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Ahab's Leg Dilemma

allvisibleobjects.substack.com

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Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#21

Post by graemep »

keiferski wrote: post #18

If you haven’t read Moby Dick, you really should. It’s impressive in a way that modern literature just misses entirely. It is simply an incredible piece of work. But – try to read it on a long trip, or during an airplane ride. It is not the kind of work you should rush through. Personally I read it on a series of 10+ hour airplane rides, which was the perfect environment IMO, perhaps only second to a weeks-long saili…

It goes on a bit though. Lots of digressions, some boring - the one that sticks in my mind is the lengthy justification for calling a whale a "fish".

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#22

Post by keiferski »

graemep wrote: post #21
keiferski wrote: post #18

If you haven’t read Moby Dick, you really should. It’s impressive in a way that modern literature just misses entirely. It is simply an incredible piece of work. But – try to read it on a long trip, or during an airplane ride. It is not the kind of work you should rush through. Personally I read it on a series of 10+ hour airplane rides, which was the perfect environment IMO, perhaps only second to a weeks-long saili…

It goes on a bit though. Lots of digressions, some boring - the one that sticks in my mind is the lengthy justification for calling a whale a "fish".

That is kind of my point, though: don't read it if you're worried about "boring" digressions. You won't like it. Read it when you have enough time to slowly appreciate every chapter. You have to completely silence the part of your mind that wants action and progression of the storyline.

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#23

Post by renewiltord »

bradrn wrote: post #2

Looks like there’s two follow-up articles to this: https://allvisibleobjects.substack.com/p/the-leg-dilemma-par... https://allvisibleobjects.substack.com/p/extracts-ahabs-leg-...

If going North, with a wind blowing from West to East, wouldn't the windward side be on the port side, not the starboard side? I must be doing something obviously wrong early in the morning since the writer says it's going the other way.

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#24

Post by u32480932048 »

At first, I thought Ahab's Leg Dilemma might ask something like if a person replaces parts of their body with whalebone, at what point, if any, does that person stop being the original person?

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#25

Post by shagie »

n4r9 wrote: post #4
xutopia wrote: post #3

I'm always impressed how someone goes on to try to find an answer for something that ultimately isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless I find myself fascinating by this author's journey to figure this detail out.

Don't forget that Euler invented graph theory to solve an inconsequential riddle (the Bridges of Konigsberg).

For any curious - an English translation of Solutio problematis ad geometriam situs pertinensis - https://www.cantab.net/users/michael.behrend/repubs/maze_mat...

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#26

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

u32480932048 wrote: post #24

At first, I thought Ahab's Leg Dilemma might ask something like if a person replaces parts of their body with whalebone, at what point, if any, does that person stop being the original person?

You may be thinking of Theseus' Ship:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#27

Post by trelane »

keiferski wrote: post #18

If you haven’t read Moby Dick, you really should. It’s impressive in a way that modern literature just misses entirely. It is simply an incredible piece of work. But – try to read it on a long trip, or during an airplane ride. It is not the kind of work you should rush through. Personally I read it on a series of 10+ hour airplane rides, which was the perfect environment IMO, perhaps only second to a weeks-long saili…

Available on Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2701

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#28

Post by burkaman »

renewiltord wrote: post #23
bradrn wrote: post #2

Looks like there’s two follow-up articles to this: https://allvisibleobjects.substack.com/p/the-leg-dilemma-par... https://allvisibleobjects.substack.com/p/extracts-ahabs-leg-...

If going North, with a wind blowing from West to East, wouldn't the windward side be on the port side, not the starboard side? I must be doing something obviously wrong early in the morning since the writer says it's going the other way.

That's a typo in conclusion 1, the wind is blowing east to west as it says just above. "the gale comes from the eastward"

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#29

Post by keiferski »

trelane wrote: post #27
keiferski wrote: post #18

If you haven’t read Moby Dick, you really should. It’s impressive in a way that modern literature just misses entirely. It is simply an incredible piece of work. But – try to read it on a long trip, or during an airplane ride. It is not the kind of work you should rush through. Personally I read it on a series of 10+ hour airplane rides, which was the perfect environment IMO, perhaps only second to a weeks-long saili…

Available on Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2701

I haven't compared the two, but I think Standard Ebooks' edition is probably better formatted.

https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/herman-melville/moby-dick

Re: Ahab's Leg Dilemma

#30

Post by troupo »

keiferski wrote: post #22
graemep wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It goes on a bit though. Lots of digressions, some boring - the one that sticks in my mind is the lengthy justification for calling a whale a "fish".

That is kind of my point, though: don't read it if you're worried about "boring" digressions. You won't like it. Read it when you have enough time to slowly appreciate every chapter. You have to completely silence the part of your mind that wants action and progression of the storyline.

Then I would prefer to read Too Like Lightning instead. I found Moby Dick to be interminably boring.
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