Wilfrid HodgesRecensioni

When I was saddled with an unpleasant, usually boring job, I would take this book to the cafeteria and read it for solace.

12/3/21

Solid intro to logic, which goes about its task in a (for me) odd way. Rather than teaching you a system of propositional calculus, then moving onto predicate logic, it kind of sort of recapitulates the reasons one might develop a propositional calculus in the first place, working from sentences and consistency, rather than arguments. I have no idea how you'd do with this if you hadn't done some logic, but it makes for a good refresher. As ever in these books, some of the answers are either flat out wrong, or feature typos. I don't mind that. Proofreading this stuff must be a nightmare.

A symbolic and mathematical approach to justifying arguments. Hodges seeks to be original, but fails. Not engaging or immediately helpful. If you can't sleep, give it a shot.

Much more interesting than I thought it would be, this is an introduction to Logic, not just mathematical logic. In other words, the most interesting part of this beginner book is the exposition of the relation between language and logic. While I didn't do the exercises, I did find it valuable to read and think about them.

Generally all adds up...