The Art of Logic in an Illogical World

By: Eugenia Cheng

Narrated by: Moira Quirk

How both logical and emotional reasoning can help us live better in our post-truth world

In a world where fake news stories change election outcomes, has rationality become futile? In The Art of Logic in an Illogical World, Eugenia Cheng throws a lifeline to listeners drowning in the illogic of contemporary life.

Cheng is a mathematician, so she knows how to make an airtight argument. But even for her, logic sometimes falls prey to emotion, which is why she still fears flying and eats more cookies than she should. If a mathematician can't be logical, what are we to do?

In this audiobook, Cheng reveals the inner workings and limitations of logic and explains why alogic - for example, emotion - is vital to how we think and communicate. Cheng shows us how to use logic and alogic together to navigate a world awash in bigotry, mansplaining, and manipulative memes.

Insightful, useful, and funny, this essential audiobook is for anyone who wants to think more clearly.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Eugenia Cheng (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"It's a shame that not everyone can read this book, but Cheng claims it is incumbent on those of us who can to use compassion and logic to argue productively with those who can't. In this way, advanced mathematics could make a meaningful contribution to creating a better society as well as happier conversations and relationships. There is a sense in which this book is proof it can." (Guardian)

"Following in the tradition of George Boole, Lewis Carroll and John Venn, who provided algebraic or diagrammatic aids to logical calculation, Eugenia Cheng enhances her reputation as a popular mathematics writer with this perceptive analysis of logic and its limitations." (Times Higher Education)

"This book is empowering! Eugenia Cheng makes logic alive and relevant with prose that is accessible, clear and engaging. In this masterpiece, you will learn how the power of logic can clarify some of the most pressing issues that confront us, as individuals and a society." (Stephon Alexander, author of The Jazz of Physics and professor of physics, Brown University)

Fun, informative, and thought provoking

Eugenia Cheng delivers yet another delightful romp through the world of mathematics. As usual, there's just enough explanation for lay-people that haven't been in a math class in many, many years (like me) to follow along without trouble. She's funny and witty -- and has good practical advice.

This book is for you if you're keen to see category theory compare a geometric representation of prime factors of a number to a geometric representation of how someone with white privilege can still feel underprivileged.

She touches on logic, fuzzy logic, infinity, set theory, complex systems, axioms, and more. All the while explaining how to see and understand a perspective you may not agree with. Our political debates would be much more productive and less divisive if everyone applied this advice.

Excellent and clear

Unlike some books on logic, this book is consistently easy to follow. Real world examples are used to elucidate key points.

Great breakdown of Reality/Reasoning

People hating the "politics" of the book are victims of falling into traps Eugenia speaks of

helpful to understand my computer science class

I am taking Discrete Math this help me understand it much faster and better. I recommend this book if you are a Computer Science student

how to use logic and emotion together

i found the presentation really good although in a few places it felt a bit pedantic. the latter part was more enjoyable and insightful to me. a good read whose points i will try to use in my daily life

Challenging and worthwhile

This book addresses the logic used in discussing many recent social issues and thus some people may take offense when flaws in their position are pointed out. I think challenging your beliefs is good and if they cannot stand up to logic they should change or better reasons must be found. This book is what we need to get beyond talking past each other and getting to the core issues so we can understand each other better. Recommended.

TW Disordered Eating

Author appears to have serious body image and disordered eating issues. Calories, cookies, cake, weight, BMI, diets, exercise, and on and on and on and on....it just kept coming up.

I'm an engineer and wanted to learn about math and logic, not be the sounding board for her eating disorder.

Not one of the good ones

It felt as though I was being force fed liberal left wing garbage. Not impressed.

90% identity politics, 10% classical logic

The author is really racist, and sexist. She is also a category theorist, not a logician. So her talk about logic applications only goes so far as classical logic, and a little bit on fuzzy set theory.

To me none of of this book covered new material. Logicians and other philosophers have said everything she has already with more depth.

Moira Quirk was pleasant to listen to. But she did not pronounce some math concepts properly.

Grinding an axe . Not Math . Hell hath no fury ...

The social examples used by the author drove home an agenda far beyond the topic at hand . Logic . I quit after 2 hours , maybe it changed .