This book needs no title
a budget of living paradoxes
by Raymond M. Smullyan · first published 1980
7mentions
3recommended by
5HN commenters
2017–2021first – last mentioned
60% recommend40% neutral
This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes is a 1980 collection of essays about logic, paradoxes, and philosophy. From at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Book_Needs_No_Title
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It's been a good while since I read any of Smullyan's work, but I kinda want to say that the entirety of This Book Needs No Title, along with at least one of his other philosophy books (and maybe some parts of his logic puzzle books) does a pretty good job of expanding on that last line.
on “Procrastination Has Nothing to Do with Self-Control” ↗The best Smullyan book is still "This Book Needs No Title", but all of them are at least fun to read, this one included.
on “To Mock a Mockingbird” ↗This reminds me of a great snippet from one of Raymond Smulyan's books ("This Book Needs No Title") that I think best captures the implied and unfounded fear behind these sort of articles. Here's the quote in full: “Recently I was with a group of mathematicians and philosophers. One philosopher…
on “Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer” ↗This whole thing about character flaws and self control reminded me of the following passage from Raymond Smullyan's "This Book Needs No Title": I know one woman who smokes. She says: “It’s not that I have to smoke; I choose to. I could easily give it up any time I wish to, but I see no reason why I should. But I can assure you, I could if…
on “Procrastination Has Nothing to Do with Self-Control” ↗…Having loved one of Smullyan's books, I searched for more. One book that came up didn't have a title in the system. Puzzled, I wrote down the call number, went to the shelf, and grabbed the book. It was "This Book Needs No Title". Clearly whoever added it to the catalog was inspired by Smullyan's prankster ways.
on “Raymond Smullyan has died” ↗In re: free will, illusion of: see "Planet Without Laughter" > excerpted from "This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes" by Raymund Smullyan https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/smullyan.html
on “Ram Dass has died” ↗"Planet Without Laughter" > excerpted from This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes by Raymund Smullyan https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/smullyan.html
on “Ask HN: Most interesting, mildly impractical, well-written books on software?” ↗