Part One: Umberto Eco's Antilibrary, or How We Seek Validation, Chapter 4: One Thousand and One Days, or How Not to Be a Sucker Summary and Analysis

Summary

The most important story that the author brought out was that of a Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey lived for a thousand days, and all during this time, it was fed regularly, cared for and nurtured to a large size. Then on the day after the thousand-day period of blissful, worry-free existence, on the day before Thanksgiving, the turkey was beheaded, plucked and prepared for the feast. This story illustrated the thinking process of induction, or the observation of details that led to a generalized conclusion. The turkey had thought that its life would forever be blissful...