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German scientist and man of letters Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was an 18th-century polymath: an experimental physicist, an astronomer, a mathematician, a practicing critic both of art and literature. He is most celebrated, however, for the casual notes and aphorisms that he collected in what he called his Waste Books. With unflagging intelligence and encyclopedic curiosity, Lichtenberg wittily deflates the pretensions of learning and society, examines a range of philosophical questions, and tracks his own thoughts down hidden pathways to disconcerting and sometimes hilarious conclusions.
Lichtenberg's Waste Books have been greatly admired by writers as very different as Tolstoy, Einstein, and André Breton, while Nietzsche and Wittgenstein acknowledged them as a significant inspiration for their own radical work in philosophy. The record of a brilliant and subtle mind in action, The Waste Books are above all a powerful testament to the necessity, and pleasure, of unfettered thought.
Lichtenberg's Waste Books have been greatly admired by writers as very different as Tolstoy, Einstein, and André Breton, while Nietzsche and Wittgenstein acknowledged them as a significant inspiration for their own radical work in philosophy. The record of a brilliant and subtle mind in action, The Waste Books are above all a powerful testament to the necessity, and pleasure, of unfettered thought.
About the Author
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was born in 1742 in Oberramstadt, Germany. In 1763 he joined the University of Gottingen where he studied mathematics and the natural sciences and, in 1770 was appointed a professor at the university. In addition to his scientific writings, he wrote Letters from England and a book on Hogarth's etchings. Lichtenberg died in 1799.
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The great artifice of regarding small deviations from the truth as being the truth itself is at the same time the foundation of wit, where the whole thing would often collapse if we were to regard these deviations in a spirit of philosophical rigor. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The great artifice of regarding small deviations from the truth as being the truth itself is at the same time the foundation of wit, where the whole thing would often collapse if we were to regard these deviations in a spirit of philosophical rigor. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Lichtenberg is a wonderfully witty writer who exemplifies an alternative current in German writing and culture that seems to have more in common with the French or British tradition. He writes pithily and aphoristically as Nietzsche and Wittgenstien do, rather than heavily and ponderously as Kant and Hegel and Heidegger do. He reminds me of other 18th century wits like Voltaire, Diderot, Pope, Swift and Sterne. He was a professor of Physics and the Waste Books are informal journals of thoughts, fancies and ideas that came to him. Reading them offers the pleasure of observing a brilliant mind following its own thoughts for it's own sake. They are a joy to read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Man loves company, even if it is only that of a smouldering candle."
Lichtenberg's THE WASTE BOOKS is a book I've been dipping into for years and years. Chock-full of humorous, insightful, wise and quirky thoughts and observations, it is a great book to have on one's bedside table. Within its pages the reader will discover a mix of perfectly crafted aphorisms, philosophical jottings and sketches, linguistic experiments, proverbs, jokes and curious phrases - 1,085 entries in all. Highly recommended to those who enjoy "wit and wisdom" in equal measure.
Lichtenberg's THE WASTE BOOKS is a book I've been dipping into for years and years. Chock-full of humorous, insightful, wise and quirky thoughts and observations, it is a great book to have on one's bedside table. Within its pages the reader will discover a mix of perfectly crafted aphorisms, philosophical jottings and sketches, linguistic experiments, proverbs, jokes and curious phrases - 1,085 entries in all. Highly recommended to those who enjoy "wit and wisdom" in equal measure.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad discovery." This is a cynic notation considering the fate of the Red Indians. "A handful of soldiers is always better than a mouthful of arguments..." sounds like George W. Bush - but is written down by Professor (not Condoleezza Rice), by Professor Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, 1742-1799. He has been a philosopher, but his writing-style was more comfortable to any reader, than the work of the other German genius of that time: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Lichtenberg loved the ideas of the French Enlightenment and he tried to explain the ideas of empiric science with humor. He was critical against Christian dogmatics. He once shortly noted: "An Amen face." Or longer: "Nothing offers me such clear proof of how things stand in the world of learning than the circumstance that Spinoza was for so long regarded as an evil, worthless person and his opinions as dangerous." Lichtenberg has been a philosopher - but writing with esprit. If you can tolerate his bile, buy his book: "Who has two pairs of trousers turn one of them into cash and purchase this book." But bear in mind: "A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it, - an apostle is unlikely to look out!"
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