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Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth |  | Authors: Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos Papadimitriou
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
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Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 218
Media: Paperback
Edition: Advance Reader's Edition
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 1596914521
Dewey Decimal Number: 192
EAN: 9781596914520
ASIN: 1596914521
Publication Date: September 29, 2009
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Book Description
This exceptional graphic novel recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell. In his agonized search for absolute truth, Russell crosses paths with legendary thinkers like Gottlob Frege, David Hilbert, and Kurt Gödel, and finds a passionate student in the great Ludwig Wittgenstein. But his most ambitious goal--to establish unshakable logical foundations of mathematics--continues to loom before him. Through love and hate, peace and war, Russell persists in the dogged mission that threatens to claim both his career and his personal happiness, finally driving him to the brink of insanity.
Take a Look Inside
The creators of Logicomix introduce us to Bertrand Russell in 1939 during one of his public lectures. Russell explores the question, "What is logic?" by telling the story of "one of [logic’s] most ardent fans"--himself. The panels that follow (click each image to see the full page) reimagine the life of a brilliant young man with a passion for mathematics.
Product Description
An innovative, dramatic graphic novel about the treacherous pursuit of the foundations of mathematics. This exceptional graphic novel recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell. In his agonized search for absolute truth, Russell crosses paths with legendary thinkers like Gottlob Frege, David Hilbert, and Kurt Gödel, and finds a passionate student in the great Ludwig Wittgenstein. But his most ambitious goal—to establish unshakable logical foundations of mathematics—continues to loom before him. Through love and hate, peace and war, Russell persists in the dogged mission that threatens to claim both his career and his personal happiness, finally driving him to the brink of insanity. This story is at the same time a historical novel and an accessible explication of some of the biggest ideas of mathematics and modern philosophy. With rich characterizations and expressive, atmospheric artwork, the book spins the pursuit of these ideas into a highly satisfying tale. Probing and ingeniously layered, the book throws light on Russell’s inner struggles while setting them in the context of the timeless questions he spent his life trying to answer. At its heart, Logicomix is a story about the conflict between an ideal rationality and the unchanging, flawed fabric of reality.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 51
 Interesting and ambitous, this graphic novel about Bertrand Russell and his ideas sometimes fell flat November 23, 2009
Andres C. Salama (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An interesting graphic novel about Bertrand Russell, dealing both with his personal life as well as the development of his ideas, as his research in mathematics and logic tries to discover the foundations of mathematics. Other mathematicians and logicians of the time such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gottlob Frege, Georg Cantor, Alfred North Whitehead, David Hilbert and Kurt Godel have a prominent role in the book. A quick read, with appealing drawings, this was written by Apostolos Doxiadis and Chistos Papadimitriou (both Greek, the first a novelist with a background in math, the second a computer scientist that teaches in UC Berkeley) and drawn by Alecos Papadatos and Annie di Donna (he from Greece, she from France). Logicomix starts chronologically from Russell's birth in 1872 in a prominent family (his grandfather was a former British prime minister) and ends in to 1939 as he is in a speaking engagement in an American university and is confronted by pacifists about his position as World War II starts. While the book takes some minor liberties with the facts, it is quite faithful in presenting the complex ideas behind logic and mathematics to a lay reader Unfortunately, as an apparent comic relief, the comic book is framed self-referentially in the present, as the two authors and the two artists try to develop the book and wonder somewhat condescendingly if the subject matter would be too complex for readers. The dialogue in the present is full of awful banter that seems to be taken out of some very bad sitcom (for instance, there are constant jokes about the French-born drawer pronouncing ze instead of the). Because of this very poor framework, I rate the book four stars instead of five.
Nice effort November 17, 2009
Sumit Saraswat (USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was expecting to understand the philosphy of Russel Bertrand through this book , major portion of this book is devoted to the life of Russel , his personal struggles etc rather than his work and philosophy and places where his phlosophy is explained it looked vague, probably i lack the maturity to understand it, some day i would give it one more try , though the Art and graphics are above average overall a nice and bold effort.
Nice Try November 16, 2009
James Klagge (Blacksburg, Virginia USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I gave this 4 stars for the attempt--though more like 2 or 3 stars for the execution. It is amazing to me that someone tried to do a graphic novel on this subject, and I want to celebrate that. And some of the issues were handled pretty well. But some were just odd. It never became clear why Russell's speech in 1939 made a useful pivot for the story line. While it seemed to be trying to integrate his logic and his politics, it never worked. While I appreciate the interest in life and work together, it didn't seem to amount to much here. The craziness of logicians seemed to be much exaggerated--Turing was quite sane (until persecuted for his homosexuality), as was Church, and many others. The oddest part of the "plot" was the use of the Oresteia. While I am quite familiar with Greek tragedy and with modern Logic, I saw no useful connection between them here.
 a fascinating work November 11, 2009
Dr. Kelly Nicholson
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A novel and entertaining story of the development of logic, presented in comic book format and told in terms of the personal lives of its main characters. I would enjoy seeing other philosophical themes treated in this manner. KN
Entertaining, Enlightening, Sublime November 6, 2009
Simon D. Levy (Lexington, VA USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Doxiadis and Papadimitriou (the latter already a giant in the field of theoretical computer science) have pulled off the seemingly impossible: they have provided an entertaining, informative, and beautifully executed introduction to and exploration of some of the greatest problems in Western philosophy. Unlike the many other popular treatments of these historical figures (Russell, Wittgenstein, Goedel, et al.), this one is inflected by the authors' Greek heritage, with a sub-plot about the creators' involvement in a production the Oresteia in their native Athens (where the plays were of course created and first performed). It all comes together in the end in a way that ties the intellectual themes to agonizing moral issues faced by all human beings, not just logicians and philosophers. Readers already familiar with these topics will be delighted by the subtle ways in which they are linked together (a young Kurt Goedel playing in the mud while Russell and Wittgenstein discuss set theory); other readers will benefit from an introduction difficult material that somehow manages not to oversimplify it. Logicomix is a triumph of humanistic scholarship and insight that will benefit readers young and old.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 51
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