The Encyclopedia of Ignorance: Everything you ever wanted to know about the unknown (Paperback)

~ Ronald Duncan (Editor), Miranda Weston-Smith (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 443 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (a Wallaby book) (October 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671790870
• ISBN-13: 978-0671790875
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #940,599 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dated in technicalities but not in spirit, a mind-bender, April 30, 2003

By	Bram Boroson (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This book had a great influence on me when I was growing up. The copyright is 1979, and many of the scientific details are now outdated. The book is a collection of technical/scientific papers on what is UNKNOWN. The papers were written by prominent researchers in the physical and life sciences. Some of the problems are so difficult, however, that not that much progress has been made in 20 plus years. What would be really nice would be to see this kind of book redone today.

The first chapters are more philosophical, then are followed by mind-bending papers, in clear English but with challenging concepts and some math, by P.C.W. Davies, Roger Penrose, et al. This was where I first learned that no theory of quantum gravity has been developed, where I was introduced to Mach's principle, the "coincidental large numbers" linking cosmology to particle physics, etc.