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Serendipities: Language And Lunacy [the Italian Academy Lectures]  - 1st  Edition/1st Printing

Serendipities: Language And Lunacy [the Italian Academy Lectures] - 1st Edition/1st Printing

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Serendipities: Language And Lunacy [the Italian Academy Lectures] - 1st Edition/1st Printing

by Eco, Umberto

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Fine+ in Fine+ dust jacket
ISBN 10
0231111347
ISBN 13
9780231111348
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About This Item

New York: Columbia University Press. Fine+ in Fine+ dust jacket. 1998. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 0231111347 . A very handsome first edition/first printing, Contursi A43b, in Very Fine condition in alike dust-jacket. SIGNED by author Umberto Eco directly on the title page; In these five essays (originally lectures) Professor Eco reveals how serendipities - unanticipated truths - often spring from mistaken ideas. He explores the "linguistics of the lunatic," stories told by scholars, scientists, poets, fanatics, and ordinary people in order to make sense of the world. He uncovers layers of mistakes that have shaped human history - such as Columbus's assumption that the world was much smaller than it is leading to his attempt to reach the Far East by sailing West…Translated from the Italian by William Weaver; 8vo; Signed by Author .

Synopsis

Serendipities is a careful unraveling of the fabulous and the false, a brilliant exposition of how unanticipated truths often spring from false ideas. From Leibniz's belief that the I Ching illustrated the principles of calculus to Marco Polo's mistaking a rhinoceros for a unicorn, Umberto Eco offers a dazzling tour of intellectual history, illuminating the ways in which we project the familiar onto the strange to make sense of the world. Uncovering layers of mistakes that have shaped human history, Eco offers with wit and clarity such instances as Columbus's voyage to the New World, the fictions that grew around the Rosicrucians and Knights Templar, and the linguistic endeavors to recreate the language of Babel, to show how serendipities can evolve out of mistakes. With erudition, anecdotes, and scholarly rigor, this new collection of essays is sure to entertain and enlighten any reader with a passion for the curious history of languages and ideas.

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Details

Bookseller
Books Tell You Why, Inc. US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
33758
Title
Serendipities: Language And Lunacy [the Italian Academy Lectures] - 1st Edition/1st Printing
Author
Eco, Umberto
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Fine+ in Fine+ dust jacket
Edition
First Edition; First Printing
ISBN 10
0231111347
ISBN 13
9780231111348
Publisher
Columbia University Press
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
1998
Keywords
Collectible Rare Out-Of-Print, Essays History
Bookseller catalogs
Legendary Authors / Eco, Umberto;

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