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Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

by Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos H. Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos (Illustrator), Annie Di Donna (Illustrator)

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 5,244 ratings · 675 reviews

An innovative, dramatic graphic novel about the treacherous pursuit of the foundations of mathematics.

This exceptional graphic novel recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell. In his agonized search for absolute truth, Russell crosses paths with legendary thinkers like Gottlob Frege, David Hilbert, and Kurt Gödel, and finds a passionate student in the...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published September 29th 2009 by Bloomsbury USA (first published January 1st 2008)

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Mar 12, 2013 Yasiru rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-and-graphic-novels

Logicomix is an impressive (graphic) novel, as much in scope as visually and structurally, and as a reader with some background in mathematics and philosophy, I'm very glad that at least this kind of fiction is written. After some contemplation, I also came to agree that its subtitle, 'An Epic Search Truth', wasn't disappointed either. I fluctuated between the present one star short rating and the full during the course of my read, mulling over this point a fair bit and this is what I hope to re...more Logicomix is an impressive (graphic) novel, as much in scope as visually and structurally, and as a reader with some background in mathematics and philosophy, I'm very glad that at least this kind of fiction is written. After some contemplation, I also came to agree that its subtitle, 'An Epic Search Truth', wasn't disappointed either. I fluctuated between the present one star short rating and the full during the course of my read, mulling over this point a fair bit and this is what I hope to remark on here.

This is a fictionalised biographical account of Bertrand Russell with a backdrop of escalating war on the one hand, and a story about telling a story on the other (self-referential, if you will- reflecting the central paradoxes of Russell's and the 20th century academic establishment's quest for a solid basis on which to operate). The choice of Russell struck me as somehow both inspired and obvious- in succession let's say, to avoid paradox. Through Russell, himself a dominating figure in philosophy and logic during its most productive period, we encounter the giants on whose shoulders our certainties, and more significantly uncertainties, today rest. These are odd, eccentric sorts we meet, and the narrative doesn't shy from the the frank suggestion that insanity and logic are intertwined in some way. The problem is that many of the depictions are exaggerated (it recalled to me E T Bell's Men of Mathematics) to keep the plot focused and pertinent. However, the meta-fiction aspect came to the rescue here, and through the account of a disagreement between the book's author and consultant, this claim doesn't go entirely unchallenged even if it affects the tone of the work. The truly frightening quality of insanity isn't the possibility that some germ of it is within you, as Russell is made to mull over, but that it's a continuous spectrum which reaches sanity through ambiguous mists. The problem is often about settling on what's enough to label someone mad rather than a distinct insane vs sane divide. Logicomix provides no discussion on this, but it offers a metaphor, following a confused journey through modern Athens in search of a rehearsal, that reality is mapped in men's minds and madness is when it's confused with its impression. This segues nicely into Wittgenstein's solution in the main storyline.

The characters feel very real in that the reader's interest is sustained while their sympathies are made to vary, but they only broadly align with their historical selves. Certain details are preserved and recalled well where these are relevant, but the strength of Logicomix is that the finer points of logic interweave but never interrupt the drama of human failings and personal tragedy and the glimmer through all of it, of hope (for Russell, the quest is as much for this balance as for the truth that might liberate him from his foundational anxieties). As such when it comes to their field of study (which it often does!), characters tend to become mouthpieces for entire traditions of thought, some they founded, some they were the most famous part of, and thus exaggerated. This is a good way, combined with some of the other narrative techniques which allow for clarifications (like pausing for the questions and reflections at the studio and having the authors and staff voice the likely thoughts going through the reader's mind), to broadly do the concepts mentioned some justice, but it inflicts too much of the personal from time to time, if with the good intention of showing to the layman how some people can be so excited about such a seemingly dry subject (look at how the delegates from the International Congress of Mathematics at the turn of the century where Hilbert presented his famous problems come to embody collective reactions or the way Wittgenstein is shown to be 'intense' to the point of zeal).
More serious is the problem that many of these personalities are put together a little incongruously, and compared to Russell lack context for some of their thought and ways, that the logic from madness or madness from logic theme theme might be unconsciously invoked without it being warranted.
There is a note justifying some of the historical inventions and distortions at the end of the book which reasserts some of the historical, dare we say, artifice, and a detailed glossary and a bibliography follow, so to some extent this allowance is mitigated.

