Customer Reviews

From Frege to Godel: A Source Book in Mathematical Logic, 1879-1931 (Source Books in History of Sciences)

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The second part of my review title may shock some, but the excellent collection of papers that Van Heijenoort has edited (and in many cases translated!) is also an excellent reference in the history of computing. Everyone appreciates that mathematical logic gave rise to computer science; the papers in this collection from Hilbert, Herbrand, Gödel, and others will show why.

If your interest is instead the history of logic, all the classics in the range specified by the work's title are here, complete with their own ideosyncratic notation. van Heijenoort's wonderful introductions to each piece will interelate the works, provide references to other literature and situate everything in a wonderful intellectual climate.

Be warned, however, that the foundational papers in this still growing field continue for another 15 years or so; these are reprinted in Davis' (alas, out of print) anthology _The Undecidable_.

This collection will keep you busy and wet your appetite for a sequel!

This book contains translations of original articles from this period. In one case, Herbrand's theorem, there are extensive notes to repair a mistake; but most are simply presented as is, with short introductions that give some historical context. It is really wonderful to see the ideas develop. Fortunately, this book has recently been reprinted. Library copies are falling apart.

This excellent collection has introductions which help immensely. With only a math major from the 50's and no advanced degree I was still able to develop my own fairly rigorous single page synopsis of Godel's theorems.