In a short essay subtitled “The Bubbles of Sáki”, the scientist and first president of Stanford takes up the gloomy creed of Omar Khayyám’s Rubáiyát and of Schopenhauer, who held that life is pain relieved only by satisfied desire. Jordan argues instead for the worth of today’s work and the joy of playing one’s part in God’s earth.
A brief, bracing meditation for anyone wrestling with pessimism. Download the free EPUB.