- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (Oct 30 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1405197676
- ISBN-13: 978-1405197670
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 381 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #433,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"There's Something about G¨odel is a bargain: two books in one. The first half is a gentle but rigorous introduction to the incompleteness theorems for the mathematically uninitiated. The second is a survey of the philosophical, psychological, and sociological consequences people have attempted to derive from the theorems, some of them quite fantastical." (Philosophia Mathematica, 2011)
"There is a story that in 1930 the great mathematician John von Neumann emerged from a seminar delivered by Kurt Gödel saying: ‘It's all over.’ Gödel had just proved the two theorems about the logical foundations of mathematics that are the subject of this valuable new book by Francesco Berto. Berto's clear exposition and his strategy of dividing the proof into short, easily digestible chunks make it pleasant reading ... .Berto is lucid and witty in exposing mistaken applications of Gödel's results ... [and] has provided a thoroughly recommendable guide to Gödel's theorems and their current status within, and outside, mathematical logic.” (Times Higher Education Supplement, February 2010)
Review
"Berto's book will tell you everything you wanted to know about Gödel's theorem, but were too afraid to ask. Read it if you want your biggest organ pleasurably stimulated."
—Graham Priest, University of Melbourne
—Graham Priest, University of Melbourne
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enhanced my understanding, Aug 11 2010
By Christopher Grant - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: There's Something About Gdel: The Complete Guide to the Incompleteness Theorem (Paperback)
I've often wondered how professional film critics can figure out how much of their reaction to a movie is due to its intrinsic merits and how much is based on the mood they happened to be in when they saw it. I find myself in an analogous situation as I write this review. I read _Godel, Escher, and Bach_ as a college freshman when it first came out, I've read Franzen's book on Godel, and I've been exposed to Godel's arguments on several other occasions during my career, but reading _There's Something about Godel_ has left me with a much better understanding of the Incompleteness Theorem than I previously had. I don't know for sure how much of this is really due to Berto's skill as a thinker and a writer and how much is due to those past influences finally sinking in, but to counterbalance some of the criticism he's received from others, I'm willing to give him the credit. He impressed me as a very clear writer, being patient without being tedious. (In that last aspect, this book didn't feel at all like a pop math book, a genre which professional mathematicians typically find boring.) Even the chapter on Wittgenstein, which I anticipated hating, was surprisingly tolerable, though I don't think I'm in any danger of becoming a fan of either Wittgenstein or paraconsistent logic.Two final points:
(1) This is an English translation of an Italian book, and I presume Berto is a native Italian, but the English in this book is just fine--not at all stilted.
(2) Wiley has come out with some books with really ugly printing lately, even uglier than an average print-on-demand book. There's no such problem with this book, though.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent counterpoint to Franzen, April 30 2012
By Andrew Tan - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: There's Something About Gdel: The Complete Guide to the Incompleteness Theorem (Paperback)
The first half of the book presents the mathematical meaning of the theorems in readable, everyday language. Five stars because of the second part, in which Berto provides an excellent discussion that complements and counterpoints that of Franzen's "Use and abuse".
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
There's Something about Gödel, Feb 15 2011
By Sam Adams - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: There's Something About Gdel: The Complete Guide to the Incompleteness Theorem (Paperback)
This is an English translation (by the author) of an Italian book. The author, Francesco Berto, is a philosopher, and the book is intended to be an accessible, informal account of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems for students of philosophy who are interested in logic and Gödel's work in it. The second part of the book, influenced by Torkel Franzén's book Godel's Theorem: An Incomplete Guide to Its Use and Abuse, discusses misapplications of Gödel's Theorems outside of mathematical logic.Philosophy students may feel at home with the author's style of thinking, whereas readers more inclined to mathematics may see the book as verbose and unclear. The book feels (to me) cluttered with unnecessary verbiage, and the presentation feels disorganized and muddled. Berto seems to be stumbling over himself, unsure of how much to say or when to say it. He ends up being both less informative and more informative than he sometimes needs to be. The discussion of the background to Gödel's Theorems is weak. The impression is that Berto wants to discuss the philosophical aspects of Gödel's work and that the mathematical context holds little interest for him.
When he reaches part two of the book, on misapplications of Gödel's Theorems, he begins with some promise, giving a clear, quick summary of postmodern skepticism. He's now in the realm of philosophy (his specialty) and you can feel him making the turn onto more comfortable intellectual terrain; but it soon becomes evident the path of his discussion of postmodernism's misuse of Gödel's Theorems has not only been influenced by Torkel Franzén's book (mentioned above) but in fact depends quite heavily upon it. Subsequent chapters at least don't rely explicitly upon Franzén, who's only referred to in one later chapter. Following the discussion of postmodernism, there's a chapter on Gödel's platonism and the relation of truth to proof, a chapter on "mathematical faith", followed by a short look at incompleteness in relation to the mind and AI as Lucas and Penrose view it, then a longer chapter on Wittgenstein and paraconsistency, followed by an epilogue.
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