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red hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. top edge a bit age darkened. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in near fine cond. spine chipped top & bottom, spine darkened, not price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition. first printing (FPu1954 & NAP). glossy b&w frontis. portrait. x+386p. page of facsimile manuscript. list of books by Alfred North Whitehead. index. philosophy. memoirs. english literature. world history. physics. mathematics. ~ Alfred North Whitehead, one of the most distinguished philosophers of our time, was also a lively, kindly person who enjoyed and excelled in the art of informal conversation. The rare delights of truly intelligent discussion too often pass indistinguishably with the days and then are lost forever. Here, through the medium of a devoted and intelligent friend, are recorded the words of a great man, words supremely worth keeping. Whitehead is known sometimes to be abstruse, in his books on mathematical physics and logic. Here, talking informally on subjects of very general interest, he is easy to follow, though no less penetrating. In the compass of his mind there are seemingly no bounds: spontaneously the talk moves in turn to literature, religion, science, morality, politics, language, education, art, history. Sir David Ross, in his Introduction says: 'Boswell set an example for all time of the possibility of recording for posterity the very words of a venerated master: he has had few successful followers, but Mr. Price must be numbered among these. To be worthy of mention in the same breath as Boswell's Johnson, a book must fulfil two conditions. In the first place, the man depicted must be worthy of depiction. Whitehead was worthy of it. The second requirement for a successor (I will not go so far as to say a rival) to Boswell's Johnson is the finding of a fit person to tell the story. This requirement Mr Price satisfies to the full. It is clear from the book that, like Boswell, he elicited many of the best remarks made by his hero.'. Seller Inventory # 2012202
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