Wisdom is where you find it
Weinberg's book was assigned as a text in a semantics course taken when I was a 20-year-old undergraduate in 1962. His book is filled with sermonettes, some of which helped me gain a sense that i could, in words drawn from Henley, be "the master of my fate." I learned several useful techniques that have helped me become who I wanted to become, and hints about how to find love, and how to treasure those I love without jealously restricting their freedom to be who they want to be. I also learned to be skeptical about certain types of generalization, the misuse of syllogism, the easy but often erroneous logic of scientific causation and determinism, and how to be comfortable with the paradoxes of free will. This list could be extended considerably, but you should get the sense that there is a lot of insight packed into the 260 odd pages of this book. If you pick up a copy and spend some time contemplating some of Harry's ideas, I suspect that you will agree with me that Weinberg deserves to be remembered for his wisdom, and for the generosity of his soul. This review was written 46 years after I first read this book and is intended as a tribute to Harry L. Weinberg, with hope that his grandchildren may learn a bit about how much his book has meant to some of his readers.