Simply Gödel - (Great Lives) by Richard Tieszen (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"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

"It's almost impossible to get the balance right--of Gödel's mathematics, his philosophy, and life. But this amazing new addition to the Gödel canon offers an accessible and engaging account of his incompleteness theorems, his work and his friendship with Einstein, and so much more. It also offers an account of how philosophy and philosophical concerns provide an underpinning for much of his work."

--Errol Morris, Oscar-award winning director of The Fog of War as well as The Thin Blue Line and A Brief History of Time

"This book meets the challenge of providing a concise yet cogent non-technical overview of Gödel's life and work, which should help to clarify to laymen why Gödel has become famous and what his incompleteness theorems do and do not say."

--John W. Dawson, author of Logical Dilemmas: The Life and Work of Kurt Gödel and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Penn State York

"I think Simply Gödel is a success. It doesn't talk down to its readers, but challenges them to come up to the task of trying to grasp what Gödel achieved. It combines sober, fair-minded caution in presenting Gödel's formal results in a variety of fields with an evident sympathy for Gödel's philosophy of "Platonic rationalism"--which according to Gödel both underlies and is suggested by his mathematical results--a combination that, sadly, is all too rarely found."

--Palle Yourgrau, author of A World Without Time: The Forgotten Legacy of Gödel and Einstein and Harry A. Wolfson Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University

"Kurt Gödel, as a very young researcher in the 1930s, found three very major results that set the stage for extensive developments in contemporary logic, the philosophy of mathematics, and theoretical computer science. Tieszen's lucid style sets out the facts and the history of Gödel's work, life and influence. This book is an admirable accomplishment, which also helps explain the intellectual and philosophical environment in which Gödel's ideas developed."

--Dana S. Scott, Emeritus University Professor of Mathematical Logic at Carnegie Mellon University

"As a first guide to Gödel's universe, I heartily recommend the reflection of it that Tieszen presents in Simply Gödel. Highly readable, surveyable, and dependable, it testifies to Tieszen's great gift for teaching."

--Mark van Atten, author of Essays on Gödel's Reception of Leibniz, Husserl, and Brouwer, and Senior Researcher at CNRS, Paris, France