`Dr. Radman has presented in Metaphors: Figures of the Mind a clear, excellent account of how metaphor serves as a necessary cognitive key for all human intellectual activity. Radman properly embodies the mind exploring not only metaphorical accounts of mind, but also the metaphorizing, cognitive function of mind. He further examines the metaphorical claims of ... Read moreartificial intelligence and the use of Stephen Pepper's `root metaphors' or `key metaphors' as Radman calls them, to create worldviews. Radman draws on both contemporary accounts of metaphor and classical works. His text is rich with examples drawn from English and German writers. I highly recommend Radman's work for both readers familiar with the various controversies about metaphor and new readers unacquainted with this topic.' Earl R. MacCormac, Consulting Professor of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center `Most discussions of metaphor tacitly assume that literal meaning is direct, precise, and unproblematic, while metaphorical meaning is indirect, vague, and fraught with semantic and epistemological difficulties. Zdravko Radman's Metaphors: Figures of the Mind undercuts this complacent assumption. It shows that literal meaning is an achievement that results from a series of explorations, elaborations, projections and refinements, many of them metaphorical.' Catherine Z. Elgin, Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University `It is hardly an exaggeration to view the cognitive approach to metaphor as the emergence of a new paradigm: not only because the questions asked by the various scholars are now couched in radically different terms. For this reason, serious and well-informed syntheses are welcome, if one is to burrow one's way through the mountain of research and theories produced by `metaphormania' of the nineteen eighties. In Metaphors: Figures of the Mind, Radman offers such a status quaestionis, and in addition traces paths of thought, investigation and application which take the reader beyond the bounds of mainstream metaphorology.' Jean-Pierre van Noppen, Professor of English Linguistics, Université Libre de Bruxelles Show Less