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Wittgenstein's Poker

The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers

By John Eidinow, David Edmonds

(18)

| Hardcover | 9780066212449

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Book Description

On October 25,1946, in a crowded room in Cambridge, England, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper came face-to-face for the first and only time. The encounter lasted just ten minutes, and did not go well.

Their loud and aggressive confrontation became the stuff of instant legend. Almost immediatelContinue

Critics

Foul play suspected

Picture the scene. The place is Athens and the time is around the first half of the 4th century BC. Plato is about to give a lecture about something or other. Waiting, gleeful with mischief in the audience, a plucked but otherwise intact chicken conc ... (read full critics)

spectator published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

Wittgenstein's Poker

On Oct. 25, 1946, a meeting of the Cambridge Moral Science Club turned ugly. Long the domain of Ludwig Wittgenstein, the M.S.C. had invited the up-and-coming Karl Popper, a man dedicated to demolishing Wittgenstein's thought, to present a paper entit ... (read full critics)

flakmag published on Tue, 31 Aug 2010

4 Reviews

2 people find this helpful

An earthly view of two philosophy icons

I picked up this book for two reasons: first, I enjoyed "Bobby Fisher Goes to War", a later work by the same authors, and second, I wanted to read Popper's works and would like to get some background materials first.
The story itself may not be as dramatic as "Bobby" but the characters are as ... (continue)

I picked up this book for two reasons: first, I enjoyed "Bobby Fisher Goes to War", a later work by the same authors, and second, I wanted to read Popper's works and would like to get some background materials first.
The story itself may not be as dramatic as "Bobby" but the characters are as eccentric, if not more. Wittgenstein and Popper came from the same city around the same period, and have in fact lived quite close to each other. Yet for everything else, especially their philosophies, they were vastly different. The climax came when they finally met each other in a philosophy club meeting in which Wittgenstein allegedly threatened Popper with a poker (hence the title of the book) and stormed out of the room shortly after.
This is NOT a book about their philosophies. You wouldn't learn much about them except for the very basics. But if you'd like to take a peek of the persons behind the philosophies, this has to one of the best around.

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Greg Sung said on Jul 31, 2006 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

A novel about Wittgenstein and Popper

First and foremost, this is not a philosophy book, and if it is, not a good one (If it is, what's the main philosophical theme?)
It takes too much to go into Wittgenstein's philosophy in depth, for it's obscure and maybe fragmented at times. He mentions something really interesting in a para ... (continue)

First and foremost, this is not a philosophy book, and if it is, not a good one (If it is, what's the main philosophical theme?)
It takes too much to go into Wittgenstein's philosophy in depth, for it's obscure and maybe fragmented at times. He mentions something really interesting in a paragraph and then he often moves on to mention something else in the very next paragraph as if the first thing he mentioned has already been taken care of. He rarely draws a conclusion in a clear form. Some people masochistically spend their life on this subject. With that's said, it's easier to talk about his life. So this is one of those books on great philosophers, like one on Kripke's personality or one on Tarski's personal life. O just like there are so many books on Einstein!! So you might as well like it if you are a gossiper and like that kind of book in general. I didn't like it at all.
If you are genuinely interested in Wittgenstein as a person "Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius by Ray Monk" serves the job far more justly.

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JihadeR said on Oct 29, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

an easy reading book. in some way it does give u the tension when the two men were in the same room, the main scene obviously. read: if u wanna know more about W and P. don't read: if u wanna learn their works (this is not a philosophy book).

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Littlepete said on Jan 5, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

You may not know the theory but it doesn't matter

I can probably never step across the thresold of philosophy, which is always tempting but demands way too much contemplation. Wittgenstein's Poker, as the sub-title suggests, is a tale revolving the blow between two of the most important contemporary thinkers. Frankly I only know Wittgenstein's name ... (continue)

I can probably never step across the thresold of philosophy, which is always tempting but demands way too much contemplation. Wittgenstein's Poker, as the sub-title suggests, is a tale revolving the blow between two of the most important contemporary thinkers. Frankly I only know Wittgenstein's name and Popper? I even never heard of him. Yet it doesn't matter. The book serves as a vivid reference to what happened in the Central Europe back in the WWII, and most of all, it pens two charismatic, subjective and passionate philosophers into life. Having read the book, I am so grateful that we have these great figures who helped season the tedious mankind history.

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fruit said on Sep 13, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback