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I thought exactly the same thing before I remembered the article from a few month previous. Mentions of that book still makes me laugh because my local library

I thought exactly the same thing before I remembered the article from a few month previous. Mentions of that book still makes me laugh because my local library had purchased two copies of the sequel. "The Gripping Hand" was also released as "The Moat around Murcheson's Eye" in the UK. The library purchased one of each not realising they were the same book. And I still wonder 30 years later about why there were two names and which one was the authors' first choice.

bombcar 4y ago
Apparently there are/were divisions of publishing houses that justified their existence by changing titles in the US vs the UK. Famous one being the Philosopher’s Stone.
phaedrus 4y ago
I'm currently reading The Gripping Hand years after having first read The Moat in God's Eye. There's further exposition on the concept of "Crazy Eddie." Nothing to do with computer-business Crazy Eddie. The Motie Crazy Eddie is an apocryphal figure who embodies the misguided notion all problems have solutions. Some quotes, from the 2nd book: "We will call him Crazy Eddie, if you like. He is a ... he is like me, sometimes, and he a Brown, an idiot savant tinker, sometimes. Always he does the wrong things for excellent reasons. He does the same things over and over, and they always bring disaster, and he never learns." ... "So why did you say that Crazy Eddie is supposed to fail? Don't the Moties admire Crazy Eddie? (...)" "(...) But yes, I think they all admire anyone mad enough to think that all problems have solutions. Which doesn't mean that they expect the universe to cooperate." I like the concept of Motie "Crazy Eddie" because it's fun to in turn imagine if humans ever had the need and opportunity to explain our concept of "Murphy's Law" to aliens who have a different default outlook. It's interesting to compare and contrast the two. They're similar in that they both express a tongue-in-cheek pessimism, but the Motie parable is a defeatist justification of not trying. The human version is defeatist acceptance of the suffering that comes from trying. Crazy Eddie is someone else to watch and learn what not to do. Murphy is you, and you never learn. From the perspective of the Moties, all humans are Crazy Eddie. Edit: another compare/and contrast is Motie Crazy Eddie causes his problems due to his own choices being self-defeating attempts at solutions to problems. An example given is melting down all of your stock of screws to cast a screwdriver. In contrast Murphy's problems are caused by events (at least partially) outside his control, with the implication that all choices lead to (the potential of) ruin.

bombcar 4y ago

Apparently there are/were divisions of publishing houses that justified their existence by changing titles in the US vs the UK. Famous one being the Philosopher’s Stone.

phaedrus 4y ago

I'm currently reading The Gripping Hand years after having first read The Moat in God's Eye. There's further exposition on the concept of "Crazy Eddie." Nothing to do with computer-business Crazy Eddie. The Motie Crazy Eddie is an apocryphal figure who embodies the misguided notion all problems have solutions. Some quotes, from the 2nd book: "We will call him Crazy Eddie, if you like. He is a ... he is like me, sometimes, and he a Brown, an idiot savant tinker, sometimes. Always he does the wrong things for excellent reasons. He does the same things over and over, and they always bring disaster, and he never learns." ... "So why did you say that Crazy Eddie is supposed to fail? Don't the Moties admire Crazy Eddie? (...)" "(...) But yes, I think they all admire anyone mad enough to think that all problems have solutions. Which doesn't mean that they expect the universe to cooperate." I like the concept of Motie "Crazy Eddie" because it's fun to in turn imagine if humans ever had the need and opportunity to explain our concept of "Murphy's Law" to aliens who have a different default outlook. It's interesting to compare and contrast the two. They're similar in that they both express a tongue-in-cheek pessimism, but the Motie parable is a defeatist justification of not trying. The human version is defeatist acceptance of the suffering that comes from trying. Crazy Eddie is someone else to watch and learn what not to do. Murphy is you, and you never learn. From the perspective of the Moties, all humans are Crazy Eddie. Edit: another compare/and contrast is Motie Crazy Eddie causes his problems due to his own choices being self-defeating attempts at solutions to problems. An example given is melting down all of your stock of screws to cast a screwdriver. In contrast Murphy's problems are caused by events (at least partially) outside his control, with the implication that all choices lead to (the potential of) ruin.