Questioning the millennium : a rationalist's guide to a precisely arbitrary countdown PDF
Preview Questioning the millennium : a rationalist's guide to a precisely arbitrary countdown
Questioning the Millennium Questioning the Millennium A Rationalist’s Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown revised edition S J G TEPHEN AY OULD TheBelknapPressofHarvardUniversityPress Cambridge,Massachusetts London,England 2011 Copyright©1997,1999byStephenJayGould Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica PublishedbyarrangementwithHarmonyBooks,animprintof TheCrownPublishingGroup,adivisionofRandomHouse,Inc. FirstHarvardUniversityPressedition,2011. Part2wasoriginallypublished,indifferentform,inDinosaurinaHaystack byStephenJayGould.Copyright©1995byStephenJayGould. DesignbyLeonardHenderson LibraryofCongress-Cataloging-in-PublicationData Gould,StephenJay. Questioningthemillennium:arationalist’sguide toapreciselyarbitrarycountdown/StephenJayGould. —Rev.ed.,1stHarvardUniversityPressed. p. cm. Includesindex. ISBN978-0-674-06164-4(pbk.:alk.paper) 1.Twothousand,A.D. 2.Millennium(Eschatology). 3.Calendar— Socialaspects. I.Title. CB161.G672011 909.83—dc23 2011018302 InlovingmemoryofmyfriendCarlSagan Themostpassionaterationalistofourtimes Thebestadvocateforscienceinourmillennium Contents PREFACETOTHE Predicting:TheBiggest REVISEDEDITION MillennialFallacy 13 PREFACETOTHE OurPreciselyArbitrary ORIGINALEDITION Millennium 39 1 WHAT? 51 RedefiningtheMillennium: FromSacredShowdownsto CurrentCountdowns 53 2 WHEN? 125 DousingDiminutive Dennis’sDebate (DDDD=2000) 127 3 WHY? 155 PartOne:Bloody-Minded Nature 157 PartTwo:FiveWeeks 189 ILLUSTRATIONCREDITS 207 INDEX 211 Questioning the Millennium
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