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Rating: 
Summary: Meet G?del the philosopher
Review: Many mathematicians know about G?del's famous theorem. But very few know about G?del the man. Through this book, we come to know the man, especially G?del the philosopher. Through this book we find out that although G?del and Einstein were close friends, G?del, unlike Einstein, shunned public debate. He held philosophical views which he knew would be very controversial if he were to publicize them, and he greatly disliked publshing anything he could not prove rigorously. Accoringly, he instructed his biographer to publish these viewpoints only after his death. This book contains hundreds of quotations from G?del's conversations with the author. Fortunately, the author left in quotations that he he said he did not understand, trusting that others might. Here are a few quotes: "Consciousness is connected with one unity. A machine is composed of parts." "The brain is a computing machine connected with a spirit." "Materialism is false." "Our total reality and total existence are beautiful and meaningful . . . . We should judge reality by the little which we truly know of it. Since that part which conceptually we know fully turns out to be so beautiful, the real world of which we know so little should also be beautiful. Life may be miserable for seventy years and happy for a million years: the short period of misery may even be necessary for the whole." If you find G?del's theorem interesting, I hope you will read this book and found out more about the man behind the theorem.
Rating:
Summary: Meet Gödel the philosopher
Review: Many mathematicians know about Gödel's famous theorem. But very few know about Gödel the man. Through this book, we come to know the man, especially Gödel the philosopher. Through this book we find out that although Gödel and Einstein were close friends, Gödel, unlike Einstein, shunned public debate. He held philosophical views which he knew would be very controversial if he were to publicize them, and he greatly disliked publshing anything he could not prove rigorously. Accoringly, he instructed his biographer to publish these viewpoints only after his death. This book contains hundreds of quotations from Gödel's conversations with the author. Fortunately, the author left in quotations that he he said he did not understand, trusting that others might. Here are a few quotes: "Consciousness is connected with one unity. A machine is composed of parts." "The brain is a computing machine connected with a spirit." "Materialism is false." "Our total reality and total existence are beautiful and meaningful . . . . We should judge reality by the little which we truly know of it. Since that part which conceptually we know fully turns out to be so beautiful, the real world of which we know so little should also be beautiful. Life may be miserable for seventy years and happy for a million years: the short period of misery may even be necessary for the whole." If you find Gödel's theorem interesting, I hope you will read this book and found out more about the man behind the theorem.
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