[topologie]

100% with you on Jaynes and Barbour.

Jaynes' book is a game changer, but I particularly love that you mentioned Barbour and his work.

On Barbour's work: Apart from being an incredibly interesting book, I was amazed that he was a sort of "outsider" writing papers and books "on his own" (or at least outside of Academia) while making money through technical translations is just a really clever way to be able to explore any interesting avenues one might find. Einstein had the right idea too...

(Sadly, it's also something that wouldn't be as feasible nowadays, but who knows...)