The Big Think Book by Cave, Peter -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Prologue Part I: Ethics

1 • On the Run: All’s Fair with Bears? 2 • Just Helping Ourselves 3 • In the Beginning 4 • The Violinist: Should You Unplug? 5 • Walk On By…? 6 • The Innocent Murderer: A Nobody Dunit 7 • Girl, Cage, Chimp 8 • Lucky for Some 9 • Veils of Woe: Beats and Peeping Toms too 10 • Someone Else Will…

Part II: Politics and Society

11 • Thug: Past Caring? 12 • Mercy:Tempering or Tampering with Justice? 13 • Squabbling Sailors: If This Be Democracy… 14 • Vote! Vote! Vote? 15 • Man or Sheep? 16 • ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ 17 • A Bit Rich 18 • ‘Women and Men Are Equal’ – Really? 19 • Exemptions: Doctors, Conscience and the Niqab 20 • ‘It’s All Relative… Isn’t It?’ 21 • The Dangers of Health

Part III: Logic

22 • On Thinking Too Much or How not to Win a Princess’s Hand 23 • Irrational Preferences or How to Pump Money 24 • Chicken! Chicken! Chicken! 25 • ‘Don’t Read this Notice’ 26 • The Unobtainable: When ‘Yes’ Means ‘No’ 27 • Beauty Awake 28 • A Gazelle, a Sloth and a Chicken 29 • Jesters, Bertrand Russell and Paradox 30 • Infinity, Infinities and Hilbert’s Hotel 31 • How to Gain Whatever You Want 32 • The Card-Sharp Camel or ‘Your Number’s Up’

Part IV: Metaphysics

33 • Therapy for Tortoises 34 • Tensions in Tense 35 • Cocktails, Rivers and… Sir John Cutler’s Stockings 36 • A Goat with Gaps 37 • When One Makes Two: Dressing Up 38 • Pin Dropping 39 • In No Time at All 40 • Sand, Sun, Sea and… 41 • Do We Make the Stars?

Part V: Knowledge

42 • Pinter and Isabella: Tethering Them Down 43 • ‘Don’t Tell Him, Pike!’ 44 • The Placebo: An Offer You Can Only Refuse 45 • Indoctrination: When Believing Goes Wrong 46 • Humpty Dumpty Advises Ms Turkey 47 • For All You Know…? 48 • Just Hanging Around 49 • Slothful Sloth Speaks: ‘What Will Be, Will Be’ 50 • Creamy Philosophers: Who Knows Who Knows… 51 • Time for Zoological Investigations – from the Bedroom 52 • Hove and Late: A Gruesome Affair

Part VI: The self

53 • Resolutions, Good Intentions – and Cream Buns 54 • Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary 55 • Modesty and Shame: A Cat and Mouse Tale 56 • ‘Hi, I’m Sir Isaac Newton – Don’t Mention the Apples’ 57 • ‘I Am a Robot’ 58 • Uniquely Who? 59 • The Brain or Where Am I? 60 • Man with Pulley: Waving or Drowning? 61 • A Bale of Woe 62 • A Pill for Everything? 63 • The Frog, Scorpion and God – or ‘Thou Shalt Not’

Part VII: Religion

64 • ‘I Am the Greatest’ or ‘There Ain’t No Sanity Claus’ 65 • The Greatest Miracle? 66 • God, Chocolate and Prayer or Take the Box? 67 • You’ll Never Get to Heaven…? 68 • Sympathy for the Devil 69 • On How a Land Without Crime Is Bad, so Bad 70 • Saints, Sinners and Suicide Bombers 71 • A Knowing God Knows How Much? 72 • Mysteries

Part VIII: Personal relationships

Part IX: Aesthetics

84 • The Life Model: Beauty, Burglars and Beholders 85 • Paintings, Within and Without 86 • Fictional Feelings? 87 • Speaking of Whom? 88 • ‘But It’s Art, Dear Aunt Matilda’ 89 • Eye Spy 90 • Music: beyond Language? 91 • Fragile Creatures that We Are…

Part X: Values

92 • Misfortune, Miss Fortuna – and Malicious Delight 93 • Should We Save the Jerboa? 94 • If this Be Judging… 95 • Life Without End: Too Much of a Good Thing? 96 • … And the Living is Easy 97 • Without End? 98 • Mindful of Barbarians – Within and Without 99 • Is this all there Is?

Epilogue Notes Acknowledgements