The Extraordinary in the Ordinary: The Aesthetics of Everyday Life

I realize I neglected to advertise my book, published earlier this year, on this blog.  The information made available by the publisher is given below.  But first I want to mention something strange.  There are a number of people offering this book on the web for outrageous sums of money.  This is funny and sad since you can purchase it through Broadview Press for under $30, and I just found out Google Play offers an ebook version for only $16.17!   Amazon.com, which used to offer it at the Broadview price, is now offering it for between $43 and $213!  Please do not buy it at those prices.

Also there is a good review of the book by Christopher Dowling at Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.  I have some disagreements with Dowling but overall I thought he was thorough and fair.

This book explores the aesthetics of the objects and environments we encounter in daily life. Thomas Leddy stresses the close relationship between everyday aesthetics and the aesthetics of art, but places special emphasis on neglected aesthetic terms such as 'neat,' 'messy,' 'pretty,' 'lovely,' 'cute,' and 'pleasant.' The author advances a general theory of aesthetic experience that can account for our appreciation of art, nature, and the everyday.

Comments:
"Thomas Leddy offers a comprehensive and compelling treatment of everyday aesthetics, discussing a wide variety of historical and contemporary sources while putting forward an interesting new theory of what it is to have an aesthetic experience. This engaging book is suitable for students, scholars, and anyone wishing to enrich their experience of everyday life." - Sherri Irvin, University of Oklahoma
"The Extraordinary in the Ordinary is a significant contribution to the newly important field of everyday aesthetics. The book provides an excellent critical overview of work in this field to date, but more importantly breaks new ground by extending our understanding of aesthetic experience and of the properties we encounter in that experience." - Robert Stecker, Central Michigan University
"Discussion of everyday aesthetics has been gaining momentum in recent years, and as well as developing his own theory of everyday aesthetics and of aesthetic experience more broadly construed, Leddy has produced an invaluable reflective consolidation of the work of major contributors to the discipline, past and present." - Christopher Dowling, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Thomas Leddy is Professor of Philosophy at San Jose State University.
*Academics please note that this is a title classified as having a restricted allocation of complimentary copies; complimentary copies remain readily available to adopters and to academics very likely to adopt this title in the coming academic year. When adoption possibilities are less strong and/or further in the future, academics are requested to purchase the title at an academic discount, with the proviso that Broadview will happily refund the purchase price (with or without a receipt) if the book is indeed adopted.


Table of Contents:

Introduction

Part I: The Domain of Everyday Aesthetics

Chapter 1: The Nature of Everyday Aesthetics
Chapter 2: Aesthetic Experience and Aesthetic Properties
Chapter 3: Everyday Aesthetics and the Environment

Part II: A Theory of Everyday Aesthetics

Chapter 4: Aesthetic Experience as Experience of Objects with Aura
Chapter 5: A Bestiary of Aesthetic Terms for Everyday Contexts
Chapter 6: Criticisms Actual and Possible
Chapter 7: Everyday Surface Aesthetic Qualities
Chapter 8: Everyday Aesthetics and the Sublime
Conclusion