Black Mischief: Language, Life, Logic, Luck - Second Edition
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Book Overview
This book will not take the casual reader to the cutting edge of research. Nor is it meant to. What I am after in Black Mischief is the moment in which various lines in an intellectual field of force collect themselves into a kind of dense knot....A number of otherwise sympathetic reviewers have suggested that my real aim in Black Mischief was somehow to show the persistence of certain outmoded Newtonian forms of thought in economics, or psychology, or biology, or wherever. Not so. My intention has been to explore a tangle of connected concepts.
Black Mischief is the cogent and absorbing story, of an unusually fertile period in contemporary, science. Irreverent, witty, skeptical, and always informative, it is an anecdotal potpourri of scientific thought and the people who shaped it. Berlinski takes a protean look at the science establishment -- as well as the personalities behind the scenes -- in such fields as behavioral psychology, linguistics, and economics, and in so doing enlightens and entertains us beyond measure.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0156130637
ISBN13:9780156130639
Release Date:October 1988
Publisher:Houghton Mifflin
Length:363 Pages
Weight:1.16 lbs.
Dimensions:0.9" x 6.1" x 9.0"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
One of Berlinski's Best
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 16 years ago
David Berlinski combines knowledge of mathematics, physics, and philosophy, with an irreverent attitude and unique writing style. In this book he combines many personal anecdotes with an analysis and overview of (per the title) language, life, logic, and luck. Berlinksi is disliked by many, partially because he pokes fun at them and partly because he is correct. For example, he remarks that "the sole example of reductionism successfully achieved involves the derivation of thermodynamics from statistical mechanics." and, "Like other men, molecular biologists evidently derive some satisfaction from imagining that the orthodoxy they espouse is ceaselessly under attack." Of his many books, I find this one, "Black Mischief" and "The Devil's Delusion" to be by far his best. If you are free of orthodoxy, you'll probably enjoy it, otherwise you may not wish to venture here. One need not agree with every aspect of Berlinski's reasoning to find it entertaining. But, as you may gather from other reviews, if it's your ox being gored, you probably won't enjoy it. In particular, if you worship academia, steer clear.
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