Margaret Visser is an original, one of the first writers to establish the art of narrative non-fiction in Canada. Her bestselling books, including The Rituals of Dinner and The Geometry of Love, masterfully explore the anthropology of everyday life, opening up the interconnected world that we otherwise might not see. In The Gift of Thanks, Visser turns her keen eye and far-ranging scholarship to the act of gratitude, embodied in the deceptively simple phrase “thank you.” Those two words become a springboard for a fascinating inquiry into all aspects of gratitude, from how and why children are taught to give thanks, to the difference between speaking the words and feeling them. She examines the ways in which being grateful is understood in different cultures and how acts of reciprocation or rejection are treated in folklore, mythology and fiction. Thankfulness, when properly understood, is a choice and a source of happiness that can be cultivated. In Margaret Visser’s hands, gratitude becomes a key to understanding the assumptions, hopes, preferences and fears that underlie everyday behaviour. She demonstrates that the North American habit of offering thanks to virtually anyone in almost any situation can be bafflingand even offensiveto someone with different cultural expectations. Reflecting on North American customs, she argues that our own notions of gratitude influence a wide range of traditions, such as the wrapping of gifts, the ritual of Remembrance Day ceremonies and even the exchange of compliments. With every page, The Gift of Thanks reveals a new and unexpected truth to ponder. Visser’s extraordinary insights into gratefulness will leave you both thankful and newly aware of the power of those two important words.

The Gift Of Thanks

Health, Fitness & Dieting

VISSER, MARGARET

Psychology & Counseling

HarperCollins, Publishers

The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities and Meaning of Table Manners

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Cooking Education & Reference

Harpercollins

FEATURING NEW ESSAYSThis marvellous collection of over 60 pithy essays inspired by Visser’s column in Saturday Night magazine explores the cultural significance of everyday objects and phenomena such as jelly, high heels, beards, the colour red, tap-dancing and the Easter Bunny.

The way we are

Literature & Fiction

Essays & Correspondence

The Geometry of Love: Space, Time, Mystery, and Meaning in an Ordinary Church

HarperFlamingo Canada

Rituals of Dinner

The Way We Are

HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited

Winner of the International Association of Culinary Professions' Literary Food Writing Award and the Jane Grigson Award in the US, and chosen as a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year.

The Rituals of Dinner : The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities, and Meaning of Table Manners

Used book in good condition, due to its age it could contain normal signs of use

The Geometry of Love : Space Time Mystery and Meaning in an Ordinary Church

Arts & Photography

Architecture

In The Gift of Thanks, Margaret visser continues her exploration of the cultural implications of common objects and ordinary behaviour. The simple habit of saying “thank you,” and indeed the entire notion of gratitude itself, becomes a key to understanding many of the basic assumptions, preferences and needs underlying Western culture. Taking into consideration cultural history; questions of politics and rights; questions of ideas of freedom and equality; and questions of the newly awakened scientific interest in the emotions, visser specifically addresses the questions: What does “gratitude” actually mean? Where did the notion come from (many languages have no specific word for it)? What is its history? And why is our society so invested in its operations?
Like all of Visser’s celebrated work, The Gift of Thanks is a fascinating look at our everyday behaviour―from to tipping a waiter after a meal to wrapping a present for a friend.

Genre Fiction

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Books by VISSER, MARGARET