The waste books
by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg · first published 2000
33% recommend67% neutral
"German scientist and man of letters Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was an 18th-century polymath: an experimental physicist, an astronomer, a mathematician, a practicing critic both of art and literature. He is most celebrated, however, for the casual notes and aphorisms that he collected in what he called his Waste Books. With unflagging intelligence and encyclopedic curiosity, Lichtenberg wittily deflates the pretensions of learning and society, examines a range of philosophical questions, and tracks his own thoughts down hidden pathways to disconcerting and sometimes hilarious conclusions. Lic
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This problem is so old and so common that people like Erasmus have commented on it. "Waste books" written by intellectuals throughout the ages still exist, one of the finest is Lichtenberg's. I keep a little notebook and even my main notebook has scattered pages labeled "fragments" that accomplish…
on “I Started a "Dirt Notebook"” ↗…people then read their books and think they're deep thinkers. Maybe, or they just realized the value of their thoughts — priceless — and never let one go to waste. e.g. Emerson's notebooks, Lichtenberg's "waste books" (more concentrated nuggets of thought, from a scientist/thinker). Emerson couldn't write the way he wrote – his essays are stuff from his notebooks of many years stuck together. This Book is my Savings…
on “Ask HN: How do you become an active reader and deep thinker?” ↗There is a line somewhere in Lichtenberg's Waste Books running roughly "If only the necessary were done, how many millions would starve to death?" How many of us on HN are in necessary establishments? What portion of the FAANG world is necessary?
on “My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore?” ↗