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Re: "Sagan and Velikovsky" to appear in local book stores
Roger Lustig (roger@faust.Princeton.EDU)
Tue, 24 Jan 1995 05:26:07 GMT
In article <paloD2vLx6.GK9@netcom.com> palo@netcom.com (Gerry Palo) writes:
>In article <3g0kme$g5v@lll-winken.llnl.gov>,
>William S. Lawson <lawson@pax.llnl.gov> wrote:
>>Actually, Einstein is sometimes held up as a "supporter" of Velikovsky. He was
>>always cordial to him. What he actually said about the book, however, was:
>>"It's not a bad book -- it really isn't. It's just that it's completely
>>crazy." (My apologies if this quote is inexact, but it is accurate in spirit.)
>What he meant by that cannot be ascertained outside the rest of the
>context of the conversation and of his ongoing discussions with
>Velikovsky, and an objective report of this may never be made
>available. It could well be he was speaking of the craziness of a
>revolutionary and correct idea that is destined to turn things upside
>down once it is fully realized. One can imagine Einstein saying the same
>thing of his own discovery of, say, the special theory of relativity.
>What the quote does show is that, whatever he thought about Velikovsky's
>book, he grasped the significance for all scientific knowledge if it were
>to be correct.
Well, considering that the original phrase, if memory serves, was "total
meschugge," I think you may be stretching the point.
>Much of the context of the Velikovsky-Einstein dialog and correspondence
>remains unpublished in the hands of Velikovsky's children, or whoever has
>custody of his literary estate. From what I understand they refuse to
>publish any of it or make it available to scholars. Likewise several of
>Velikovsky's unpublished books and articles. Of course, in the case of
>correspondence, it would be Velikovsky who had the letters from Einstein,
>while the Einstein estate would only have Velikovsky's letters plus any
>carbon copies (this was pre-xerox) Einstein may have made of his
>correspondence.
Einstein's correspondence is being published...
Roger
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