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In the case of such excellent popular books as Whitehead's Introduction to Mathematiqs, Lincoln Barnett's The Universe and Dr. Einstein, and Barry Commoner's The Closing Circle, something more is required. This is particularly true of a book like Commoner's, on a subject-the environmental crisis-of special interest and importance to all of us today. The writing is compact and requires constant attention. But the book as a whole has implications that the careful reader will not miss.

Although it is not a practical work, in the sense described above in Chapter 13, its theoretical conclusions have important consequences. The mere mention of the book's subject matter

-the environmental crisis-suggests this. The environment in question is our own; if it is undergoing a crisis of some sort, then it inevitably follows, even if the author had not said sothough in fact he has-that we are also involved in the crisis.

The thing to do in a crisis is ( usually ) to act in a certain way, or to stop acting in a certain way. Thus Commoner's book, though essentially theoretical, has a significance that goes beyond the theoretical and into the realm of the practical This is not to suggest that Commoner's work is important and the books by Whitehead and Barnett unimportant. When The Universe and Dr. Einstein was written, as a theoretical account ( written for a popular audience ) of the history of researches into the atom, people were widely aware of the How to Read Science and Mathematics 269

perils inherent in atomic physics, as represented mainly but not exclusively by the recently discovered atomic bomb. Thus that theoretical b6ok also had practical consequences. But even if people are today not so worried about the imminence of an atomic or nuclear war, there is still what may be called a practical necessity to read this theoretical book, or one like it.

The reason is that atomic and nuclear physics is one of the great achievements of our age. It promises great things for man, at the same time that it poses great perils. An informed and concerned reader should know everything he can about the subject.

A slightly different urgency is exerted by Whitehead's Introduction to Mathematics. Mathematics is one of the major modem mysteries. Perhaps it is the leading one, occupying a place in our society similar to the religious mysteries of another age. If we want to know something about what our age is all about, we should have some understanding of what mathematics is, and of how the mathematician operates and thinks.

Whitehead's book, although it does not go very deeply into the more abstruse branches of the subject, is remarkably eloquent about the principles of mathematical reasoning. If it does nothing else, it shows the attentive reader that the mathematician is an ordinary man, not a magician. And that discovery, too, is important for any reader who desires to expand his horizons beyond the immediate here and now of thought and experience.

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HOW TO READ PH ILOSOPHY

Children ask magnificent questions. "Why are people?" "What makes the cat tick?" "What's the world's first name?" "Did God have a reason for creating the earth?" Out of the mouths of babes comes, if not wisdom, at least the search for it.

Philosophy, according to Aristotle, begins in wonder. It certainly begins in childhood, even if for most of us it stops there, too.

The child is a natural questioner. It is not the number of questions he asks but their character that distinguishes him from the adult. Adults do not lose the curiosity that seems to be a native human trait, but their curiosity deteriorates in quality.

They want to know whether something is so, not why. But children's questions are not limited to the sort that can be answered by an encyclopedia.

What happens between the nursery and college to tum the How of questions off, or, rather, to tum it into the duller channels of adult curiosity about matters of fact? A mind not agitated by good questions cannot appreciate the significance of even the best answers. It is easy enough