The Practical Cogitator

ThePracticalCogitator, or The Thinker's Anthology, edited by Charles P. Curtis, Jr. and Ferris Greenslet, Houghton Mifflin, 1945. 1983 paperback reprint:

(out of Print) ISBN 0395346355 I'll let ThePracticalCogitator describe itself:

"To begin with, this anthology is for the thinker, and not for the feeler, primarily for the extrovert thinker. Needless to say, it runs over into some of his introverted and intuitive margins."

"There is no attempt at complete exposition. The extracts provide pegs, stout and well driven in, on which you can hang your own further thoughts."

"This book has been called, after Bowditch's 'Practical Navigator', 'The Practical Cogitator'. At any rate, it should be a sort of cerebral Coast Pilot, a compilation of what those who have been down this way before report to those who might otherwise have to pick their course through these channels and into these harbors with nothing but the lead line."

The book itself ranges widely over what intelligent people have said about thinking. The chapter headings include Man In Search Of Himself, He Turns to Nature, He Lives with His Fellows, He Takes Better Aim... Some extracts run for pages; others are a single sentence.

Some bits of Confucius (p.86) that are directly relevant to software:

"A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake."

"Baron Wen Chi said that he always thought three times before he acted. When Confucius heard this, he remarked, 'To think twice is quite enough.'"

BertrandRussell, p. 107: "Skilled work, of no matter what kind, is only done well by those who take a certain pleasure in it, quite apart from its utility, either to themselves in earning a living, or to the world through its outcome."

--BetsyHanesPerry

This book is back in print. -- TedCarroll

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