A Budget of Paradoxes

Published in 1872, this work parades all varieties of crackpot through time, from circle-squarers to champions of perpetual motion.

Augustus De Morgan (Author), Sophia De Morgan (Edited by)

9781108083201, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 April 2015

526 pages
21.7 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.6 kg

An important figure in the development of modern mathematical logic and abstract algebra, Augustus De Morgan (1806–71) was also a witty writer who made a hobby of collecting evidence of paradoxical and illogical thinking from historical sources as well as contemporary pamphlets and periodicals. Based on articles that had appeared in The Athenaeum during his lifetime, this work was edited by his widow and published in book form in 1872. It parades all varieties of crackpot, from circle-squarers to inventors of perpetual motion machines, all for the reader's entertainment and education. Filled with anecdotes, personal opinions and 'squibs' of every kind, the book remains enjoyable reading for those who are amused rather than appalled by the human condition. Also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection are the Memoir of Augustus De Morgan (1882), prepared by his wife, and his ambitious Formal Logic (1847).

Editor's preface
Introductory
A budget of paradoxes
Appendix.

Subject Areas: History of mathematics [PBX]