Synopses & Reviews
This "best of" hardcover collection of works by Raymond Smullyan features excerpts from his published writings, including logic puzzles, explorations of mathematical logic and paradoxes, retrograde analysis chess problems, jokes and anecdotes, and meditations on the philosophy of religion. Jason Rosenhouse, the editor of Four Lives, has provided an Introduction, in addition to compiling numerous tributes from former students, friends, and others saluting this celebrated professor, author, and logic scholar hailed by Martin Gardner as "the most entertaining logician and set theorist who ever lived."
Synopsis
This "best of" hardcover collection of works by Raymond Smullyan features logic puzzles, musings on mathematical logic and paradoxes, chess problems, and thoughts on the philosophy of religion, plus personal tributes to the author.
About the Author
Raymond Smullyan received his PhD from Princeton University and has taught at Dartmouth, Princeton, Indiana University, and New York's Lehman College. Best known for his mathematical and creative logic puzzles and games, he is also a concert pianist and a magician. He is the author of over a dozen books of logic puzzles and texts on mathematical logic.From the cover of
Four Lives:Born in 1919 in Far Rockaway, New York, Raymond Smullyan received his BSc from the University of Chicago and his PhD from Princeton University. He has taught at Dartmouth, Princeton, Indiana University, and New York's Lehman College. Best known for his mathematical and creative logic puzzles and games, he is also a concert pianist and a magician.
Jason Rosenhouse is an associate professor of mathematics at James Madison University in Virginia. He is the author of three previous books: The Monty Hall Problem: The Remarkable Story of Math's Most Contentious Brainteaser; Taking Sudoku Seriously: The Math Behind the World's Most Popular Pencil Puzzle; and Among the Creationists: Dispatches from the Anti-Evolutionist Front Line. He has been a fan of Raymond Smullyan since stumbling upon his work in elementary school.