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What’s Happening in
the Rudolf Steiner Library
Judith Soleil, Library Director
Flying barcodes! Yes, the automation
project proceeds apace. The library’s
online public access catalog at http://
rsl.scoolaid.net now contains searchable
records for nearly 14,000 items, about half
the collection. When visiting the catalog
online, be sure to check out the “News”
section. We are posting book annotations
on the page now as well as events we host
at the library. Also check the “New Items”
page, which lists monthly acquisitions.
Call for volunteer translators! The
library subscribes to a number of Germanlanguage
anthroposophical journals with
intriguing contents: Das Goetheanum,
Info3, Flensburger Heft, Der Europäer, Die
Drei, Die Christengemeinschaft. We would
love to share some of the articles from
these journals with English speakers.
Please let us know if you would like to collaborate
with us on such a project; we will
provide editorial assistance.
We are looking for back issues of the
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British journal Anthroposophical Movement/News
Sheet for Members of the Anthroposophical
Society in Great Britain, and
copies of the Rundbrief published by the
Pedagogical Section. Contact us regarding
specific dates needed.
Why books? Are books just a tired, inefficient,
outdated medium (ouch!)? Digital
resources are important, particularly
in the sciences, where researchers rely
on up-to-the-minute online journals and
databases. Still, Robert Darnton, director
of Harvard’s university library, predicts
longevity for the book: http://harvardmagazine.com/2010/05/gutenberg-2-0
Book Reviews
by Frederick Dennehy
In this issue we offer Keith Francis’s
review of Metamorphosis: Evolution in
Action, by Andreas Suchantke, one of the
most important books on Goethean science
to appear in years. Readers of this
book (and, because it is so incisive and detailed,
this review) are likely to come to a
fresh understanding
of metamorphosis as
not only a concept,
but as an imaginative
activity. Suchantke
emphasizes the need
to “escape from the
idea of a fixed spatial
form” and cultivate
an intuition of “the
inner line, or, rather,
the time-gestalt of
the whole of evolution.”
In a larger
context, readers
will be challenged
to wean themselves
from the mechanistic
habit of focusing
exclusively on what
Aristotle termed
“efficient cause” and
to develop a sense
for the neglected
“formal cause” or
“archetype.” Such a
genuinely scientific
approach yields a
comprehension of
living things and of
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the process of change—metamorphosis—
sharply distinguishable from a grasp of the
finished world that physicists investigate.
Also in this issue is my review of Where
On Earth Is Heaven? by Jonathan Stedall,
a warm, honest, and amateur—in the best
sense—inquiry into the meaning of immortality.
Readers will be intrigued (and
instructed) by Mr. Stedall’s understanding
of anthroposophy from the periphery of
the movement, and an account of Rudolf
Steiner not from the vantage point of a disciple,
but from that of a sympathetic friend.
Book reviews are on p.6 and p.23.
Library Annotations
Brief descriptions of new books available from
the library; annotations this time by Judith Soleil.
Anthroposophy—Rudolf Steiner
Astronomy and Astrology: Finding a
Relationship to the Cosmos, compiled and
edited by Margaret Jonas, Rudolf Steiner
Press, 2009, 250 pgs. Includes notes and a
bibliography.
“Although Steiner rejects the simplistic
notion of the planets determining our lives
and behavior, he makes a clear connection
between the heavenly bodies and human beings….
This…anthology features excerpts of
Steiner’s work on the spiritual individualities
of the planets, the determination of human
characteristics by the constellation at birth,
the cultural epochs and the passage of the
equinox, solar and lunar eclipses…and much
more.” An excellent introduction by Margaret
Annotations continue on p. 62
Rudolf Steiner Library’s borrowing service
is free for Anthroposophical Society in
America members; non-members pay
an annual fee. Borrowers pay round-trip
postage. Requests can be made by mail
(65 Fern Hill Road Ghent, N.Y. 12075),
phone (518-672-7690), fax (518-672-5827),
or e-mail: rsteinerlibrary@taconic.net
Research Issue 2010
5