Product reviews for Metaphoria

There have been many books on metaphor, including a number of classic titles, so you might wonder what else there is to say on the subject that would warrant a new volume. Hasn't it all been done before? Well, in a sense yes, and if it's cutting edge thinking you're after then METAPHORIA by Rubin Battino is probably not for you.

That's not to suggest the book lacks original ideas ” in fact, the author's contributions to the field are threaded throughout.

But it's in bringing together and integrating many diverse approaches to utilising metaphor where this book scores. Starting with a brief history of metaphor, it goes on to explore language, structure and then delivery.

Battino says in the introduction that he set out to write a textbook - but don't imagine it's some dry, academic tome. On the contrary, it's engagingly and interestingly written, and most importantly of all, eminently practical. The section on creating a therapeutic metaphor that's tailor-made to the needs of a person particularly gathering information and building the metaphor - is a model of clarity.

Battino is President of the Milton H Erickson Society in Dayton, Ohio, and has written on the hypnotherapist's approach, so it's no surprise to encounter the spirit of Erickson as you turn the pages. There's also quite a bit of NIP in there as well.

In fact, Battino goes beyond the narrow bounds of metaphor and provides a valuable framework and perspective for doing therapy with others.

Many people are keen to make use of metaphor but find it hard to come up with suitable material.

Beginning with some -˜generic' metaphors drawn from a wide range of sources, and going on to analyse a variety of published metaphors, the author provides a rich starting point for the novice metaphorist and plenty for the more experienced practitioner.

While no book can be totally comprehensive METAPHORIA comes close to capturing the essence of the subject - and certainly brings it to life. lf you only plan to buy one book on metaphor, this is a good choice. Overall, it's a book you'll find hard to put down and want to keep picking up.