Gregory Bateson was a philosopher, anthropologist, photographer, naturalist and poet, as well as the husband and collaborator of Margaret Mead. This anthology of his major work contains a foreword by his daughter Mary Katherine Bateson.

A landmark work that broke new ground in anthropology, psychology, cybernetics, and more--and remains relevant today Gregory Bateson was a philosopher, anthropologist, photographer, naturalist, and poet, as well as the husband and collaborator of Margaret Mead. In 1972, he published this career-spanning collection, and it has remained highly influential in multiple fields ever since. Ranging across anthropology, psychology and psychiatry, cybernetics, and much more, Bateson addresses culture, the self and the mind, addiction, the then-nascent field of computer science, and the very components of thought itself. This edition offers a new foreword by his daughter Mary Catherine Bateson reflecting on his career and thought, showing why this astonishing book continues to delight and inform readers, decades after its original publication.