Man's Supreme Inheritance
by F M Alexander
Published 2003 (7th Edition) 284
pages
This is the
first of Alexander's four books. It was first published in 1910. This edition,
published in 1996 by Mouritz, has been meticulously edited, with extensive
notes, by Jean Fischer. It contains two prefaces by Alexander, an introduction
by John Dewey, and the section "To My Reader" with appreciations
which were included in the 1918 Methuen edition but accidentally left out of
later editions. Ten appendices contain further material which was omitted from
earlier editions, reviews of the 1910 and the 1918 editions, extracts from
reviews, a printing history and a text comparison table of the 1910 and the
1918 editions. As well as the original photographs the book contains
additional illustrations. Foreword by Walter Carrington.
Alexander
had previously written and published a number of leaflets and pamphlets about
his work and a lot of this material is incorporated into this book. The big
difference between this book and the earlier publications is the scope and
magnitude of Alexander's vision. The earliest papers are concerned with speech
and elocution - "Speech Culture and Natural Elocution", for instance.
Later papers are concerning with breathing - "Introduction to a New Method
of Respiratory Vocal Re-Education", and "The Dangers of Deep
Breathing", for instance. In "Man's Supreme Inheritance"
Alexander regards his discoveries as offering mankind the opportunity to make
progress using conscious awareness as the means of taking control of one's
manner of use (seeing "use" in the widest possible way). He believes
that he brings this message at a time when mankind is rapidly regressing,
responding to the ever greater demands of our evolving world in ways that an
instinctive and inappropriate, inadequate for our current needs.
The book
does not contain much practical explanation - although as you understand the
significance of Alexander's proposals so you might see the practical
implications of his work. For the most practical exposition that Alexander ever
wrote, read his third book, "The Use of the Self".