Budapest-based filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi is among two dozen leading artists and intellectuals participating in a survey asking them to name the most impactful book published sence 2000. The project, commissioned by the Hungarian news outlet Telex.hu, aimed to gauge how recent literature has resonated with influential figures amidst rapid cultural change. Enyedi ultimately selected James Bridle’s 2020 non-fiction work, ways of Being – Animals, Plants, Machines for a Planetary Intelligence, praising its expansive view of the world beyond the human experience.
Filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi has revealed the book that resonated most deeply with her over the past 25 years, a period marked by significant shifts in both literature and the broader cultural landscape. The question, posed to 25 prominent artists, scholars, and thinkers, asked them to identify a book published since 2000 that proved particularly impactful, insightful, or inspiring.
Enyedi admits the task proved challenging.
“This assignment really made me think…” she said. “Over the last 25 years, I’ve read so many good and important books. But was there an experience as overwhelming as when I first picked up the works of Kleist, Proust, Hölderlin, Borges, or Dostoevsky? Or when I read Móricz’s Erdély Trilogy? Was there a continuous, immersive experience like reading Nádas’s Book of Memories, which I immediately started re-reading upon finishing the last page?”
Ultimately, Enyedi chose a non-fiction work: James Bridle’s Ways of Being – Animals, Plants, Machines for a Planetary Intelligence. The book has been published in Hungarian under the title Az emberi intelligencián túl, though Enyedi notes the translation isn’t quite as evocative.
“But the book exceptionally demonstrates the richness and diversity of worlds and realities, within which our own, as humans, is just one of many.”
Beyond offering surprising and fascinating data that allows us to step outside our “human bubble,” Enyedi says the book introduces readers to James Bridle himself – “a sparkling, curious, and intensely thoughtful companion.”
Ways of Being, she explains, “opens so many doors that we can then choose to walk through, seeking out other readings.” For Enyedi, the most powerful aspect of the book was “the elemental, intimate proximity of a multi-colored reality, in the midst of which we sit alone and neurotically – by our own choice. Yet we could return to this vibrant community. What a joyful life that could be.”
Further responses to the survey are available here.
