Customer Reviews

Quiddities - An Intermittently Philosophical Dictionary

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The 83 entries in this philosophical dictionary provide wonderful short discussions on a huge array of topics. It contains a diverse selection of entries on, e.g., real numbers, Godel's theorem, beauty, formalism, paradoxes, and on and on. Of course the selection emphasizes analytic philosophy, or its point of view, but this is what makes it handy to have when reading other more dense works by Quine.

Quine is also a fine writer, capable of explaining a lot in a small space. This is definitely a book to have whenever some time is available for quiet reflection.

Though I was never his student, when I read of Prof. Quine's recent passing, I felt sad. Quiddities has been an intermittent companion for several years now, something to have always handy, good for a break from other thinking or reading, bracing air in a stale airliner cabin, light at the end of a thoroughly muddled day. Topics ranging from science to language, cosmology to Fermat's last theorem, this is a book to cherish, hold, and for me, the proverbial layman, a treasure trove of knowledge and judicious, informed opinion.

A marvellous, book this ranges from the Aleph-Bet to the Infinite.
From Democritus's atomic theory to Godel's Theorem.

If you like Borges, you will enjoy Quine.