Goedel's Way

Most scientists don’t really understand how important the process of formalization of logic, set theory and mathematics has been, both for showing when formalization is possible, and when it is not. Ok, I admit that most filmmakers, myself included, don’t really understand that either… So for scientists and filmmakers alike, I strongly recommend "Gödel’s Way: Exploits into an undecidable world". It’s a brilliant book, written by three brilliant men, Gregory Chaitin, Francisco Doria and Newton da Costa, two of whom are Brazilians like me. Read it, and you will find out why Gödel has a way of being relevant almost everywhere.

This is not a conventional book on science; rather, it is the three authors’ personal journey through the world of Gödel’s theorem and computational complexity… There are no formal definitions, theorems, or detailed proofs. But there are audacious predictions, which would surprise most complexity theorists... [E]ntertaining for a reader who has the same background as the three authors and likes to make big leaps forward at the same points as the authors.

M. Bona, University of Florida, in CHOICE, September 2012, Vol. 50 No. 1.

"The text is based on graduate lectures and extended courses for a wide spectrum of engineering student and on own practical experiences. Also professionals in modeling of heat transfer, incompressible viscous flow, and heat convection and corresponding codes can profit from the book."––Georg Hebermehl, Zentralblatt MATH 1257 |

Most scientists don’t really understand how important the process of formalization of logic, set theory and mathematics has been, both for showing when formalization is possible, and when it is not. Ok, I admit that most filmmakers, myself included, don’t really understand that either… So for scientists and filmmakers alike, I strongly recommend "Gödel’s Way: Exploits into an undecidable world". It’s a brilliant book, written by three brilliant men, Gregory Chaitin, Francisco Doria and Newton da Costa, two of whom are Brazilians like me. Read it, and you will find out why Gödel has a way of being relevant almost everywhere.

José Padilha

This is not a conventional book on science; rather, it is the three authors’ personal journey through the world of Gödel’s theorem and computational complexity… There are no formal definitions, theorems, or detailed proofs. But there are audacious predictions, which would surprise most complexity theorists... [E]ntertaining for a reader who has the same background as the three authors and likes to make big leaps forward at the same points as the authors.

M. Bona, University of Florida, in CHOICE, September 2012, Vol. 50 No. 1.

"The text is based on graduate lectures and extended courses for a wide spectrum of engineering student and on own practical experiences. Also professionals in modeling of heat transfer, incompressible viscous flow, and heat convection and corresponding codes can profit from the book."––Georg Hebermehl, Zentralblatt MATH 1257 |