Alfred Tarski : Life and Logic

Rating:
Summary: This is a terrific book about a fascinating life.
Review: The book not only chronicles Tarski's public life, but gives one an intimate look at Tarski as a person, at the relationship to his wife, girlfriends, colleagues, and students. In addition, interludes introduce Tarski's work in philosophy, logic, and mathematics, and the historical context of Tarski's early years in Poland is made very vivid in a number of more historical excursions. It is a pleasure to read, and I can't recommend that you start reading it just before you have plans for dinner, or at least plans you can't change.

Tarski's life is on the one hand the story of great professional success and achievement. The young Tarski gets stranded in the US while attending a conference at Harvard, without his family, during the outbreak of World War II. After he is unable to find a good job at an East Coast university he has to move all the way out West at the looked down upon University of California at Berkeley, which he then turns into the world's center for mathematical logic. A large part of the next generation of logicians were either his students or his students students, and his work became a corner stone in the discipline. In Berkeley he is finally reunited with his wife and children after many years appart. They are among the few members of his family who survived the war.

But on the other hand Tarski as a person seems far from perfect. The most vivid story to me was C.C. Chang's account of Tarski waking his wife, by yelling from his office, to make him and Chang, one of Tarski's students, coffee at 2 am. And the stories of Tarski's relationship to his students, his demands that they solve the problems that he wanted solved, and his relationships to his female students and female junior colleagues, in particular, don't put him in a prettier light. But these parts of the biography of Tarski are among the most fascinating and intriguing. The book really shines here with many detailed accounts based on interviews with the people involved. Other highlights to my mind include the account of Tarski's struggle with his Jewish and Polish identities, and his eventual conversion to Catholicism. The story of the second half of his life closely mirrors the story of the development of mathematical logic in the US, and is fascinating in its own right, in particular to see how many threats lead back to Tarski.

This book is a joy to read and very rewarding. Whether or not you know about Tarski already, I think you will get a lot out of it.

Rating:
Summary: the life of the man who made of logic a separate discipline
Review: This is a very readable biography of an unusual man.Before Alfred Tarski there were many mathematicians interested in Logic. While he had many interests he made of logic a SEPARATE discipline. In this book and in Tarski's life truth played an important part.
Anybody interested in truth(how do we recognize the truth,etc...), whether truthful or not,ought to read this book.The book is an ideal gift for somebody able to devote to it some time,retiring teachers, judges, politicians, presidents, etc...

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Summary: A wonderful book on life, logic, and a century of change
Review: This is a wonderful biography about an outstanding man. Alfred Tarski was more than just the ingenious logician, mathematician, and philosopher - he was an exceptional character; his life reflects a century of change. The Fefermans tell his story so vividly, I just could not help having the impression of reading a novel in which the protagonist had become alive.
We learn about the brilliant child of twelve who translates a German short story about a prisoner's playing cards with his executioner for the last time in his life. We see Tarski struggling with his Jewish ancestry when he reinvents himself by choosing the fantasy name "Tarski" in order to cope with the anti-semitic adverseness of pre-war Poland. We are present at the Bohemian parties in Zakopane, its poets and philosophers, where love is free and drugs are omnipresent. We set sail with Tarski who leaves for the US in order to speak at a conference, while Nazi Germany is only days before overrunning Poland and starting a war in which most of Tarski's relatives are to perish in the Holocaust. We understand how he must have felt, stranded in the US, worrying about his children and his wife who could not follow him, summer clothes and a suitcase as his sole possessions, yet still chasing after logic and love. We accompany him while he erects his logical empire in Berkeley, teaches and exploits the next generation's prodigies, smokes and works, always energetic and awake until every single early morning.
The Fefermans tell this story as if they were invisible observers; they do not invent anything, they do not force upon us their own perspective. It is sufficient for us to know that they have spent half of their lives next to Tarski, with Tarski, and perhaps sometimes even opposed to Tarski. In six marvelous interludes, Tarski's logical achievements are explained in clear and concise terms. Everyone interested in the fabulous constructions of a brilliant scientific mind will love these sections. I simply had a great time reading this book. I do not only recommend it to those who want to learn about Tarski, I recommend it to everyone intrigued by life and logic.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent biography of Tarski
Review: This is one of the best scientific biographies I've read. Alfred Tarski was not only an important figure in 20th century mathematics and philosophy, he was also an incredibly interesting and multi-faceted person. Anita Burdman Feferman and Sol Feferman paint a wonderful portrait of both Tarski, the man, and Tarski, the mathematician. Sol Feferman, himself an eminent logician and student of Tarski, provides insightful introductions to Tarski's main mathematical achievements in several "technical interludes." It is an easy read. The personal stories of Tarski's flight from Poland just before the Nazi invasion, his contacts with other noted 20th century philosophers, his influence on the development of logic and semantics, and details of his relationships with his students make for an engrossing, often moving, and always fascinating story.