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Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
Thanks!
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?
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.
The world has no purpose or meaning except what you conjure up yourself or subscribe to by choice. Never read another book again, ever. Only read classical Greek philosophy. Only read the side of cereal boxes. The rules are made up and the points don't matter.
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.
When the last echoes of humanity have been silenced and all trace of us gone from memory, nobody can care if you spent your time trying to figure out a cure for cancer or whether a fictional character would have liked chocolate cake.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Counterpoint for anyone out there trying to decide if they should read it: Don't. Life is short, do things in a way you think makes sense, not because some dude on the internet said it Fuck the classics. No seriously, that's my stance: Who cares? I know people who spend time and energy culturing themselves and many of them are absolutely boring at parties. The world has no purpose or meaning except what you conjure u…
But a whole lot of very intelligent people that know a lot about literature have very good things to say about Moby Dick. To disregard their collective opinions in favor of reading whatever makes you exciting at parties [0] doesn't seem like a wise choice to me.
For example:
- Hubert Dreyfus lecturing about MD for 8 hours: https://youtu.be/eq5LDSZDr2E?si=pBlpoHH14ByTlE5o
- Harold Bloom on MD: https://youtu.be/xFt59_E_g5s?si=oORJveHu2hs3cW8n
- EL Doctorow: https://youtu.be/rzFr5PNE5pE?si=PvPowjQPWbglayQH
0. I'm curious what that is, actually. Do you have some suggestions?
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".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really. Euler was inspired by the trivial riddle to create graph theory. Graph theory answered many, many interesting questions.
I'm afraid I'm not sure where you're differing from what I said! He invented graph theory to solve the riddle. It was later used to solve other problems as well. It's not clear to me that Euler knew of the myriad possible applications, but would be happy to be shown wrong.
You can see it in the short paper, where most of the length is due to the lack of algebraic notation, and there's nothing there to generalize to answer other questions about graphs.
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…
"Captain Ahab, from Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick," is missing his left leg, which was bitten off by the white whale, Moby Dick, at the knee. " According to ChatGPT.
The follow-up, when I asked "why do you think so": My statement that Captain Ahab is missing his left leg is based on common interpretations and summaries of Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick." However, upon reflection, I realize that specific textual evidence is crucial for such details. In the novel, Melville describes how Ahab's leg was taken by the whale, and Ahab uses a whalebone prosthesis as a replacement. The narr…