Journey to the Edge of Reason

Download Journey to the Edge of Reason PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192636138
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (926 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Journey to the Edge of Reason by : Stephen Budiansky

Download or read book Journey to the Edge of Reason written by Stephen Budiansky and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A remarkable account of Kurt Gödel, weaving together creative genius, mental illness, political corruption, and idealism in the face of the turmoil of war and upheaval. At age 24, a brilliant Austrian-born mathematician published a mathematical result that shook the world. Nearly a hundred years after Kurt Gödel's famous 1931 paper "On Formally Undecidable Propositions" appeared, his proof that every mathematical system must contain propositions that are true - yet never provable within that system - continues to pose profound questions for mathematics, philosophy, computer science, and artificial intelligence. His close friend Albert Einstein, with whom he would walk home every day from Princeton's famous Institute for Advanced Study, called him "the greatest logician since Aristotle." He was also a man who felt profoundly out of place in his time, rejecting the entire current of 20th century philosophical thought in his belief that mathematical truths existed independent of the human mind, and beset by personal demons of anxiety and paranoid delusions that would ultimately lead to his tragic end from self-starvation. Drawing on previously unpublished letters, diaries, and medical records, Journey to the Edge of Reason offers the most complete portrait yet of the life of one of the 20th century's greatest thinkers. Stephen Budiansky's account brings to life the remarkable world of philosophical and mathematical creativity of pre-war Vienna, and documents how it was barbarically extinguished by the Nazis. He charts Gödel's own hair's-breadth escape from Nazi Germany to the scholarly idyll of Princeton; and the complex, gently humorous, sensitive, and tormented inner life of this iconic but previously enigmatic giant of modern science. Weaving together Gödel's public and private lives, this is a tale of creative genius, mental illness, political corruption, and idealism in the face of the turmoil of war and upheaval.

Incompleteness

Download Incompleteness PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393327604
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (933 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Incompleteness by : Rebecca Goldstein

Download or read book Incompleteness written by Rebecca Goldstein and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2006-01-31 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An introduction to the life and thought of Kurt Gödel, who transformed our conception of math forever"--Provided by publisher.

Oliver Wendell Holmes: A Life in War, Law, and Ideas

Download Oliver Wendell Holmes: A Life in War, Law, and Ideas PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393634736
Total Pages : 592 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (936 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Oliver Wendell Holmes: A Life in War, Law, and Ideas by : Stephen Budiansky

Download or read book Oliver Wendell Holmes: A Life in War, Law, and Ideas written by Stephen Budiansky and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Consistently gripping.… [I]t’s possessed of a zest and omnivorous curiosity that reflects the boundless energy of its subject.” —Steve Donoghue, Christian Science Monitor Oliver Wendell Holmes escaped death twice as a young Union officer in the Civil War. He lived ever after with unwavering moral courage, unremitting scorn for dogma, and an insatiable intellectual curiosity. During his nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, he wrote a series of opinions that would prove prophetic in securing freedom of speech, protecting the rights of criminal defendants, and ending the Court’s reactionary resistance to social and economic reforms. As a pioneering legal scholar, Holmes revolutionized the understanding of common law. As an enthusiastic friend, he wrote thousands of letters brimming with an abiding joy in fighting the good fight. Drawing on many previously unpublished letters and records, Stephen Budiansky offers the fullest portrait yet of this pivotal American figure.

Godel

Download Godel PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 0786747609
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Godel by : John L. Casti

Download or read book Godel written by John L. Casti and published by . This book was released on 2009-04-21 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kurt Gödel was an intellectual giant. His Incompleteness Theorem turned not only mathematics but also the whole world of science and philosophy on its head. Shattering hopes that logic would, in the end, allow us a complete understanding of the universe, Gödel's theorem also raised many provocative questions: What are the limits of rational thought? Can we ever fully understand the machines we build? Or the inner workings of our own minds? How should mathematicians proceed in the absence of complete certainty about their results? Equally legendary were Gödel's eccentricities, his close friendship with Albert Einstein, and his paranoid fear of germs that eventually led to his death from self-starvation. Now, in the first book for a general audience on this strange and brilliant thinker, John Casti and Werner DePauli bring the legend to life.

A World Without Time

Download A World Without Time PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 078673700X
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A World Without Time by : Palle Yourgrau

Download or read book A World Without Time written by Palle Yourgrau and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-03-04 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is a widely known but little considered fact that Albert Einstein and Kurt Godel were best friends for the last decade and a half of Einstein's life. The two walked home together from Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study every day; they shared ideas about physics, philosophy, politics, and the lost world of German science in which they had grown up. By 1949, Godel had produced a remarkable proof: In any universe described by the Theory of Relativity, time cannot exist . Einstein endorsed this result-reluctantly, since it decisively overthrew the classical world-view to which he was committed. But he could find no way to refute it, and in the half-century since then, neither has anyone else. Even more remarkable than this stunning discovery, however, was what happened afterward: nothing. Cosmologists and philosophers alike have proceeded with their work as if Godel's proof never existed -one of the greatest scandals of modern intellectual history. A World Without Time is a sweeping, ambitious book, and yet poignant and intimate. It tells the story of two magnificent minds put on the shelf by the scientific fashions of their day, and attempts to rescue from undeserved obscurity the brilliant work they did together.

When Einstein Walked with Gödel

Download When Einstein Walked with Gödel PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 13 : 0374717842
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (747 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis When Einstein Walked with Gödel by : Jim Holt

Download or read book When Einstein Walked with Gödel written by Jim Holt and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Jim Holt, the New York Times bestselling author of Why Does the World Exist?, comes an entertaining and accessible guide to the most profound scientific and mathematical ideas of recent centuries in When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought. Does time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down? In this scintillating collection, Holt explores the human mind, the cosmos, and the thinkers who’ve tried to encompass the latter with the former. With his trademark clarity and humor, Holt probes the mysteries of quantum mechanics, the quest for the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of logic and truth. Along the way, he offers intimate biographical sketches of celebrated and neglected thinkers, from the physicist Emmy Noether to the computing pioneer Alan Turing and the discoverer of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot. Holt offers a painless and playful introduction to many of our most beautiful but least understood ideas, from Einsteinian relativity to string theory, and also invites us to consider why the greatest logician of the twentieth century believed the U.S. Constitution contained a terrible contradiction—and whether the universe truly has a future.

Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel

Download Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 1324005459
Total Pages : 361 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (24 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel by : Stephen Budiansky

Download or read book Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel written by Stephen Budiansky and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Critics' Top Book of 2021 • A Booklist Top Ten Biography of 2021 • A Kirkus Reviews Best Science Book of 2021 The first major biography written for a general audience of the logician and mathematician whose Incompleteness Theorems helped launch a modern scientific revolution. 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 the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, 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.

Reflections on Kurt Gödel

Download Reflections on Kurt Gödel PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262730877
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (38 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Reflections on Kurt Gödel by : Hao Wang

Download or read book Reflections on Kurt Gödel written by Hao Wang and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1990-03-14 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newton/Descartes. Einstein/Gödel. The seventeenth century had its scientific and philosophical geniuses. Why shouldn't ours have them as well? Kurt Gödel was indisputably one of the greatest thinkers of our time, and in this first extended treatment of his life and work, Hao Wang, who was in close contact with Gödel in his last years, brings out the full subtlety of Gödel's ideas and their connection with grand themes in the history of mathematics and philosophy. The subjects he covers include the completeness of elementary logic, the limits of formalization, the problem of evidence, the concept of set, the philosophy of mathematics, time, and relativity theory, metaphysics and religion, as well as general ideas on philosophy as a worldview. Wang, whose reflections on his colleague also serve to clarify his own philosophical thoughts, distinguishes his ideas from those of Gödel's and on points of agreement develops Gödel's views further. The book provides a generous array of information on and interpretation of the two main phases of Gödel's career - the years between 1924 and 1939 at the University of Vienna, which were marked by intense mathematical creativity, and the period from 1940 to his death in 1978, during which he was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, a time in which Gödel's interests steadily shifted from questions of logic to metaphysics. And it also examines Gödel's relations with the Vienna Circle, his philosophical differences with Carnap and Wittgenstein, the intimate and mutually fruitful friendship with Einstein, and the periodic bouts of depression for which Gödel was hospitalized a number of times over the course of his life. A Bradford Book.

On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems

Download On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Courier Corporation
ISBN 13 : 0486158403
Total Pages : 82 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (861 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems by : Kurt Gödel

Download or read book On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems written by Kurt Gödel and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-05-24 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First English translation of revolutionary paper (1931) that established that even in elementary parts of arithmetic, there are propositions which cannot be proved or disproved within the system. Introduction by R. B. Braithwaite.

Godel's Proof

Download Godel's Proof PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134953992
Total Pages : 109 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (349 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Godel's Proof by : Ernest Nagel

Download or read book Godel's Proof written by Ernest Nagel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book to present a readable explanation of Godel's theorem to both scholars and non-specialists, this is a gripping combination of science and accessibility, offering those with a taste for logic and philosophy the chance to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.

Do Not Erase

Download Do Not Erase PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691222827
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Do Not Erase by : Jessica Wynne

Download or read book Do Not Erase written by Jessica Wynne and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A photographic exploration of mathematicians’ chalkboards “A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns,” wrote the British mathematician G. H. Hardy. In Do Not Erase, photographer Jessica Wynne presents remarkable examples of this idea through images of mathematicians’ chalkboards. While other fields have replaced chalkboards with whiteboards and digital presentations, mathematicians remain loyal to chalk for puzzling out their ideas and communicating their research. Wynne offers more than one hundred stunning photographs of these chalkboards, gathered from a diverse group of mathematicians around the world. The photographs are accompanied by essays from each mathematician, reflecting on their work and processes. Together, pictures and words provide an illuminating meditation on the unique relationships among mathematics, art, and creativity. The mathematicians featured in this collection comprise exciting new voices alongside established figures, including Sun-Yung Alice Chang, Alain Connes, Misha Gromov, Andre Neves, Kasso Okoudjou, Peter Shor, Christina Sormani, Terence Tao, Claire Voisin, and many others. The companion essays give insights into how the chalkboard serves as a special medium for mathematical expression. The volume also includes an introduction by the author, an afterword by New Yorker writer Alec Wilkinson, and biographical information for each contributor. Do Not Erase is a testament to the myriad ways that mathematicians use their chalkboards to reveal the conceptual and visual beauty of their discipline—shapes, figures, formulas, and conjectures created through imagination, argument, and speculation.

Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science

Download Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393353338
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (933 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science by : Dave Levitan

Download or read book Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science written by Dave Levitan and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eye-opening tour of the political tricks that subvert scientific progress. The Butter-Up and Undercut. The Certain Uncertainty. The Straight-Up Fabrication. Dave Levitan dismantles all of these deceptive arguments, and many more, in this probing and hilarious examination of the ways our elected officials attack scientific findings that conflict with their political agendas. The next time you hear a politician say, "Well, I’m not a scientist, but…," you’ll be ready.

Death on Demand

Download Death on Demand PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442242140
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Death on Demand by : Michael DeCesare

Download or read book Death on Demand written by Michael DeCesare and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death on Demand explores the polarizing role of Jack Kevorkian—“Dr. Death”—as the most visible leader of the right-to-die movement. From a feature on the cover of Time magazine to interviews on shows like 60 Minutes, Kevorkian was a high-profile figure in the right-to-die movement, capturing constant media attention as he helped more than one hundred people kill themselves. The book opens with the death of Janet Adkins in 1990—Kevorkian’s first assisted suicide—then travels back to Kevorkian’s medical school days and follows his nearly four decades as a lone activist. Death on Demand draws on Kevorkian’s interviews and published work as well as newspaper and magazine articles to describe the doctor’s publicity stunts, criminal trials, years in prison, and activities after he was paroled. Author Michael DeCesare examines Kevorkian’s actions in the context of the right-to-die movement to understand his crucial role in bringing the controversial practice of assisted suicide into the public conversation.

Simply Gödel

Download Simply Gödel PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simply Charly
ISBN 13 : 1943657149
Total Pages : 143 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (436 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Simply Gödel by : Richard Tieszen

Download or read book Simply Gödel written by Richard Tieszen and published by Simply Charly. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Tieszen’s Simply Gödel is a remarkable achievement—a handy guide with the impact of a philosophical tome. It’s all here: elegantly lucid discussions of Kurt Gödel’s epochal discoveries, a sympathetic account of the eccentric genius’s life, focused discussions of his encounters with his astonished peers, and a visionary peek into the future of mathematics, philosophy, and the on-rushing specter of robots with minds. A compact masterpiece, brimming with fresh revelations." —Rudy Rucker, author of Infinity and the Mind Kurt Gödel (1906–1978) was born in Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic) and grew up in an ethnic German family. As a student, he excelled in languages and mathematics, mastering university-level math while still in high school. He received his doctorate from the University of Vienna at the age of 24 and, a year later, published the pioneering theorems on which his fame rests. In 1939, with the rise of Nazism, Gödel and his wife settled in the U.S., where he continued his groundbreaking work at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton and became a close friend of Albert Einstein’s. In Simply Gödel, Richard Tieszen traces Gödel’s life and career, from his early years in tumultuous, culturally rich Vienna to his many brilliant achievements as a member of IAS, as well as his repeated battles with mental illness. In discussing Gödel’s ideas, Tieszen not only provides an accessible explanation of the incompleteness theorems, but explores some of his lesser-known writings, including his thoughts on time travel and his proof of the existence of God. With clarity and sympathy, Simply Gödel brings to life Gödel’s fascinating personal and intellectual journey and conveys the lasting impact of his work on our modern world.

Surfaces and Essences

Download Surfaces and Essences PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Basic Books (AZ)
ISBN 13 : 0465018475
Total Pages : 594 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (65 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Surfaces and Essences by : Douglas Hofstadter

Download or read book Surfaces and Essences written by Douglas Hofstadter and published by Basic Books (AZ). This book was released on 2013-04-23 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows how analogy-making pervades human thought at all levels, influencing the choice of words and phrases in speech, providing guidance in unfamiliar situations, and giving rise to great acts of imagination.

Quantum Steampunk

Download Quantum Steampunk PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 1421443724
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (214 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Quantum Steampunk by : Nicole Yunger Halpern

Download or read book Quantum Steampunk written by Nicole Yunger Halpern and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The science-fiction genre known as steampunk juxtaposes futuristic technologies with Victorian settings. This fantasy is becoming reality at the intersection of two scientific fields-twenty-first-century quantum physics and nineteenth-century thermodynamics, or the study of energy-in a discipline known as quantum steampunk"--

Behavioral Insights

Download Behavioral Insights PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262539403
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Behavioral Insights by : Michael Hallsworth

Download or read book Behavioral Insights written by Michael Hallsworth and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive introduction to the behavioral insights approach, which applies evidence about human behavior to practical problems. Our behavior is strongly influenced by factors that lie outside our conscious awareness, although we tend to underestimate the power of this “automatic” side of our behavior. As a result, governments make ineffective policies, businesses create bad products, and individuals make unrealistic plans. In contrast, the behavioral insights approach applies evidence about actual human behavior—rather than assumptions about it—to practical problems. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, written by two leading experts in the field, offers an accessible introduction to behavioral insights, describing core features, origins, and practical examples. These insights have opened up new ways of addressing some of the biggest challenges faced by societies, changing the way that governments, businesses, and nonprofits work in the process. This book shows how the approach is grounded in a concern with practical problems, the use of evidence about human behavior to address those problems, and experimentation to evaluate the impact of the solutions. It gives an overview of the approach's origins in psychology and behavioral economics, its early adoption by the UK's pioneering “nudge unit,” and its recent expansion into new areas. The book also provides examples from across different policy areas and guidance on how to run a behavioral insights project. Finally, the book outlines the limitations and ethical implications of the approach, and what the future holds for this fast-moving area.