Logicomix

A fun “graphic novel” to read by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou called Logicomix.  The book brings to life two real life authors’ story (in comic book fashion) about the life of the philosopher Bertrand Russell and his pursuit of the “truth.”  The authors (who are also drawn in this colorful story go back to Russell and his youth and chronicle his life’s story through a speech he gives to a group of war protesters during WWII.  Russell searches widely for the source of truth using mathematics as the foundation for this journey.  Russell intertwines his personal life (family horrors, infatuations, love life, marriages, separations, mental lapses, etc.) and his meeting the brightest and best philosophers and mathematicians along his journey, such as: Alfred Whitehead (whom he co-authored Principia Mathematica), Ludwig Wittgenstein (a former student of his), Alan Turing, Kurt Godel, Georg Cantor, and Gottlob Frege.  The book also chronicles how Russell thinking developed throughout his journey, to include his “Russell’s Paradox” which illustrates an essential flaw in Cantor’s set theory!   This is an absolute FUN read, entertaining and knowledgeable, especially for non-Logic minded readers.  The graphics were great, the story fun, and you learn a heck of a lot in a very elementary type writing story-telling mode.  I would recommend it highly!  The comic book presentation is worth it alone.  This was a recommendation for the RA on the NYU “Geek Explorations floor,”  go figure :).