of bricolage (thinking through objects, in brief). She then added small jewels of philosophical wisdom to each essay (from Marx to Baudrillard). One of my favorites is about a yellow raincoat, a kind of protective "spacesuit" that allowed the writer to live in what too often seemed a challenging world. He went on to study the neurobiology of autism! I used the idea for a set of student essays once. It produced wonderful results. I suggest writing your own when you've finished the collection.

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not exactly sure what I was wanting or expecting from this book, but I know I never found it. For all its hifalutin aims and pleasant layout, it proves to be an incredibly thin, shallow and inconsistent read, with most of these accounts rendered in cold, lifeless prose, which make for dull and disappointing reading.

A big problem with this is that its front loaded with some really weak accounts, giving the false impression that the rest of the book is just as poor and disappointing – which it isn’t, but it takes far too long for this to get anywhere near interesting. In fact I’d say it’s not until we get to page 86 with Annalee Newitz’s tribute to her laptop then this is followed by Gail Wight’s touching memories of her medication. “The Objects of History and Exchange” section was good value, giving us the likes of Julian Beinart’s “The Radio” and Susan Spilecki’s mysterious “jow” medicine.

So this is a wildly inconsistent read, the quality is all over the place and most of these accounts are just not interesting, with very little to nothing to offer in the way of insight or entertainment. The quotes before each recollection are poorly chosen and far too long. This could and should have been a compelling collection, but instead it was just far too inconsistent.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is one of a number recently published, all of which justify themselves as providing needed voices for material objects in our culture. In a way, it makes good sense that this type of analysis was ignored by scholars so often. In an academic climate where technological determinism is practically taboo, scholarship turned away from object-specific histories. However, as Turkle's collection both shows and tells, it did so at the expense of fully illuminating the vast meanings objects evoke for users and scholars alike. I like how this book manages to be a hybrid of theoretical insights into the importance of objects (from a number of different fields) and just beautifully told stories about particular things. Turkle's introduction provides just enough background to let the essays speak for themselves, however her conclusion limits the strengths of the contributions by attempting to pigeonhole their meanings in ways that the collection otherwise evades. In its space, I would have loved for Turkle herself, whose scholarship is so concerned with identity formation in a digital age, to write about her own evocative object.

[Christine Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of essays about the meaning of objects is both provocative and meditative. Introduced by the Sherry Turkle, best known for her work in the digital world, these essays focus on the role that the tangible world plays in understanding our own feelings as well as the perspectives of others. Particularly poignant for me was the essay about the silver pin, an object that defined the author's image of her mother. Imbued with both the pain of loss and the beauty of youth, the pin evokes stories of family history and the challenges of parent-child relationships.

These essays provided me with a myriad of perspectives on how important our physical world is in understanding the cultures around us. Though none of the objects described is inherently valuable, each of the authors shares how they have infused their own object with a meaning that is both very personal and universal. It gave me pause to think about museums as places that hold tangible objects in stewardship for everyone. In museums focus has traditionally been on the meaning of the collections both to the individuals associated with the object as well the culture in which they were a part. But these essays got me thinking that shared authorship, a new buzz word, is increasingly important because the power of objects is not just in the original interpretation, but in each viewer’s individual interpretation as well. Imagination allows people to make a personal connection to an object, which then continues the cultural significance of that object beyond its initial meaning. Layers of understanding allow ownership of collections by the greater community, which means the objects continue to live while in protective custody of museums.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I start, may I say that I love the jacket on this? Beautiful snow blue lettering on black - rich and ethereal at the same time.

Content-wise, this collection was better than I expected. I was very interested in reading it but when it arrived and I saw that most of the essays were written by MIT professors/associates, I got cold feet.

Some of the essays were evocative, whereas others failed to convey much beyond an intellectualized symbol. To evoke, for me, is to awaken emotion and memory and the essays that failed in my eyes ignored the former. Some of the essays may touch readers although the object being examined may be outside their usual haunts, like ballet slippers or the glucometer. Other objects don't seem to leave the hands of the writers pondering them - the writer of the essay on the Polaroid camera, for example, didn't reach out to me at all.

