Composing a Life

This extraordinary book explores that act of creation that engages us all--the compostition of our lives. Through the comparative biographies of herself and four of her close friends, Mary Catherine Bateson provides a fascinating framework for her inquiry into the creative potential of complex lives [...]
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This extraordinary book explores that act of creation that engages us all--the compostition of our lives. Through the comparative biographies of herself and four of her close friends, Mary Catherine Bateson provides a fascinating framework for her inquiry into the creative potential of complex lives, where energies are not narrowly focused toward a single ambition but rather are continually refocused and redefined.

Each of the women in Composing a Life faced discontinuity at periods in her life, yet was rich in professional achievement and personal relationships. Bateson's life-affirming conclusion is that life is an improvisational art form, and that the interruptions, conflicted priorities, and exigencies that are a part of all our lives can and should be seen as a source of wisdom. Important and empowering, Composing a Life will change lives.

"Well-formulated and passionate...offers nothing less than a radical rethinking of the concept of achievement." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Bateson has written about women, but not just for women. Everyone can gain from this book."--Bill Moyers

"The best book since Gail Sheehy's Passages for turning life's discontinuities into growth." --Stewart Brand

"A literary form that reflects the way women commonly reason and talk." The Boston Globe

"Truth steams behind the quiet elegance of these passages." --The New York Times Book Review