I was up in London, and popped into Foyles to find a replacement for my falling apart copy of Godel, Escher, Bach, which I managed, but, through the evil of the bookshop, I was also compelled to purchase Bertrand Russell's The Scientific Outlook. This is quite amusing, especially the bit where he rants about the Inquisition prosecuting Galileo, thus:
2. The proposition that the earth is not the centre of the universe, nor immovable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal action, is also absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, at least erroneous in faith.
followed closely with a tirade against religious meddling with evolution where he tells us that:
Darwin was mistaken as to the laws of heredity, which have been completely transformed by the Mendelian theory.
Anyway, mocking in hindsight is all well and good, but this little snippet about Newton rang very true:
Newton received universal applause. He was acclaimed by the whole learned world; he was honoured by monarchs; and, in the true English spirit, was rewarded for his work by a Government post in which it could not be continued.
I take it you've found it worth going back through occasionally?
Re:GEB Rereading
quidity on 2003-12-11T19:25:19
I think it's well worth owning a copy. There's lots of little really clever bits that are quite enjoyable to go over again, now and then. Plus it has all the Escher prints in, which saves me needing an Escher book when trying to describe one of them to someone else.
