A Random Walk in Science: An Anthology. Compiled by RL Weber.

A Random Walk in Science: An Anthology Compiled RL Weber.
Ed. E. Mendoza. Foreword by William Cooper.
New York: Crane, Russak & Co., Inc. 1973.

Why read it? From the cover: “This entertaining, pleasing, and stimulating anthology provides an insight into the wit and intellect of the scientific mind through a balanced blend of amusing and serious contributions, written by and about scientists.” Despite the humorous items, there is a fairly serious intent to the book. The 133 selections record some changing attitudes within science and mirror the interactions of science with society. There are anecdotes about noted scientists, items of historical interest, and articles showing the often bizarre ways in which scientific theories are brought into being. Before you take science too seriously, you need to read this anthology. Parts of it are very, very funny.

Some sample ideas from the book: The crucial step in scientific discovery is not rational but intuitive. Only people who have a sense of the darker side of human existence, who know that the hold of rationality on instinctive forces is tenuous, can realize the danger that faces the intellectual world. Misunderstanding of how science works is the result of the format of scientific articles. Pure research has no intention of applying to practical matters.

Humor is hard to define. Humor relaxes tension. If redundancy were eliminated from concerts, they would last for twenty minutes and have no need for an intermission. An analogy has one idea beneath two expressions and a pun has two ideas with one expression. Incongruity seems to be basic to humor. Advanced jokes require a period of preparation before the incongruity is reached.

Someone needs to organize the quantity of useless research in American physics. [RayS: …and the useless research in education and every other field.] Every Englishman thinks he knows how to write reports without instruction; the results are usually abominable. According to Schopenhauer, the only contribution to culture since the classical period are the duel and venereal diseases. “There are no bad research students, only bad professors.” [Examples of predictions of failure in flying, rocket science and the atomic bomb.] [A paper with more authors than paragraphs.] The exact temperature of Hell has to be less than 444.6 degrees centigrade because greater would turn brimstone from liquid to gas.

Know someone who is about to undergo an oral defense of a dissertation? Check out these guidelines for the people who are about to sit in judgment. How to run an oral exam: purpose is to make the examiner appear smarter than the examinee or the other examiners and to crush the examinee. Be reserved and stern in addressing the examinee but be jolly with the other examiners. Impose many limitations and qualifications in each question to complicate an otherwise simple problem. Belittle the examinee by asking, “Didn’t you learn that in Freshman Calculus?” Wear dark glasses; inscrutability is unnerving.

Quote: “In science, one gets a great deal of conjecture out of a few facts.” Mark Twain.

Quote: “People don’t realize the effect of science on their way of reasoning.” A. Baker.