M: Writings '67–'72

Cage's earlier books (Silence and A Year From Monday) had much more to recommend them than his later books. Both "M" and "X" have a great deal of his deconstructed writings of Joyce, Emerson, Pound, and others. These do not make for very illuminating or interesting reading. His more conventionally composed writings convey much more to the reader. Even better, one should get "Conversing With Cage" by Richard Kostelanetz, which reads like a book-long meta-interview covering every aspect of Cage's thought.

it's a great collection of Cage's concrete poetry, but unfortunately the reproduction is really cheap and poor quality. Even the back cover looks like a bad scan with JPG artefacts all around the type. Recommend you try and find a better edition and not this one which I believe is on demand print from Lightning Source

👍

I read this book many years ago and do not know if it is even still in print. I saw that no-one had reviewed it and felt duty bound to add my little bit in the hope it might persuade someone else to go to the trouble of seeking out this book. It is one of THOSE books, a true giant of a thing - not just for the ideas and insights it contains but for the wonderful way that it is written. Cage's music was years ahead of its time (still is probably), the book is the same. Brilliant, challenging, rambling, inspirational and utterly engrossing; it's the nearest any of us will ever get to being inside the mind of a genius. I can not recommend this book highly enough, but it is especially good if you are feeling like doing something new in your life and haven't quite got the nerve. This guy had guts!