The art (a fresh, somehow very European style) and lettering (for an admirably clean, clear English suited to a book touching on logic, which nevertheless evokes Russell's period from time to time) reinforce the twofold nature of the ambitions chronicled, in that they strive for progress at great cost but also seem circular, and the nested stories are very smoothly brought back in line after digressions. I especially enjoyed the recurring and illuminating scenes from Aeschylus's Oresteia by way of the aforementioned drama rehearsal and how Wittgenstein's experiences in the war were portrayed.

A fantastic read in all, remarkable for its dexterity and character portraits (or at times suppositions, rather) as it shifts back and forth through a live history surrounding the 'foundational quest'. It's not a graphic-boosted textbook on logic or even particularly serious about logic at all, but an observation on the human condition through the frustrated efforts of some of mankind's greatest thinkers at establishing truth in the hopes of being free once and for all of continually shifting ground underfoot.

I thought I'd add this blog post and its follow-up.(less)

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Jan 19, 2011 Jenni rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, non-fiction, biography

Really enjoyed this, both as a person who studied Philosophy at Oxford (where my tutor was very keen indeed on Wittgenstein) and as someone who is deep in the comics world.

I love the self-referential nature of the work, with the creators discussing the best way to tell the story (and indeed, arguing about what kind of story it even is - is it a tragedy or a story with a happy ending?). This even ties into the comics story-telling itself, with depictions of self-referentiality in the part where t...more Really enjoyed this, both as a person who studied Philosophy at Oxford (where my tutor was very keen indeed on Wittgenstein) and as someone who is deep in the comics world.

I love the self-referential nature of the work, with the creators discussing the best way to tell the story (and indeed, arguing about what kind of story it even is - is it a tragedy or a story with a happy ending?). This even ties into the comics story-telling itself, with depictions of self-referentiality in the part where they are discussing paradoxes. And overall, the comics story-telling is done niftily - for instance, there are plenty of those large panels where the characters loop and wander within a landscape as they talk (good avoidance of talking head syndrome, which would otherwise be a big danger in a comic of this nature).

Most of all, I loved the depiction of the various philosophers, logicians, and mathematicians within its pages. Gottlob Frege as someone who could have stepped out of a Miyazaki film! Robotic-looking Kurt Godel! Bertie Russell himself, the central figure - womanizer, searcher after certainty, finding humanity in his later years after what the reader suspects must have felt to others like a rather inhuman earlier part of his life.

All this, and I think it even passes the Bechdel test too, despite in principle being about old dead white men.

In some ways best of all is the way I came to find out about it. R and I were doing a road-trip in Greece, and stopped in a service station near Sparta. It had a bookshop, and he was looking for a copy of the Little Prince in Greek - which it had, but it also had Logicomix in the original Greek. I say original, in that it came out first in Greek, as the creators are (almost all) Greek. The copy that R bought was the, what, third or fourth printing? It had gone through thirty or forty thousand copies in Greek before it was even available in English. Blimey!

**************
Re-read prior to reviewing it for 1001 Comics. Even better second time round; upgraded from four stars to five.(less)

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Oct 05, 2012 Hadrian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-memoir, comics-graphic-novels-manga, history, mathematics, nonfiction, philosophy

A self-referential biographical history of mathematics and logic in the later 19th and early 20th century, with narrative interludes on ancient Greek tragedy. Framed around the life of Bertrand Russell, several contemporary thinkers (Frege, Wittgenstein, Gödel, Schlink, Wallace, von Neumann). Manages to describe incredibly complex concepts in understandable language, and only a few relatively minor errors.

