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Cover of The Night is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995

The Night is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995

Martin Gardner

First published 1996
Publisher St. Martin's Press
Format Hardcover
Type Nonfiction
Cover art Louisa Chase
Pages xxix+587
Price $29.95
ISBN 031214380X

  • $43.50 in Canada.
  • Cover art credited on back flap of dustjacket.
  • Interior art listed on pages xiii & xiv, only a few credited. Credited ones have been entered below.
  • The uncredited photo on page 7 entitled "The Symmetry of a Splash" is actually the famous "Milk Drop Coronet" photo and credit has been added below.
  • Book is divided into 7 sections, each with an introduction.
  • Pages 567-586 constitute an index.
  • Page 587 is an uncredited "About the Author" essay.
  • Full Library of Congress CIP data on copyright page.
  • "First Edition: June 1996" [over] "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on copyright page.
  • U.S. Copyright Office Copyright Number TX0004417046 puts the publication date at 1996-08-26.

Page Title Author(s) Type
1 Part I: Physical Science Martin Gardner Essay
3 Fearful Symmetry Martin Gardner Essay
13 The Twin Paradox Martin Gardner Essay
22 Quantum Weirdness Martin Gardner Essay
32 The Computer as Scientist Martin Gardner Essay
40 WAP, SAP, PAP, and FAP Martin Gardner Essay
50 Infinity and Information Martin Gardner Essay
59 Can Time Stop? The Past Change? Martin Gardner Essay
68 Werner Heisenberg Martin Gardner Essay
78 Superstrings Martin Gardner Essay
92 The Ultimate Turtle Martin Gardner Essay
103 Part II: Social Science Martin Gardner Essay
105 Why I am Not a Smithian Martin Gardner Essay
127 The Laffer Curve Martin Gardner Essay
140 H. G. Wells in Russia Martin Gardner Essay
149 Beyond Cultural Relativism Martin Gardner Essay
162 Klingon and Other Artificial Languages Martin Gardner Essay
171 Part III: Pseudoscience Martin Gardner Essay
173 Pseudoscience in the Nineteenth Century Martin Gardner Essay
183 The Irrelevance of Conan Doyle Martin Gardner Essay
193 Wilhelm Reich and the Orgone Martin Gardner Essay
207 Freud, Fleiss, and Emma's Nose Martin Gardner Essay
213 William James and Mrs. Piper Martin Gardner Essay
244 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Martin Gardner Essay
255 Part IV: Mathematics Martin Gardner Essay
257 Mathematics and the Folkways Martin Gardner Essay
271 Mr. Apollinax Visits New York Martin Gardner Essay
280 How Not to Talk About Mathematics Martin Gardner Essay
295 Part V: The Arts Martin Gardner Essay
297 Coleridge and The Ancient Mariner Martin Gardner Essay
318 Lewis Carroll and His Alice Books Martin Gardner Essay
328 The Royal Historian of Oz Martin Gardner Essay
348 Georges Perec Martin Gardner Essay
358 Puzzles in Ulysses Martin Gardner Essay
368 Who Was Shakespeare? Martin Gardner Essay
375 White, Brown and Fractal Music Martin Gardner Essay
395 Part VI: Philosophy Martin Gardner Essay
397 The Significance of "Nothing" Martin Gardner Essay
412 Newcomb's Paradox Martin Gardner Essay
421 Is "Realism" a Dirty Word? Martin Gardner Essay
427 The Mystery of Free Will Martin Gardner Essay
442 Computers Near the Threshold? Martin Gardner Essay
450 The Curious Mind of Allan Bloom Martin Gardner Essay
457 Isiah Berlin: Fox or Hedgehog? Martin Gardner Essay
464 Why I am Not a Pragmatist Martin Gardner Essay
481 Gardner's Whys Martin Gardner Essay
488 The Popperism of Sir Karl Martin Gardner Essay
491 W. V. Quine Martin Gardner Essay
495 The Irrelevance of "Everything" Martin Gardner Essay
507 Part VII: Religion Martin Gardner Essay
509 The Strange Case of Robert Maynard Hutchins Martin Gardner Essay
525 The Wandering Jew and the Second Coming Martin Gardner Essay
533 Proofs of God Martin Gardner Essay
551 Surprise Martin Gardner Essay
xvii Introduction (The Night is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995) Martin Gardner Essay