Serendipities: Language & Lunacy
Umberto Eco
(Author)
William Weaver
(Translator)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
In a careful unraveling of the fabulous and the false, Eco shows us how serendipities-unanticipated truths-often spring from mistaken ideas. From Leibniz's belief that the I Ching illustrated the principles of calculus to Marco Polo's mistaking a rhinoceros for a unicorn, Eco tours the labyrinth of intellectual history, illuminating the ways in which we project the familiar onto the strange.
Product Details
Price
$17.95
$16.69
Publisher
Columbia University Press
Publish Date
June 10, 2014
Pages
128
Dimensions
5.4 X 9.1 X 0.4 inches | 0.5 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780231111355
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Umberto Eco is the author of five best-selling novels and numerous collections of essays. He is a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna and lives in Italy.
Reviews
Eco cajoles his readers to go out and learn more, and perhaps, to disagree with him.--Scott Gordon "The Daily Yomiuri"
Erudite, wide-ranging, and slyly humorous.... The literary examples Eco employs range from Dante to Dumas, from Sterne to Spillane. His text is thought-provoking, often outright funny, and full of surprising juxtapositions.-- "The Atlantic"
Fans of Eco's novels will not be left dissatisfied--his fictional players are still present: Templars, Illuminati, Jesuits, Theosophists, and Masons. They all have a part in this intriguing look at how the study of language can be full of surprises.-- "Booklist"
Rich in historical anecdotes... Throughout, his treatments are informative, intellectually sophisticated, and thoroughly entertaining.-- "Library Journal"
This collection will certainly appeal to specialists. But Eco's ability to balance technical subject matter with broadly intelligible anecdotes and illustrations should make it valuable and pleasurable for anyone seeking a gallant introduction to the philosophy of language.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Eco's insistent curiosity, his vital imagination and his almost overwhelming erudition work together like forces of nature to push and pull the book's five essays in unpredictable directions.-- "Review of Contemporary Fiction"
These essays are equally entertaining and unusual.-- "Scotland on Sunday"
Informative, instructive, and entertaining.-- "World Literature Today"
Erudite, wide-ranging, and slyly humorous.... The literary examples Eco employs range from Dante to Dumas, from Sterne to Spillane. His text is thought-provoking, often outright funny, and full of surprising juxtapositions.-- "The Atlantic"
Fans of Eco's novels will not be left dissatisfied--his fictional players are still present: Templars, Illuminati, Jesuits, Theosophists, and Masons. They all have a part in this intriguing look at how the study of language can be full of surprises.-- "Booklist"
Rich in historical anecdotes... Throughout, his treatments are informative, intellectually sophisticated, and thoroughly entertaining.-- "Library Journal"
This collection will certainly appeal to specialists. But Eco's ability to balance technical subject matter with broadly intelligible anecdotes and illustrations should make it valuable and pleasurable for anyone seeking a gallant introduction to the philosophy of language.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Eco's insistent curiosity, his vital imagination and his almost overwhelming erudition work together like forces of nature to push and pull the book's five essays in unpredictable directions.-- "Review of Contemporary Fiction"
These essays are equally entertaining and unusual.-- "Scotland on Sunday"
Informative, instructive, and entertaining.-- "World Literature Today"