I'd like to see more, if that was possible. One for each of the other thinkers, especially...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Alasse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: comic-books, metafiction

I've always believed that ~~looking for~~ expecting a perfect solution inevitably leads to extremism - for me, integrists are simply people who have become too lost in theory. They're not monsters - they're just people with strongly held beliefs who have forgotten that, more often than not, one has to tolerate a certain degree of uncertainty, even compromise, in order to reach a valid conclusion. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing touch with reality.

I went to a Catholic school until I was 18, so...more I've always believed that ~~looking for~~ expecting a perfect solution inevitably leads to extremism - for me, integrists are simply people who have become too lost in theory. They're not monsters - they're just people with strongly held beliefs who have forgotten that, more often than not, one has to tolerate a certain degree of uncertainty, even compromise, in order to reach a valid conclusion. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing touch with reality.

I went to a Catholic school until I was 18, so I know full well that arguing this point isn't exactly easy. It doesn't matter how reasonable and conciliatory it sounds in your head - people will accuse you of moral relativism, even cowardice. Well, apparently there was someone who made this point long before I did - Bertrand Russell, a philosopher and public figure known for his high moral integrity. Oh, and also, a logician. Take that, stupid teenage classmates!

Interestingly enough, his story is told in a very metafictional way. I've always felt attracted to metafiction exactly because of this reason. By metafiction I mean experiments like Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile, in which the author subverts an original storyline and saves only the most essential plot points in order to play with parallelism. I get a kick out of it every single time, because it reminds me of how very little of what we take for granted is in fact essential - to a story, to a person, or to a way of life. There's something morally very powerful about that.

Then there's the other sort of metafiction, in which the author breaks the fourth wall and draws attention to the fact that the book is, precisely, a book. I'm a big fan of that too, but in this case it definitely doesn't work. To begin with, there's too much of it - the authors keep interrupting the plot to explain what just happened and where they plan on going next. This doesn't enhance, subvert or question anything - it's just sloppy. It reads like they got overexcited and wanted to include much more than they thought the storyline could contain. "See what we did there? We're drawing a parallel between The Oresteia and Russell's foundational quest! Get it?". I understand that this is related to the self-referential theme, but it still feels like cheating. You don't use metafiction for cheating!

Anyway, Russell's life story was fascinating, and it's made me want to read both Russell and The Oresteia, so I'm very happy I read it.(less)

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Sep 16, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it 4 of 5 stars

This wildly ambitious graphic novel is a fictional (auto?)biography of Bertrand Russell and traces his journey from doubt to certainty and back again.

It is littered with the lofty ideas of the many giants of mathematics and philosophy throughout, but is never daunting in its subject matter or too overreaching in its objectives. A list of the co-stars might be enough to induce you to stop reading this review, so I restrain myself from indulging.

The self-referential presentation, which shows the...more

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Jan 14, 2011 Dimitris Hall rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who enjoy comics and complex subjects turned into engaging narratives

Shelves: lent

Logicomix was good. But it wasn't exceptional.

