The night is large
The seven-decade-long sweep of Martin Gardner's career is one of the most extraordinary in the history of twentieth-century thought. A gentle muse, Gardner began publishing articles on philosophy, literature, science, and mathematics in the late 1930s, while at the University of Chicago. He has since become one of America's most prolific and accomplished writers, tackling seemingly unanswerable questions from quantum physics to the existence of God. The fourty-seven essays in The Night Is Large have been culled by Gardner from the broad scope of his career, and form the most ambitious collection he has ever attempted. Ranging from philosophy to religion, mathematics to pseudoscience, these challenging, coruscating musings - each with a new introduction - represent Gardner at his skeptical best. His crowning achievement and a work of profound significance, The Night Is Large places Martin Gardner at the heart of American intellectual culture.
Stats for nerds
1recommend
2mentions
2people
2019–2020years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I second this! Gardner would be something more recreational and fun than a lot else out there. The Colossal Book of Mathematics is a good way to get a lot in one place. The Night is Large is also great but less math-focused.
I don't see any recommendations for Smullyan yet. The Lady or the Tiger is the classic I think, but I really loved Forever Undecided.
- Curiously, I first heard of Cioran in a novella by Jim Harrison, whose fiction runs much to the outdoors and the active life. I don't think that his writings are hard to find in the U.S., though on the other hand I first read a book of his this year, about 35 years after encountering a mention in the novella.
As I recall, the book I picked up had a blurb by Susan Sontag, a fairly big name in the US literary world. I have the impression that Martin Gardner included a piece on Cioran in his collection The Night Is Large, but I can't be sure.
(Now I want to catch the bus to Bridge Street Books to see if they stock Cioran.)
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