The Golden Notebook (Translations by Nathan Coppedge)

More profound than either his book The Modist or his other published notebook the Ninesquare, this work of philosophy was recovered after being lost along the highway in middle America. However, the story of its recovery remains a subject of mystery. So far as most authorities will admit, The Golden Notebook is merely an artistic interpretation of Lichtenberg’s Notebook J. The importance of either The Golden Notebook its current edition, or Notebook J in Hollingdale’s original translation is enormous. But here we find traces of a great intellect suspiciously familiar with every nuance of Lichtenberg. It is as if Lichtenberg didn’t exist in the first place. And we find, in his place, a clear, colorful intelligence capable of making stupendous leaps of the imagination, beyond all prior definitions of the term. This Notebook is the ultimate philosophical notebook, a work that dares to say everything important in philosophy, and damned near gets away with it. As the saying goes, past this point, if you want to do something original, cite some sources. In The Golden Notebook, we find evidence of the most original intelligence.