topics: |  logic | science | essays

Fascinatingly well-written book, draws the reader into various problem.
Starts with Jules Verne's novel, Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant, to
highlight process of coming up with hypotheses and rejecting them, which is
at the core of science. A fragmented message is found in a bottle, about

    "ship Glasgow... Captain Gr... wrecked ... two sailors, ... cruel
    Indi...37 deg 11' latitude ... render assistance or ... perish."

The story is reconstructed and a ship sent out to Patagonia, and nothing
turns up around 37 deg 11'.  So then it is felt it may be Australia, but then
there are other consistent interpretations.

also the Mark Twain story: The £1,000,000 Bank-Note
(read it at http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/MilPou.shtml)
Shows the process of decision making - evaluating choices, etc.