The drama of logic and mathematics, in my opinion, is portrayed much better in Doxiadis's other novel, Uncle Petros. I liked how the decision to make it a graphic novel worked for this story, but to be honest I got lost on my way, trying to understand Bertrand's thoughts and his interaction with other mathematicians and/or logicians of variable mental soundness, including himself. By the end, it all seemed so trivial, as if no real answer could come...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Mangoo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a must read for both lovers of comics and smart laymen who want to be entertained with history of ideas, great men and logic.
The sober, soft and pleasant narration (sometimes, a meta one) is built around the biography of Bertrand Russell, as told by himself in occasion of the prelude of the intervention of England into the WW2. In a note, the authors mention that though all characters are real as well as all ideas reported, some facts are fictituos for the sake of simplification of narra...more This is a must read for both lovers of comics and smart laymen who want to be entertained with history of ideas, great men and logic.
The sober, soft and pleasant narration (sometimes, a meta one) is built around the biography of Bertrand Russell, as told by himself in occasion of the prelude of the intervention of England into the WW2. In a note, the authors mention that though all characters are real as well as all ideas reported, some facts are fictituos for the sake of simplification of narrative only. This does not detract from the content, especially considering the appendix to the book containing additional notes and biographical materials.
Russell's life is seen as a voyage to discover unshakeable truth, along which he comes to grasp the complex nature of life and reality, which lies mostly beyond logic. An underlying theme of "logic from madness" connects the lives of many of the logicians with which Bertie comes into contact, and can be applied to his case too, as if the discipline, endurance and clear-minded thought required to solve logical foundational quests could only spring from a repulsion, fear or dread of madness, or were the outcome of a desire to find order in one's own mind and life. Apparently: Russell's son was diagnosed with schizophrenia; Hilbert's son was psychotic; Cantor believed himself to be god's spokesman and spent his later life proving Shakespear's true identity (Sir Francis Bacon) and Jesus as son of Joseph of Arimatea; Frege became paranoid and used logic to prove the need for a final, anti-semitic solution; Godel died of starvation because of his paranoia; Wittgenstein was extremely eccentric, so to say. Of all, Russell, with his multiple marriages and libertine attitudes as well, seems to have embraced the most aspects of life, and for this to have become the wisest, dedicating himself to militant pacifism, philosophy and education in general, though being constantly ravaged by the thought of his failure in curing the foundations of logic that he earlier showed to be rotten (with his paradox on set theory).
Drawings are very neat, elegant, with some tables in full page format of grand eloquence and beauty. There is a constant exchange between the authors' and Russell's narration, which makes the text a metatext at times, when the authors themselves are represented and comment on the evolution of the book, its themes, some philosophical propositions and the supposed failure of Russell's foundational work - which can be compensated with the inspiration of works by Wittgenstein, Godel and Turing, which lead to moder computers and computer science at large (which prefers pragmatical algorithms to structural formal reasoning in itself).
A unique work deserving to be a must read in high schools - and to be largely imitated.(less)

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May 11, 2013 Tor Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, philosophy

A 350-page, glossy, full-colour bio-comic tome. That's some on The More than Complete Action Philosophers, but the latter still has my heart.

I picked this up as a procrastinating philosophy undergrad and I'm pretty pleased I did. Logicomix focuses more on Russell's life and personality than his actual works and pulls him off the page, sculpts a person in place of an encyclopaedia entry. It captures the feverish appeal of philosophy, maths and logic: the constant pursuit of knowledge, of truth,...more

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May 05, 2013 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Quite simply, one of the most amazing and unique books I have ever read. In graphic novel form, it recounts the early life of the philosopher Bertrand Russell and his attempt to establish the logical foundation of all mathematics and the rational truth of all that exists. At the same time, it tells the tale of the group of graphic artists who are writing Logicomix, and their insights and frustrations mirror the ones that Russell and his colleagues experience. Additionally, (as if that weren't en...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Maria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novel, favorieten

