A Book About Wanting That You’ll Want To Read
Breaking down the concept of mimetic desire
We all desire something. More money, more security, more love, more friendship. We all imitate each other. Ideas, perspectives, thoughts, processes. This is mimesis, the fuel that powers a system of desire that’s been around since the earliest days of mankind.
Author Luke Burgis is fascinated with mimesis and he breaks down this universal concept in Wanting: The Power Of Mimetic Desire In Everyday Life. In the book, Burgis explains how to identify mimetic desire, when it’s negative and positive and how to develop tactics for promoting healthy desires.
Explaining mimesis
The book opens with a clear definition of mimesis, as developed by the philosopher Rene Girard:
“Models are people or things that show us what is worth wanting. It is models not our objective analysis or central nervous system — that shapes our desires. With these models, people engage in a secret and sophisticated form of imitation that Girard termed mimesis (mi-mee-sis), from the Greek word mimesthai (meaning to…
