Written by Mike Holderness, NEW SCIENTIST

Wednesday, 02 December 2009 00:00

IN THIS graphic-novel biography of philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell, the book’s artists draw themselves and their debates with the authors about how, say, to illustrate the concept “proof”.Such self-reference is at the heart of the story, from Russell’s despair at the paradox that halted his effort to put mathematics on a rigorous footing, to Kurt Gödel’s incompleteness theorems nailing down that project’s coffin.

Logicomix grippingly recounts the turmoil of the 20th-century logical world. As Russell searches for certainties we ask with him: does formal logic drive people mad, or does madness drive them to formal logic?

Perfect for: those working on a formal proof that it is possible to be both strange and happy.

Read the article on the New Scientist website.