- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (Nov 30 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0192801414
- ISBN-13: 978-0192801418
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 322 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In these mathematical and logic puzzles, truth-telling knights battle lying knaves; a philosopher-logician named George falls in love with Oona, flighty bird-girl of the South Pacific; Inspector Craig and timid, conceited or modest reasoners match wits. Using such fictional enticements, the author of What Is the Name of This Book? and To Mock a Mockingbird steers us through the logical thickets of Kurt Godel's famous Incompleteness Theorem, which holds that mathematical systems can never prove their own consistency. Readers who make it halfway through this book will learn more symbolic logic than a college freshman stuffed with "new math." In the second half, the deeper waters of modal logic are navigated. This field, which dates back to Aristotle, impinges on current debates in computer science and artificial intelligence. Smullyan's gift is to make complex ideas both accessible and enjoyable to the persevering reader.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Godel's incompleteness theorem is generally considered to have shown that formal number systems cannot prove their own consistency. Through a series of problems and solutions ("On the Island of Knights and Knaves, knights always make true statements and knaves always make false statements, and every inhabitant is either a knight or a knave . . . ") that are converted to symbolic logic, Smullyan progresses from an elementary to an advanced consideration of Godel's theorem. Apart from a few remarks at book's end, Smullyan makes no attempt to show what bearing Godel's results might have on more general, particularly epistemological, problems. Serious students of logic, computer theory, and artificial intelligence should find this entertaining and instructive, but it cannot be recommended for a larger audience. Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Lib., Washington,
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique method uses puzzles to explain Go:del's theorem,
By A Customer
This review is from: FOREVER UNDECIDED (Hardcover)
This is a great book for anyone wanting to understand Go:del's theorem, which basically proves that logic is inherently flawed. The book is very readable. Just make sure that you don't let your head explode.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews) 18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brain candy in a logical form,
By Charles Ashbacher - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Forever Undecided: A Puzzle Guide to Godel (Paperback)
Do you believe that you know what you believe? Is it possible to believe only those things that are true? These questions are but two of the many addressed in this book by Professor Smullyan, and the answers will surprise you!With most of the material in the form of puzzles, and nearly all of them solved, it is possible for a logical novice to read and understand the book. However, it is recommended that you find another source for explanations of the standard logical operators and read it first. Even then, you should not be surprised to find yourself rereading a solution thinking that the answer simply cannot be correct. But keep trying, as eventually you will begin to understand, and come to appreciate some of the unresolvable consequences of mathematics, the most precise of disciplines. For while Professor Smullyan may not be logically consistent, he is consistently logical. (This is of course a bad pun, but it is no worse than some of the groaners in the book.) Finally, as the following example shows: "The following dialogue ensues between a student and his theology professor: Student: If I believe that God exists, then I will also believe that I will be saved? 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Logic in ready-to-use, bit-sized chunks,
By Epictetus "Epictetus" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Forever Undecided: A Puzzle Guide to Godel (Paperback)
This book was recommended (an aeon ago) in my undergraduate philosophy class, with the recommendation that if one will bother to think through each example, then one will become very good at formal logic. Many years later I have found time to do this. So many things can keep me awake at night, idle thoughts, terror at the credit crisis, and so on. Now I read one puzzle from Smullyan, and gently tug my mind back to it if it wanders as I lie in bed. This has been a revolution for me. Either I learn something or I sleep better.This book hits the happy medium between on the one hand an overly formal approach to logic such that it is unsuitable for anything but hard work or formal study and on the other a text that is watered down to the extent of being useless. I do not recommend my particular way of reading this as the only way or the best way, but merely as an example of how it has worked very well for me. The practical benefit of using this book and learning from it is that one can grasp arguments and any problem in them much more rapidly than before, both in work and non-work life. I recommend this book very highly to anyone at any level who is interested in logic, language, problem solving or reasoning. EPICTETUS 7 of 25 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique method uses puzzles to explain Go:del's theorem,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: FOREVER UNDECIDED (Hardcover)
This is a great book for anyone wanting to understand Go:del's theorem, which basically proves that logic is inherently flawed. The book is very readable. Just make sure that you don't let your head explode.
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