Acclaimed, prolific philosopher Nicholas Rescher is featured in our newest Q&A. His latest book is A Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes. UPP: You earned your doctorate at Princeton in 1951 at the age of 22, a record for that university’s philosophy department, and have been hard at work in the field ever since. So, why philosophy as a career? NR: At the outset my career choice ran neck and neck between philosophy and mathematics. But I found that I had to work at mathematics while philosophy seemed to come naturally. UPP: In the Introduction to your new book, A Journey…

A Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes Nicholas Rescher PHILOSOPHY “Rescher’s Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes is just that—and much more. The book is immensely wide-ranging, highly instructive, and a delight for anyone interested in ideas, intellectual puzzles, and the breadth of philosophical imagination. The engaging narrative style invites reading for pleasure; the range gives the book relevance to scores of philosophical topics; and the sketches themselves contribute ideas on major issues.” —Robert Audi, John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Nicholas Rescher presents the first comprehensive chronology of philosophical anecdotes, spanning from antiquity to the…

  What Makes a Good Experiment?: Reasons and Roles in Science by Allan Franklin   The Crown and the Cosmos: Astrology and the Politics of Maximilian I by Darin Hayton   Science as It Could Have Been: Discussing the Contingency/Inevitability Problem Edited by Léna Soler, Emiliano Trizio, and Andrew Pickering   World’s Fairs on the Eve of War: Science, Technology, and Modernity, 1937–1942 by Robert Kargon, Karen Fiss, Morris Low, and Arthur Molella    

The special Ploughshares issue features selections by Neil Astley, editor of Bloodaxe Books. The poems chosen for this issue aim to bridge the “illogical divide between readerships on either side of the Atlantic,” and hopefully spark a conversation that will invigorate both literary traditions. Included are Pitt poets Aaron Smith, (Blue on Blue Ground and Appetite); Barbara Hamby (Babel, All-Night Lingo Tango and On the Street of Divine Love), and John Hodgen, (Grace and Heaven and Earth Holding Company). The spring 2015 issue is available in print and in digital format on pshares.org

Ever since UPP published The Fallingwater Cookbook: Elsie Henderson’s Recipes and Memories in 2008, the now 101-year-old Henderson has made at least two annual visits to Fallingwater to sign copies of the book and visit with those touring this Frank Lloyd Wright icon. Those standing visits are on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. This Memorial Day will be no different. Henderson will visit Fallingwater on May 23, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., accompanied by UPP publicist Maria Sticco. “Elsie gets so much enjoyment out of talking to the crowds at Fallingwater, and sharing memories of the 15 years she worked…