<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: very good book for self-study
Review: Recently, I had to learn set theory for my current work (automated reasoning and expert systems). This book proved to be an excellent supplement for learning set theory; which I then used to learn formal logic, resolution, etc. Very well written and with good examples and exercises.
Rating:
Summary: Especially useful for self-study.
Review: This book is especially useful for self study, as it has more worked examples than usual, motivating hints in side bar, and explanitory comments in text. Perhaps the origin of this materical in Open University (I think roughly analogous to what USA schools call "Extension"?) course is reason. Found it helpful where Halmos was a bit concise for someone with fellow students or TA handy.
Rating:
Summary: surprisingly simple
Review: What this book tries to do, is to make set theory understandable for everyone. The book starts with the construction of the real and natural numbers. Proceeds with Zermelo-Fraenkel set-theory, and goes on to discuss the axiom of choice, cardinals and ordinals, and finally the continuum hypothesis. Considering the subject matter, the book is extremely easy to read, with an easy progression in just under 300 pages. It never looses focus to get bogged down in detail, but somehow still manages to take you through all the essential proofs. The only thing missing is a few more interesting exercises for those wanting to refine their proof skills. Even if you have only a passing interest in logic (or the foundations of mathematics), this book is an excellent starter.
<< 1 >>
| 
