Journey to the Edge of Reason

The Life of Kurt Gödel

By: Stephen Budiansky

Narrated by: Bob Souer

The first major biography of the logician and mathematician whose incompleteness theorems helped launch a modern scientific revolution.

Nearly a hundred years after its publication, Kurt Gödel's famous proof that every mathematical system must contain propositions that are true - yet never provable - continues to unsettle mathematics, philosophy, and computer science. Yet unlike Einstein, with whom he formed a warm and abiding friendship, Gödel has long escaped all but the most casual scrutiny of his life.

An intimate portrait of the scientific and intellectual circles in prewar Vienna and a vivid re-creation of the early days of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, Journey to the Edge of Reason is the first biography to fully draw upon Gödel's voluminous letters and writings - including a never-before-transcribed shorthand diary of his most intimate thoughts - to explore his profound intellectual friendships, his moving relationship with his mother, his troubled yet devoted marriage, and the debilitating bouts of paranoia that ultimately took his life. It illuminates the mind-bending implications of Gödel's revolutionary ideas for philosophy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and man's place in the cosmos.

©2021 Stephen Budiansky (P)2021 Tantor

EDUCATION AND FREEDOM

Stephen Budiansky offers a biography of one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. His name was Kurt Gödel.
It is the biographic details and good writing that make “Journey to the Edge of Reason” interesting. Budiansky sets a table for what becomes Gödel’s life.

Budiansky explains the history of Austria before WWI and WWII. Gödel’s family lives an upper-middleclass life when their son Kurt is born. That lifestyle is interrupted by WWI and destroyed by WWII. In the mid-19th century, the Austro-Hungarian empire, particularly Vienna, is a center for education and culture in Europe. Unlike much of the continent, equality of opportunity, regardless of religion and ethnicity, were available in the Austro-Hungarian' capitol of Vienna. For a short time, Vienna became a magnate for Jewish immigrants seeking education and opportunity.

A striking fact in Budiansky's biography of Gödel is how many geniuses came to America from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Without its education system, the Viennese equal opportunity, and the attraction of western freedom, the advance of science and its role in the world would be diminished.

As a non-mathematician one may not understand the importance of Gödel’s theory, but Budiansky does a great service to the public by writing Gödel’s biography.

Highly recommended

This is a beautiful telling of the story of one of the greatest logicians of all time. It gives you a wholesome picture of this enigmatic and extraordinary genius. I recommend it in particular for the details it gives about Austrian society prior to WWII and the story behind the origins of IAS Princeton.

Fantastically done!

A great audiobook. This is an accessible, insightful and thoroughly researched book about one of the most important mathematicians in history.

Great listening

Loved it! Although I thought the first chapters focused too much on Austrian history.

Interesting story of a great mathematician

The book was fairly interesting, although I think that there was much too much discussion in the early chapters about Austrian politics prior to Godel's birth.

The narrator was fairly good. His pronunciation was, in general, good with a notable exception. He misprounounced the name of John von Neumann as "von newman". This wouldn't have been so bad if von Neumann's name hadn't appeared around 100 times in the book.

good history of the context where Goedel lived

very enjoyable narrative of the context in which Kurt Goedel lived his life and made profound contributions to mathematical logic. The author gives a sympathetic treatment of a man who had serious mental problems throughout his adult life. it is clear from his rendering of Goedel's life that many more discoveries may still be buried in his notebooks written in Gabelsberger shorthand.

helps if you have an interest in logic and math

very interesting to me, having studied Godel's proof in college to learn more about the times, human environment and the person responsible for this most significant finding.

Excellent

This was a great book but made more so by some excellent chapters and digressions that were not about Godel. For instance there is an excellent chapter on the history of the Austro Hungarian empire.

Gödel's Incompleteness

I love bios on recent and not so recent Big Thinkers. Mostly physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers. Often times the figures' personal lives, their contemporaries, the environment which they grew up and worked in have a wonderful way of making more sense of their life's work. It's been said that if you want to understand a 'Big Thinkers' psychology, look at their lives. Their work is an amalgamation of their (Big P) Personalities.

Journey to the Edge of Reason puts Gödel in context. The only problem is that Gödel is/was of a stiff, impenetrable nature. While open and of a big heart, not that of a malicious intention, is a quiet and reserved by nature. I am not a Gödel-head so I cannot speak to other attempts at adding depth to Gödel's life and work, better books might be out there. But from the view of this book, which has been the most recent, Mr. Gödel is an incomplete entity. Not by design or any intentional obfuscation, the man was ethereal. The contemporaneous sketches all have a vague feeling of curiosity and of a shaky questioning nature.

It seems like a real zinger, but, until all of his dense shorthand notes are translated and organized, his story - the "real" story that gives ample depth and understanding, for now, is sadly Incomplete.

Souer read beautifully

A great book beautifully read. I think Souer has a rare, perfect reading voice and perfect pronunciation