Heb genoten van deze graphic novel over het leven van de Britse logicus Bertrand Russell en vooral over de ontwikkeling van zijn ideeën en zijn zoektocht naar ware kennis. Fraai in beeld gebracht, zeer treffend getekend en heel toegankelijk.
Russell raakt tijdens zijn studie wiskunde gefascineerd door de fundamenten ervan en probeert deze via de filosofie te ontdekken. Hij komt in contact met de logica en raakt ervan overtuigd dat om de wiskunde te redden een sterke logica nodig is die er echter...more Heb genoten van deze graphic novel over het leven van de Britse logicus Bertrand Russell en vooral over de ontwikkeling van zijn ideeën en zijn zoektocht naar ware kennis. Fraai in beeld gebracht, zeer treffend getekend en heel toegankelijk.
Russell raakt tijdens zijn studie wiskunde gefascineerd door de fundamenten ervan en probeert deze via de filosofie te ontdekken. Hij komt in contact met de logica en raakt ervan overtuigd dat om de wiskunde te redden een sterke logica nodig is die er echter helaas niet is. Je leest uitspraken als: Logica is alleen maar datgene combineren wat je weet, om dat wat je niet weet te vinden/ logica is een hulpmiddel waarvan je zelf moet bepalen wat je ermee wilt en je leert mensen kennen als Frege, Boole, Cantor, Poincaré, Hilbert. Deze laatste komt met overtuigingen als: Onze overtuiging dat alle problemen oplosbaar zijn, berust op het principe dat de wereld voor de rede volledig te begrijpen is, dat als een vraag heel precies gesteld kan worden, ze ook logisch beantwoord kan worden……. Dit is het probleem, zoek de oplossing, want die kan gevonden worden! In onze wetenschap bestaat ‘het kan niet gekend worden’niet! Overtuigingen die Russell zeer aanspreken.
Samen met Alfred Whitehead begint hij met het schrijven van ‘Principles of Mathematics’ , waarin ze de logica vanaf de grond willen opbouwen. Zij worstelen hier beiden jaren mee, het is een aanslag op hun privéleven en ze beginnen een aantal keren opnieuw.
Ik beperk me verder tot een aantal opmerkelijke beweringen/uitspraken uit het boek:
- hoe eenvoudiger een theorie, hoe beter
- alleen door ‘dom’ te doen, kun je de barrière van het schijnbaar vanzelfsprekende doorbreken
- het domein van de waarheid is oneindig, er zullen vanzelfsprekend altijd onbeantwoorde vragen zijn
- er is niet één weg naar de waarheid

Een ander thema in het boek is het verband tussen waanzin en logica. Er zijn nogal wat logici, hun partners of kinderen die aan de waanzin te gronde gaan, geprobeerd wordt daar een verklaring voor te vinden.
Ook aan bod komen de Wereldoorlogen en Russells strijd voor het pacifisme, het verschijnsel 'open huwelijk', R.'s ideeën over onderwijshervormingen etc. etc.
Russells eigen conclusie tegen het eind van het boek luidt als volgt:
Dank voor uw gezelschap op deze, nogal lange reis. De reis van mijn eerste dagen tot aan vandaag. Van Twijfel naar Zekerheid.... en weer terug. Een reis met enkele genoegens en veel teleurstellingen, en tot slot het besef dat ik heb gefaald.
Of hij gefaald heeft daar kun je natuurlijk over redetwisten maar kennelijk zag hij het zelf zo. ( in ieder geval volgens Doxiadis c.s.)

Al met al, de moeite waard. Ik weet zeer weinig van wiskunde en filosofie maar vond het heel leesbaar, knap om zo’n onderwerp op een aantrekkelijke manier op papier te zetten. Een puntje van kritiek: de makers hebben zichzelf ook in het verhaal geschreven. In deze delen worden begrippen toegelicht, discussies tussen de makers weergegeven en wat achtergronden gegeven. Deze gedeeltes vond ik het minst geslaagd mede door het taalgebruik van een van de medewerkers (een Française geloof ik) wat vertaald is als bijvoorbeeld: ‘dat ies slekt nieuws’. Irritant!!
Overigens zit achter in het boek een hoofdstuk met aantekeningen waarin ook begrippen worden uitgelegd en waarin meer verteld wordt over de personen die in het boek voorkomen.
Heel handig!
En sorry voor het lange verhaal (less)

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Mar 17, 2013 Suzanne Stroh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, math-and-philosophy

This gorgeous, deep, inventive graphic novel by a quartet of authors and illustrators will remind you why math matters. Not only that, but it's one of the most beautiful graphic novels I've ever read.

