Dover Thrifty Editions.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Witty observations on all areas of human experiences
Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835, shortly after an appearance of Halley's Comet. Just as he predicted that he would "go out with it" as well, Mark Twain died the day after the comet made its closest approach to the Earth, on April 21, 1910.
William Faulkner, Nobel Prize recipient in literature, called Mark Twain “The father of American Literature”. When hearing his name, most of us would immediately think of the novels “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Less well known is that he was the author of many other works, among them: “Follow the Equator” and “The Innocents Abroad”.
At any rate, he was lauded as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced.” The book “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain” gathers together his various quotes. They are grouped under 12 headings, ranging from “Politics, History”, “Religion”, “Youth, Aging” to “Various Subjects”, covering all areas of human experiences.
Among the numerous witty quotes, I single out a few below which seem to indicate that he was disappointed at the human race and the Almighty:
“Man was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired.” – Notebook
“Such is the human race. Often it does seem such a pity that Noah didn’t miss the boat.” Christian Science
“The book of nature tells us distinctly that God cares not a rap for us – nor for any living creature.” – Notebook
The quote below about politicians is often attributed to Mark Twain, but is not included in this book:
“Politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed often, and for the same reason.”
The following quote, which I found most interesting and humorous, is for some reason missing in the book under review. It appears in the book, “The Five Equations that Changed the World”, in the chapter “Rudolf Clausius and the Second Law of Thermodynamics”:
“Life would be infinitely happier, if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.” - Mark Twain
Although Rudolf Clausius introduced the second law of thermodynamics in the mid- 1860’s, Mark Twain probably had not heard of the word entropy. The “dream” described in his quote could occur in a Universe in which entropy is decreasing rather than increasing. With particle physicists envisioning “hidden dimensions” and astrophysicists theorizing about “multiverses”, wherein each multiverse can have different natural laws, the following conjecture (Lee’s conjecture) could make Mark Twain’s dream a reality:
When a person dies, he enters the hidden dimensions and through them to one of the multiverses in which entropy is always decreasing. In this multiverse, he was born at the age when he departs from earth. As time goes on, in accordance with the law of decreasing entropy, he becomes younger and younger, fulfilling Mark Twain’s dream.
(Hopefully, Mark Twain would find the conjecture humorous).
Link to Amazon Review:
Top review among 1753 ratings 4/7/2023
Comments