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Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel
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About This Book
Nearly a hundred years after its publication, Kurt Gödel's famous proof that every mathematical system must contain propositions that are true—yet never provable—continues to unsettle mathematics, philosophy, and computer science. Yet unlike Einstein, with whom he formed a warm and abiding friendship, Gödel has long escaped all but the most casual scrutiny of his life. Stephen Budiansky's Journey to the Edge of Reason is the first biography to fully draw upon Gödel's voluminous letters and writings—including a never-before-transcribed shorthand diary of his most intimate thoughts—to explore Gödel's profound intellectual friendships, his moving relationship with his mother, his troubled yet devoted marriage, and the debilitating bouts of paranoia that ultimately took his life. It also offers an intimate portrait of the scientific and intellectual circles in prewar Vienna, a haunting account of Gödel's and Jewish intellectuals' flight from Austria and Germany at the start of the Second World War, and a vivid re-creation of the early days of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, where Gödel and Einstein both worked. Eloquent and insightful, Journey to the Edge of Reason is a fully realized portrait of the odd, brilliant, and tormented man who has been called the greatest logician since Aristotle, and illuminates the far-reaching implications of Gödel's revolutionary ideas for philosophy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and man's place in the cosmos.
Reviews
"lthough Gödel remains the focus of this terrific book, the author delivers insightful portraits of a score of brilliant men and women ..."
"Budiansky keeps things accessible—an appendix, for example, explains Gödel's proofs concisely—and Gödel comes through as a brilliant though tragic figure in Budiansky's richly descriptive prose."
"For interested readers, Budiansky supplies an appendix that moves through Gödel's proof, step by step, but granular knowledge of formal logic isn't essential for anyone's enjoyment of this moving biography."
"Plus, there is some fresh material to draw upon, including Gödel's diary, which covers two years before the outbreak of World War II ..."
"Budiansky exposes the social and political influences that shaped the life of this brilliant Austrian mathematician, illuminating particularly the dramatic events that caused him to flee a country losing its soul to Nazi barbarians to join Einstein in the exclusive Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton."
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