Sunday, November 12, 2006

Practical importance of abstract ideas

When challenged to show practical importance of abstract ideas, Thomas Carlyle is said to have replied:

There was once a man called Rousseau who wrote a book containing nothing but ideas. The second edition was bound in the skins of those who had laughed at the first.

I found this nugget in the delightful little volume titled Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by David Miller (Oxford University Press).

* * *

All this is a round-about way of saying, "The Bangalore Book Fair is on!" It opened last yesterday at the Palace Grounds (Near Mekhri Circle, entrance is on the road towards Windsor Manor), and runs till the 19th of November; it's open during 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. 9 p.m. It's big, it's great, it's fun. I have been there, and so have some others. How about you?

Posted at

2 comments:

  1. Madhat5:46 PM, November 13, 2006

    so you recommend it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Abi6:31 PM, November 13, 2006

    Yes. It covers most of the important ideas within a slim volume of under 150 pages. For an introductory book, it's very good.

    ReplyDelete

Would you like to comment on this post (or, in response to one of the comments)? If so, please note:

1. This blog does not allow anonymous comments (any more), so please use an open-id account to comment.

2. Comments on posts older than 15 days go into a moderation queue, and may take some time to appear.

Thank you for joining the conversation. Have your say: