Godel's Proof

This book by Nagel and Newman is a great classic, clever and suited to the intellectually curious who have not the patience (or talent) for the full syntax of mathematical logic.

Aside: It is a little misleading that Amazon, in their header, say "By Douglas R.Hofstadter, ..." as he wrote the preface only to this much later reprinted edition.

"Gödel's Proof" is a classic. Despite of being brief it doesn't sacrifice punctuality for length. There are no superfluous paragraphs in this book which leads the leader with steady but not lengthy steps to the understanding of the greatest leap taken in the field of Mathematical Logic. The text is not written in a technical style and even the few mathematical proofs found at the last chapters are indispensable for understanding the heard of Gödel's Proof.


Don't be confused from the mathematical title of this book and think that this book is written only for mathematicians. On the contrary I believe that the importance of this proof reaches every natural science because the language used from the majority of the these sciences is mathematics and therefore the characteristics of the language used to describe natural processes affects the epistemological foundations of the aforementioned natural sciences.

This unique textbook has also a lot to do with cognitive science and the way we think as human beings while trying to understand our natural environment. For this reason I consider "Gödel's Proof" as a wonderful book of cognitive science too. I truly recommend this book to anyone who want to take a deep dive in the big blue of what mathematics are and their connection with empirical reality. It is the best book to get a good feeling about Mathematical Logic and reasoning.

For those interested, but uninitiated, in the philosophy of mathematics or mathematical philosophy should seriously consider reading this excellent introductory text. In a highly concise and lucid manner, the authors successfully explain the origins, development and details of Godel's proof and examine some of the wider implication of it.

It is not, however, particularly easy reading. Unlike reading a novel, it requires some effort to fully understand and grapple with the strange but intriguing concepts discussed. No background or logic necessary; technicalities are generally avoided.

All in all, outstanding. Well worth buying.

Simply magnificent. This book meets and exceeds the description on its back cover -- offering "any educated person with a taste for logic and philosophy the chance to satisfy his intellectual curiosity about a previously inaccessible subject." This book gives anyone with the interest and the motivation a solid, if not complete, understanding of the ideas underlying the proof. While it's true that someone very unfamiliar with mathematics (or, more importantly, with logic and mathematical thinking) would not get as much out of the book, it does a very good job of walking the reader through Gödel's complex but breathtakingly elegant reasoning. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

I Read this book in an afternoon. While this book covers many of Godels ideas, concepts, and systematically works throught the incompleteness theory, it does however lack the fine detail of the actual theorem. I recomend this book for those who wish to find out aout Godels Proof, without wanting the know the fine details.