But maybe I'm just an emotional lush - the essay on the rolling pin was my favorite. 5 stars for that one!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sherry Turkle is best known for writing about the impact of the internet on identity. This book is an anthology of people writing about things that are important or significant to them. The range is enormous here, and many of the pieces are quite poignant. If you want to get a better understanding of the human relationship with "stuff" - all those products and objects that clutter and inhabit our lives - then this collection is a wonderful way to access that. Each original essay is preceded by a quote from a well-known writer or philosopher or theorist, and some of those are pretty swell, too. And because each essay is relatively short, the book is easy to pick up and put down, if you tend to be pressed for time to read (as I sometimes am).

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I set this book aside, in June. This what I do when I know that I am going to love a book and want to have it hovering around just in case I need solace and something to dive in to. I picked it up a week ago. Photography, combined with memoir writing, combined with excerpts from scholarly essays: the visual, the intellectual, the emotional -- all together provide a great reading experience. This book deepened my perspective on many objects and notions.

[abdullah.bayyari · Rating 4 out of 5]

أحد التعليقات على الكتاب أن الكاتبة (المحررة) لم تبذل فيه شيئًا بحثيًا معرفيًا، بل أنَّ كل ما فعلته أنها جمعت كتابات أصدقائها وصديقاتها من نفس الجامعة في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية
MIT
في كتاب ووضعت عليه اسمها.... لوهذا صحيح، ولا أجد الكتاب مضطرًا بحال من الأحوال أن يفعل غير ذلك، فالكاتبة لم تدع شيئًا غير ذلك، ولا مقولة الكتاب كانت معنية بتحليل العلاقات بين الأشخاص وأشيائهم فيه. تلك أشياء تُفقد إذا ما خضعت للتحليل.
أقول هذا وأنا أكتب مادة نقدية عن "أشيائنا الصغيرة"...!!

[Omayeli Arenyeka]

was really interested in the idea but too many of the stories fell short, weren't evocative enough, would've liked more written by "regular" people not just MIT alum/teachers. didn't finish some stories

[Heena Chung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fleshes out how everyday objects, like a simple photograph or a cherished necklace, can have deep meanings and stir up all sorts of emotions and memories. Unwraps the signified and signifier concepts with heartfelt stories.

[bailey diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

super compelling stories dealing with our relationship to the material

[Zion Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of essays that stir in me a way of paying attention to that which makes up my physical world and comes in contact with my body on a daily basis.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate her project but I didn't get so much out of this book. It does demonstrate well what an evocative object does for individuals.

[Paul Besley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thought provoking.

[Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

On our connections to eveyday things

My own experiences echoes that of the previous reviewer David Block. Turkle opens up an interesting subject for discussion but I was expecting a deeper analysis. The closing essay by Turkle indicates and reviews points of interest but but doesn't satisfy. I was expecting Turkle to say more to tie the ideas together.

The bulk of the book is a collection of essays by researchers at MIT about particular objects that they have imbued with personal meaning. Most of these are quite enjoyable, the ones that stood out for me include Carole Strohecker on "Knots", Judith Donath on her "1964 Ford Falcon" (I was the last owner of a 1964 Ford Fairlane and can relate) and Howard Gardiner on "Keyboards" (I'm reading him in another book)... as I review the index every single essay except Turkle's is memorable.

Initially I tried to read the book in a single setting, and then got bored - it was good, but not all at once. I then finished it bit by bit, sipping the experiences. I'd recommend this as a gift book for someone who is a collector or who someone like myself just likes to browse in antique and craft shops for interesting items. I'd also recommend this book for writing teachers as a jumping off point for student essays.

