I started reading John McLeish's Number, but I think I'm going to give up on it, as it's committed some errors and fostered some confusion in the first couple chapters that just make the whole thing suspect. One example that comes to mind is using the word quipu to indiscriminately refer to knotted strings used to carry numerical information, regardless of the civilization that created it. Speaking of a Chinese quipu just seems wrong. McLeish also credits the Venerable Bede for having "started the custom" of our current dating epoch, when that distinction belongs to Dionysius Exiguus. Other things about the presentation also bugged me. So I'm putting on my cranky pants and declaring this a bad book. Bad book!
-
- No. 118 (
essentialsaltes) wrote,
No. 118
essentialsaltes
The Knights of the Cornerstone, by James P. Blaylock - and a little Number
I started reading John McLeish's Number, but I think I'm going to give up on it, as it's committed some errors and fostered some confusion in the first couple chapters that just make the whole thing suspect. One example that comes to mind is using the word quipu to indiscriminately refer to knotted strings used to carry numerical information, regardless of the civilization that created it. Speaking of a Chinese quipu just seems wrong. McLeish also credits the Venerable Bede for having "started the custom" of our current dating epoch, when that distinction belongs to Dionysius Exiguus. Other things about the presentation also bugged me. So I'm putting on my cranky pants and declaring this a bad book. Bad book!
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