Customer Reviews

Logic: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am a novice in logic. But I need logic--some of it sophisticated--to understand a philosophy paper I am working with.
I found Graham Priestly's Logic, a Very Short Introduction superb and immensely helpful. I searched full-length texts, but I knew I would never wade through them. I didn't want to take the time for a college course. I searched the Web and found some excellent material, ... However, Graham's book proved far and away the simplest and best.
Here are the advantages I found. Some advantages are simply due to the brevity of the book that suited my needs, but some stand out in any context.
1. The book goes into topics early-truth tables and modal logic, for example. Copi's Introduction to Logic, while undoubtedly very good, and used in many logic courses, does not get to truth tables until Chapter 10 while Priest starts using truth tables in Chapter 2, page 9. Another text, Stephan Layman's The Power of Logic, did not get to modal logic until about page 450. Graham starts the topic in chapter 6, page 38, about 1/3 of the way through his book.
2. The book had every single logic symbol that I needed. I found no one book, full-length text or web source that did this. Equally important every symbol was used and discussed somewhere in the book. Some symbols were missing or introduced very late in other books.
3. Graham doesn't spoon feed the reader with great detail like other books, nor employ elaborate introduction to a topic.
4. Logic, a Very Short Introduction is about 10% the length of other books I looked at (Copi & Layman were about 550-650 pages, for example)-considering Graham's page size is probably ½ that of a normal book. Other books cost roughly 3 to 8 as much.
5. Graham has a very clear, engaging, and often humorous, style. The book is very well organized and written.
6. It is easy to get into meat quickly.
7. In a little over 100 pages, Priest uses a given chapter's logic to analyze a variant form of several classical philosophical questions. For example: the Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God, fatalism, the Ontological Argument for the Existence of God, the Argument from Design for God's existence, etc.
8. The book has an unusual amount of supplemental material-brief history of logic, glossary, list of symbols, problems ..., bibliography, general index and index of names.
9. Every chapter ends with a simple summary of the ideas it covers. There were numerous figures.
10. There were 13 illustrations ranging from cartoons, to art, to famous philosophers.
Of course, this is a short survey and so no one should think that any one topic is covered in depth. Breadth rather than depth is the book's objective.
The book could be used by:
1. Self learners
2. People taking a logic course who want a quick overview or supplement
3. People, who would like rudimentary familiarity with logic for their work, but do not need a college course or a full-length logic book.
...

For its length and breadth, I'd recommend this little book to most people. I teach a course on Logic, and even I learned a bit from this short introduction.

The worry, however, is that Priest takes this book as an opportunity to push his own non-standard view on formal logic, which is why a better title for this book would be `A short Introduction to Priest's Logic'.

Most immediately evident is that Priest uses many of the chapters as a place to show how an argument for the existence of god. For example, much of the chapter on predicate logic is devoted to showing the fallacy inherent in the cosmological argument for the existence of god. His chapter on decision theory is in part devoted to showing how Pascal's wager goes wrong.

Probably even more subversive is that, in an introductory level logic book, Priest presents his own unorthodox solutions to paradoxes in logic. For example, to solve the problem of self-reference, he presents his own view regarding four valued logics, without even a word explaining that not only is this not the standard view, it's not even a very popular one. He also offers fuzzy logic as a solution of vagueness and sorites paradoxes.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and would offer it to any friend interested in a brief introduction to some advanced topics in logic. But I'll be sure to emphasize that much of what he offers for solutions is hardly accepted by mainstream analytic philosophy. Priest took advantage of this chance to write an introductory level text as an opportunity to push his own views, and anyone reading this should be aware of this fact before beginning.

This is just the book to whet one's appetite for a deeper engagement in logic. Priest's little book has short, clearly written chapters on validity, truth functions, quantifiers, descriptions, self-reference, modal operators, conditionals, tenses, identity, vagueness, inductive logic, and decision theory. Virtually every chapter shows how interesting philosophical problems arise from or are tied in with logic. The only possible drawback to the book is that new initiates to the philosophical foundations of logic are likely to never again have a good night's sleep after Priest introduces them to some of the classic puzzles.

I've never studied logic before so this seemed like a good place to start. I don't know how you could possibly get more information into a little book this size! It's possibly the best value in a book that I've ever seen. If there's anything else to the field of logic that isn't here then I don't want to know. But be prepared to spend some time reading it.....you'll need to keep a notepad handy and you'll definitely need to re-read many sections more than once to get the full understanding. BUT....when done I can guarantee you that you'll be glad you did it. This is an excellent little book and is worth more than $10.

This is a lucid introduction to logic, ideal to introduce the interested high-school student or non-specialist in the field, or as a refresher for anyone who has already dipped a toe into the field. It contains plenty of interesting examples and puzzles, and as always, with Priest's work, points you to important philosophical issues tied up with the notions of logical consequence. It's short, it's clear, it's written by an expert, and it contains pictures! What more could you want?

