A Random Walk in Science

[countrycousin]

An Anthology compiled by R L Weber, © 1973 The Institute of Physics, pub in US by Crane, Russak & Co.
Amazon listing

I had occasion to recall it recently - I'll stash it here before I forget.  I said I was going to write about non-fiction - I fear not all of this quite makes the grade.

One of the Amazon reviewers says that it is for any too serious scientist.

True.  But some of it is for any serious scientist.

It is some decades old now, but might be available in libraries.  There were many available on the net a few years ago when I got my copy.  Amazon says they have a few.

It contains many short gems, serioius and whimsical, including "N rays" by R W Wood and "A contribution to the mathematical theory of big game hunting".

The first, IMHO, should be required reading for anyone studying science.  Along with a contemplation of the Martian Canals.  Basically, both are instances of real, competent, serious scientists operating at the edge of human perception and badly fooling themselves.

The second is whimsy, although one of the methods was tried by France in the 50's.  And another approximates the historical method.

There are a number of other short selections.  Many are whimsical; many are historical; some are personal recollections.  Versions of  some of the whimsical are available here and there on the web.

Science fiction fans may enjoy "Life on Earth (by a Martian)".  Lewis Carroll has an offering on "How to Learn".

One of the reasons we are convinced of reality is because of the consistency of our own observations and the fact that we can make them correspond to the descriptions given by others.  This doesn't always work - one selection is John Dalton's discovery of his colour blindness.

There are about 130 of these snippets, ranging from a paragraph to a few pages.

There was a second volume, which I have seen but do not possess, and I see on Amazon that there is yet another, "More ...", which I have not seen at all.

EDIT - My memory fails - the More Random Walks . . . is apparently the second volume that I recall. Similar, good, but in my recollection (and some reviews I've seen) the cream appeared in the first volume.

Comments

[cybercat.livejournal.com]

I've tried to find it's full text online for several hours, but failed. I have this book in Russian, and just want to check one thing...

In the "slidesmanship" by J. Wilkinson, in the last paragraph, about the cyrillic letters on slides, it is recomended to say "It's not Russian, it's ..."

Is there Bulgarian or Albanian in the original?

I want to check if the translation is right, for some "cultural research" reasons.

Thank you in advance!

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

Bulgarian.

In my book, the last part is:

"Eventually someone in the audience must tire of this meaningless procession and say: 'Look here, arent't you going to tell us what those slides are about? We can't all read Russian you know' After a well-judged pause, the Sildesman replies, 'Not Russian, my dear fellow, Bulgarian.'"

Good luck with your cultural research!