Perhaps the best response to reading this book is to write your own personal chapter about similar objects in your own life, perhaps one that connects you to a previous generation. For example I have a scalloped bowl designed to look like a leaf of lettuce that belonged to my mother and before that my grandmother. Its slightly chipped , but I use it carefully once a year in memory of them.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a series of very short essays desscribing the objects (very loosely defined) that the authors used to negociate indentity, family, loss, career and abilitites. The Subtitle is 'Things to think with' but most of the authors describe their feelings, and mostly in terms that suggested that the subtle and immersive shifts of sensory memory cannot be adequately put into words. Which might be true, but made for tedious and repetitive reading. And many of them felt the need to quote Proust and his inevitable Madelaine, it does not seem possible to write about memory without bringing that up. Also almost all the authors were academics, which again made for repetition in lifestyle, writing style and priorities, and they took the oppertunity to promote their research, even when it wasn't relevant. I'm sure it would have been a more interesting book if the editor had made an effort to speak to people less like her, with a broader variety of experience.

[ChromaticRat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sherry Turkle's Life on the Screen was a central text for my unfinished master's thesis about gendered communication in an online community. It's been more than a decade since I moved on to other interests and I was curious to read about what Dr. Turkle is looking into these days. A lovely collection of thoughtful, languid essays about evocative objects in each of the contributors' lives, this book was not quite captivating enough to speed all the way though before it was due back at the library.

[Sharice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, like many books I read, I saw this at work and decided I'd give it a go. I wasn't sure why but I think it appealled to the hoarder in me who can't get rid of objects. Everything I own has an emotional value for me, which makes it hard to let go of posessions, no matter how meaningless or trivial they seem. This book made me realise that I'm not alone, that others too put so much value on basic objects. Some aspects of the theory was a bit beyond me however.

[David Metcalfe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Likely one of the worst books I've ever read. Essentially it's a collection of stories from other people more concerned with sounding smart and obfuscating the core points of their realizations than communicating with the reader. Incredibly dull, very little personality, and a slow read as you strain to find much of any substance, or meaning in the stories.

Unless assigned as class reading material, I recommend avoiding this one.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Sherry Turkle's introductory essay, but can't say that the essays by the various contributors really did much for me. Maybe this book was just a chance for her to collect and publish pieces by her academic friends rather than some committed discussion of objects and how we think with them...

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked overall about this collection of essays was the theme of seeing objects as important, as carrying meaning and emotion, and that we unequivocally develop connections with the things in our lives. Elevating objects to this status gives me hope that we can move away from throwaway consumerism.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you find that bric-a-brac and tiny objects occupy your home, and you don't know why - but feel their connection to you, I recommend this book. It was given to me as a gift, and has added a level of understanding to the tiny, seemingly lifeless objects I remain connected to, when I didn't think I needed to understand their presence any further.

[Cynthia Dechenes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book prompted the most wonderful book group discussion! Members of our group shared their own "evocative objects", and stories attached to them. I would highly recommend the essays as a jumping off point for telling our own stories and prompting contemplation of the evocative objects in our own lives.

[Cyndie Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of ~10 page short stories centered around objects that play central roles in the lives of individuals. What does a glucometer have to say about whether or not we are cyborgs? How does a train embody life transition? An interesting look at what objects that is more talismanic than consumeristic. Mind opening and good to read in fits and starts.

[Kirby · Rating 3 out of 5]

True confessions: I didn't read every single essay but I think I may be forgiven because this book requires time to savor and digest. Lovely essays on Knot Tying, one on a 1964 Ford Flacon and The Silver Pin especially tugged at my heart and imagination.

[Finlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, with lots of linkages to other people I find interesting (Piaget, Seymour Papert, Marcel Mauss). Should be nibbled on, don't overdo it. A couple of the objects were personally evocative (raincoat hood!), most were interesting.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am too literate to read writing by non-writers. I can applaud them for trying and I made a great effort to look past the poor prose to the meat of the idea behind these essays. But i just can't. There's no substance here. Two stars for a fantastic title and concept.

[Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all anthologies, it's a little uneven, but it's a very interesting look at the way humans build relationships with and through objects.

[Mikal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dang. I'm lovin' this book. Super smart, heart-warming, mind-expanding, and delightful.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great collection of essays from MIT alumni. Those of you who are in to product design/design, this is good book to have and read over every now and then for inspiration.