Quantum physics is deeply unsettling. The thought experiment that gives the book its title, first proposed by physicist Erwin Schrödinger, imagines that there is a cat sealed in a windowless box, inside of which is a phial of poisonous gas…
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is undoubtedly one of the most important and controversial books on philosophy of science ever written. In it, Thomas Kuhn dismissed various traditional views of scientific progress: science did not proceed by the accumulation of…
Alan Watts (1915-73) was a British-born writer and philosopher who is now most remembered as a popularizer of Eastern philosophy and religion. However, as a survey of his career and prodigious writings reveal, he was much more than that. His…
Jaron Lanier is perhaps a rarity: a techno-enthusiast who is also sceptical about the path along which technology is taking us. As a pioneer in the field of virtual reality, and with tech credentials as long as your arm, Lanier…
A number of years ago – back when I had a literary agent – I pitched her a book on luck. Luck is a curious thing, I said. You might think it’s just random chance. The coin toss comes up…
The autumn equinox marks the point where – here in the northern hemisphere – having been held briefly in balance, the days begin to shorten and the nights extend as we commence the journey into winter. It’s a time where…
“Outside of a dog,” wrote Marx, “a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” (That’s Groucho, not Karl, by the way). But who has time to read these days? We’re all too…