A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations

This book is one of my favourite books, period. So much so that I keep it at arm's reach beside my dictionaries, but often pick it up to read just for enjoyment. I disagree with the title, because this volume spans everything to do with existence: curiosity, discovery, disappointment, creativity, bureaucracy and government--what you could think would be carefully collected over a number of years by a person with a mind that hates to feel restricted. And this is exactly that. And if you think it's all highbrow stuff, prepare to be surprised. This isn't at all a collection of wisdoms. There is delicious fun here, too, sometimes at the expense of the quoted. As the foreward says, ". . . some quotations or aphorisms are so persuasive and so well put that one wishes one had said them oneself; others are wrong-headed...and others still tell us more about their authors than about their subjects: Hilaire Belloc cannot have intended to make a public exhibition of himself..." There's even delightful poetry. A truly great book.