“2019 Newest Book: The Tyranny of Public Discourse:  “I do not seek applause, nor to amuse the people, I want to convince them.” —Abraham Lincoln David Hirsch and Dan Van Haften AUTHOR'S VOICE® The Ultimate Guide to the Gettysburg Address In the beginning, we did not intend to write about Lincoln's speeches. But discoveries happened. Our discoveries were not an accident. They were serendipity. In a biography of psychiatrist Dr. Nathan Kline, Meredith Platt discussed Dr. Kline's early discoveries, then pointed out: "Was this just an accident? Kline had seized upon an incidental reaction to a drug being used for other purposes. He had noticed it calmed agitated patients. But his discovery was not an accident; it was serendipity. Morton Meyers explains the difference. In his book Happy Accidents he writes,
"Physiologist Walter B. Cannon thought the ability to seize on serendipity was the mark of a major scientist. "Nathan Kline had all the ingredients: a background and personality that prepared him to break out of established paradigms, penetrating intelligence, and the confidence to know he had found a solution." Platt, Meredith, Storming the Gates of Bedlam (2012), 31-32. Had we specifically set out to discover how Lincoln wrote his speeches, we likely would have missed it. We found it because events put us in a position to see. Purchase Structure of Reason books. |
The Story > 11 How Done >