Graham Priest taught me logic (so perhaps I'm biased), and I'm delighted that his clarity and expertise are made available to a really wide audience with this book. If you want to know what's been going on in logic in the last few hundred years, and you don't know where to start, I'd unhesitatingly recommend this book.

I purchased and read this book a few years ago when I saw someone reading it at a Harvard Square restaurant. I was curious because: (a) I was interested in logic, and (b) because it was in an intriguing new format called "A Very Short Introduction" (more on that later).

After buying and working through this book, I came away loving almost every bit of the book. Even as the years have gone by since finishing Graham Priest's book, I still feel that it is one of the best books that I have ever read (and I've read quite a few). In fact, as the title of my review suggests, I honestly feel that 'Logic: A Very Short Introduction' is one of the greatest books ever written and that ANY intelligent and educated person -- even if they have little or no initial interest in formal logic, philosophy, or mathematics -- MUST buy and read this book.

So what is this book about. In order to answer that question, I have to discuss the general format of this series of books as well the specifics of this book itself.

Oxford Univ. Press' "A Very Short Introduction" format is a series of books that are designed to INTRODUCE an intellectual discipline to readers that can be considered LAYMAN in that particular subject. These books are brilliant because: (a) they are relatively short and, thus, busy people who have a vague interest in a subject can get an accessible account of it, (b) it is compact so that it can literally fit in a shirt or jacket pocket, and (c) they are INEXPENSIVE (all of them sell for under $10). I put some of the words above in bold letters because some of the other reviewers criticize Graham Priest's book for being too elementary. My response is: No duh, that's what it was INTENDED to be. If you are honestly an expert (as opposed to posing as one), then you probably should be reading another book (but as I will mention below, even experts in the relevant fields can probably get something out of this book).

The content of this book is, as I suggested above, an accessible introduction to formal logic (from the fields of philosophy and, to some extent, mathematics and computer science). It covers most of the standard issues dealt with in a typical logic class PLUS it covers some advanced and/or non-traditional topics such as 'non-classical' logic (modal, multi-valued truth values, etc.) and more inductive (as opposed to deductive) issues such as probability theory and decision theory. To repeat myself, of course this is all at a basic, overview level but it's intended audience (laypeople interested in the field, busy intellectuals, people who need to review of fill in some gaps, etc.) will find this to book to be highly valuable.

Another positive for this book is that Graham Priest is the author. I commend Oxford Univ. Press for choosing him to author the book. He is a very innovative (or controversial depending on your viewpoint) scholar in the field of logic. I appreciate the fact that he has a mathematical background (I think at least one of his degrees was in maths). I think that an implicit objection that some negative reviewers have, based on some of the quirky book recommendations involving religion, is that Mr. Priest is very irreligious and his biases shows up in the book. I'm not an atheist myself and I have to admit that the MINOR little bit where his (lack of) beliefs showed was a bit bothersome for me as well. However, I am enough of an intellectual to get over it and just accept the book for what it is: An excellent introduction to logic. And, to be fair to Prof. Priest, he does play devil's advocate with his own viewpoints and one can't fairly claim that he crams his personal views on his readers because he doesn't do that. So this and any other reasons offered up for trashing this book (and I'm writing this review because I love this book and hate to see the unfair bashing of a book I love) are really not reasonable at all.

A truly magnificent and unique aspect of this book is that "Logic: A Very Short Introduction" has end of the chapter excercises for each chapter with SOLUTIONS to EVERY problem (available on the Oxford UP website for the book). I can't even begin to fully describe how great that is for autodidactic (self-study learners) folks. You can't really learn math (which logic falls under) without solving problems, and you can't be sure you've solved something without the solutions. Graham Priest's book addresses both of those issues. Even more rigourous and formal textbooks on logic sometimes nelgect to offer exercises and usually do not give solutions to all the problems. This aspect of the book alone makes it valuable to potential readers.

What about the more advanced reader? As I've noted above, I think this book offers something for everyone who is smart and curious, including people who have some familiarity with logic. First, it's written by Graham Priest, a scholar with some interesting ideas on logic. Second, it covers some non-classical logics and inductive topics like probability -- things that even those who are familiar with logic may need either review in or a solid introduction to. Third, it offers questions with fully worked out solutions for each and every one of those problems, something that even dedicated texts on the subject often fail to do. Finally, it's cheap and handy so that, even if you don't find any of the above arguments satisfactory justification for buying this book, you can at least give it to your friends, family, or significant other just in case you feel they need to be educated about thinking logically.

Bottom line: This is a solid introduction and overview of logic with some extras that one might not expect in a book such as this. IMHO, it is one of the greatest books ever written. It's cheap and compact. If you haven't bought it and read it, please do yourself a favor and do both.

BTW, Oxford's VSI series has other great books. I would also recommend the books on intelligence (as in IQ) and linguistics.

On this page, there are negative reviews, saying either that this book is unreadably difficult, or that it is superficial and elementary. Let me start by straightening this out. This book is an introduction. You can't expect it to be tremedously in-depth - it would leave readers new to the subject (those it is aimed at) out of their depth and render a broad overview impossible in the short space available. You can already see some are having difficulty as it is, but this is because Logic is a difficult topic. Having said this, this seems to be as lucid as it could be given the difficulty of the academic discipline.

