Reflected Pensiveness

The Science Before Science: A Guide To Thinking In The 21st Century by Anthony Rizzi
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This book is an epistemological nightmare. Rizzi asks the reader to take on radical and unfounded views, sometimes without even a loose explanation or logical construction beyond “That makes sense, right?”

Even though I disagree with nearly every tenet of Rizzi’s philosophy, I still would give it a respectable two or three star rating if it weren’t for:

• His obvious lack of a copyeditor;
• His entire disregard for even addressing other points of view;
• His attempt to tackle complex issues with a poorly developed philosophical toolbox; and, most importantly,
• His total lack of logical flow or structure beyond asking the reader to accept things on his authority.

Though no doubt a great physicist, Rizzi seems to have lost his notion of rigor in trying to invent a new realist approach to the philosophy of science. His biggest flaw, in my opinion, is in his confusion of the nature of words; he oftentimes seems to think that he can pull universal truth out of the English language.

Unfortunately for him, the English language is neither an authority on nature nor a system he’s totally mastered himself.

All in all, avoid this book — especially if you don’t have the scientific grounding to understand why it’s wrong on your own.

View all my reviews