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Enyedi Ildikó on the Most Important Book of the 21st Century: Bridle’s Exploration of Intelligence Beyond Humanity
Telex.hu recently posed a question to a group of cultural figures: what has been the most defining, perspective-shifting, and inspiring book for them in the last 25 years? What book resonated deeply at the right moment? This article presents the response from Hungarian film director Enyedi Ildikó.
“This task required some serious thought…
Twenty-five years is a long time, and I’ve read many good and important books during that period. But did any experience compare to the first time I encountered the works of Kleist, Proust, Hölderlin, Borges, or Dostoevsky? Or reading Móricz’s Erdély Trilogy? Did any book offer the sustained immersive experience of Nádas’s A Book of Memories, which I promptly reread upon finishing?
Ultimately, I chose a work of non-fiction: James Bridle’s Ways of Being – Animals, Plants, Machines for a Planetary Intelligence. It has been published in Hungarian under the title Az emberi intelligencián túl (Beyond Human Intelligence),though this translation isn’t quite as evocative.
The book exceptionally illustrates the richness and diversity of worlds and realities, within which our own human existence is merely one among many.
Beyond offering surprisingly insightful and fascinating data that allows us to