There are bright spots, although these are almost exclusively furnished in the form of quotes or paraphrasing of other writers. The author sometimes does a tolerably good job of glossing popular science books and articles. Sections on voting schemes to replace simple majority rule and on the effectiveness of the Golden Rule in game theory are interesting and fairly original treatments. But often the desire to entertain and disarm produces silliness, while the drive to utter profundities and to find mystery in the mundane leads to genuine foolishness. This seemingly intentionally obtuse discussion continues with the assertion that neither the Greeks nor the Natchez Indians distinguished yellow from green since they had one term for both colors.
Individuals don t have sharp edges.
This pseudo-philosophizing becomes particularly unpalatable when contrasted with tantalizingly incomplete reminiscences of actual ideas from science. Ultimately, the book is little more than a grab bag of derivative, inadequately fleshed-out concepts taken from popular accounts of scientific topics. It will confuse the novice while offering the connoisseur of modern thought only a sketchy reminder of great ideas heard before. Randall Black is a science writer based in Southern California.