I read this book because I am considering doing Philosophy at university, and this is an area of Philosophy I am not familiar with. To be honest, it gave me some doubts. I found it hard for an introduction (compared with about 5 other volumes I've read it the same series). Having said this, the author does say there will be times where you have to stop, think and go back over text, and maybe I was being too impatient. So it gave me doubts about the subject.

However, as far as the book itself is concerned, it is excellent. Priest does a magnificent job of making what, in the hands of almost anyone else, could be studiously dull, engaging. He applies logic to everyday problems, questions and scenarios and writes in an engaging style with wide use of examples. The mathematical nature of logic means it is not for everyone, but if you want an introduction, this is the book (I've heard that other so-called 'introductions' to the subject are rather difficult for the layman). It is rewarding when you do understand and master concepts, and it makes you think about different questions and go deeper into basic issues, adding a whole new dimension to philosophical thought.

Like other books in Oxford's VSI series, this book sets out to provide -- in a compact book the size of most people's shirt pockets (or at least jacket pockets) -- layman with an introduction and overview of intellectual topics. I gather that it is designed for the intellectually curious layman who always meant to learn more about a certain subject but, due to the stresses of life, never managed to do so.

This book does an excellent job in accomplishing those goals (and more) with regards to to topic of Logic. This books gives an excellent overview of various issues in (formal) logic. There are several things that I found particularly good about this book:

(1) Many people may be scared off by formal logic by the symbolism and mathematical nature of the subject. Graham Priest does an excellent job in guiding the readers through those potential barriers.

(2) Conversely, intellectually curious people don't want to be reading a book that is too 'dumbed down.' This book doesn't insult anyone's intelligence. Symbolic logic is presented to the reader but the book is well written enough so that people who tend to glaze over mathematical symbols will still have a good understanding of what is going on (with some effort, of course).

(3) I really like the fact that Graham Priest gives a few short problems at the end of each chapter (and provides the solutions on the Oxford UP web site). This not only helps in re-assuring readers that they understood (or did not understand) particular topics but also gives even a total layman an opportunity to apply skills in formal logic. Many books of this type, unfortunately, do not provide self-study questions with answers. It's worth 10 stars that this author did provide such a learning tool.

(4) I like the fact that the book tackles probabilistic logic. This topic can be difficult but is often very useful in everyday life (decisionmaking, understanding medical research, etc.).

Bottom line: If you always wanted to learn formal logic and were too busy or too scared to try, buy this excellent book.

By the way, to give this book a rating of anything less than 5 stars is a grave injustice in my opinion and reasons offered by others for not giving this book a perfect mark are not worthy of consideration

The breadth of this little book is remarkable. In about 110 small pages, Graham Priest touches on truth-functional logic, predicate logic, inductive logic, modal logic, fuzzy logic, temporal logic, conditionals, self-referentiality, identity, paradoxes, probability theory, and much else. As a side-effect, though, this Very Short Introduction can seem a bit dense and choppy. Luckily, I'd already had a year of logic and probability theory at college, so I wasn't confused by Priest's presentation; but I can imagine that someone coming to logic for the very first time might find this book difficult. (I recommend that complete beginners start with Wesley Salmon's Logic primer and a good introductory textbook on formal logic, such as Irving Copi's or Harry Gensler's, before reading Priest.)

Priest begins (and ends) each short chapter with an interesting problem to catch our interest. He then concisely explains the root of the problem and how philosophers have tackled it. He particularly enjoys showing how useful modern logic is in dissecting old theological arguments for the existence of God, because, he says, "philosophers have had a long time to come up with interesting arguments concerning God." (They have also had a long time to thoroughly debunk them, which they've done, as Priest neatly shows. That's why sophisticated modern theologians like Plantinga and Vardy don't waste their time making these arguments any more.)

Priest's book is a bit more technical in its exposition than most popular books on this subject are. In some cases, I felt that other books (by John Hospers and Jamie Whyte, for instance) made identical points more simply and clearly. Nevertheless, it's nice to see these arguments worked out in a more technical yet still accessible manner.

I think this book would work best as a refresher (albeit a rather idiosyncratic one) for those who have already taken a semester of logic and probability theory, years ago, and want to get back into it. As a bonus, Priest scatters intellectual nuggets along the way for the edification of former philosophy students, clearing up those nagging little questions that our own professors couldn't be bothered to answer, such as why the material conditional has the bizarre truth-table it does. At long last, I now know why. Thanks, Graham!

The title of the book is a misnomer. Logic: A Very Short Introduction is too short, too elliptical, and therefore too confusing for an introduction. If you've never studied logic before, get Gensler's Intro to Logic instead. If you've taken logic before and want to brush up, this is a fun way to do it. Fun examples, interesting insights. But as other reviewers have said, this is not for complete beginners.