- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Harvard University Press (23 April 1992)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0674808258
- ISBN-13: 978-0674808256
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 2.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,874,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Review
This is a timely book. In an age of specialization--a tendency that bewilders most citizens, and in the long run threatens intellectual activity in our civilization--Slobodkin is able to write about the connections between science, art, games, and dining in an important and entertaining way. I think it will be a classic.--Daniel B. Botkin "University of California, Santa Barbara "
Product Description
"If it were necessary, for some curious legal reason, to draw a clear line between human and nonhuman - for example, if a group of australopithecines were to appear and one had to decide if they were to be protected by Fair Employment Laws or by the ASPCA - I would welcome them as humans if I knew that they were seriously concerned about how to bury their dead". In this way Slobodkin takes us on a spirited quest for the multiple meanings of simplicity in all facets of life. Slobodkin begins at the beginning, with a consideration of how simplicity came into play in the development of religious doctrines. He moves on to the arts - where he ranges freely from dining to painting - and then focuses more sharply on the role of simplicity in science. Here we witness the historical beginnings of modern science as a search for the fewest number of terms, the smallest number of assumptions, or the lowest exponents, while still meeting criteria for descriptive accuracy. The result may be an elegant hypothetical system that generates the apparent world from less apparent assumptions, as with the Newtonian revolution; or it may mean deducing non-obvious processes from everyday facts, as with the Darwinian revolution. Slobodkin proposes that the best intellectual work is done as if it were a game on a simplified playing field. He supplies serious arguments for considering the role of simplification and playfulness in all of our activities.
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First Sentence
We each see the world through very personal perceptual spectacles. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
We each see the world through very personal perceptual spectacles. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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2 reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Incomprehensible
4 Jun 2008
Format:Paperback
Maybe a bit of simplicity was called for here!. this book teases with possible insights into something (not sure what), that get lost in obfuscating text, personal digression, unexplained literary and artistic reference and illusion, and the authors obvious love affair with Japan - after his residance there. the chapter on the three dinners (a long detailed description of three different meals that the author had participated in) totally lost me. What is the Point? Life is too short for this one.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Neither scientific nor well written
24 July 2006
Format:Paperback
I agree with the editorial review, this book may entertain a bit, but does not enlighten. It does not merit a detailed review.
It may be worth the $1.08 asked for in the used book section not including shipping so look elsewhere for your science education and entertainment.
It may be worth the $1.08 asked for in the used book section not including shipping so look elsewhere for your science education and entertainment.
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