Set during WWII and based on an Oxford lecture series actually given by math pioneer Bertrand Russell, it tells the story, in memoir form, of Russell's quest for truth in the form of a unified theory of mathematics. What Russell finds is perhaps more haunting than the elusive beauty he seeks.

The Oly...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Molly G rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, fiction, graphic-novel, historical, non-fiction, science, religion-philosophy, psychology

Amazing. As with Bechdel's "Are You My Mother?", if this material were presented text-only, I'd probably have a hard time getting through it; but as graphic novels, with the images providing characterization even in the more densely technical sections, it's perfect. (Of course! That's why the authors made them this why! Having only recently come to the art form, I'm the one learning why/how it works so well.) The meta-storytelling, a device which calls attention to itself and so hard to pull off...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Ioannis Savvas rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Είχα γνωρίσει τον Απόστολο Δοξιάδη πριν από πολλά χρόνια με το βιβλίο του «Ο θείος Πέτρος και η εικασία του Γκόλντμπαχ». Τότε, είχα εντυπωσιαστεί από την αριστοτεχνική παρουσίαση του διπόλου μαθηματική διάνοια-παράνοια. Επίσης, είχα ενθουσιαστεί και με το τέλος του βιβλίου -ίσως ο σημαντικότερος παράγοντας προσωπικά για την αξιολόγηση ενός συγγράμματος.

Το Logicomix είναι το πρώτο -απ” όσο ξέρω- ελληνικό graphic novel, δηλαδή ένα μυθιστόρημα σε μορφή comics. Πρόκειται για την εξιστόρηση της μαθημ...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Sasha Boersma rated it 3 of 5 stars

Picked Logicomix up because I wanted some examples of non-fiction graphic novels. On that note, it's a fascinating read. The content itself is very deep though. I've never studied philosophy or mathematics, which made the references a bit difficult to follow from a narrative standpoint. There was also a series of stories-in-stories running parallel to themes which conceptually made the read complicated.

This was only on first reading though. I feel it's a book that needs to be read and re-read to...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Zoe Jackson rated it 5 of 5 stars

If I had written this review before reading the last few pages of the book (as if I would have, but anyway, humour this counterfactual conditional), the review would have consisted of only two words: 'simply glorious'. This graphic novel is an absolute delight to read - the coupling of the comic book form with a beginner's primer in philosophy of maths, logic, epistemology and the broader life of Bertrand Russell works surprisingly well, the visuals reinforce the ideas in a way I do not yet full...more

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Nov 11, 2012 jeremy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: gen-nonfiction, memoir-bio

while a mostly interesting (if, at times, historically lax) account of bertrand russell's life and the hunt for the foundation of mathematics, logicomix strives for, perhaps, too lofty a goal - however admirable its attempt. employing the format of a graphic novel for so complex a subject is certainly a bold choice, but doxiadis and company seem to unnecessarily weigh their plot down by delving into russell's romantic life, his fear of madness, etc., instead of offering a deeper critique or exam...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Anthony rated it 5 of 5 stars

A wonderful little docu-graphic novel that is purportedly a biography of Bertrand Russell, but manages to be much more: it sketches the story of the most important philosophers of the Vienna circle; Hillbert, Frege, Godel, as well as the development of logic and math as modern-logics struggle to find a rock solid foundation. ( And opens the way for the post-modern age and the computer) One which ultimately was proven to be futile by Godel's theorem. The climax of the story is in the the interpla...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Gabriel rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is about one of the most polemic words I can think of. For some folks (especially teachers of the word), it is hard to think of words that divide folks faster than ... "math."

Already a few of you are turning your screens around and clicking on buttons to escape the mere phrase. I'm sure a few of you have just now written off this graphic novel as "unreadable" or "too intellectual" or even "boring" for its association with the word. Others have their interest peaked and are ordering cop...more This book is about one of the most polemic words I can think of. For some folks (especially teachers of the word), it is hard to think of words that divide folks faster than ... "math."

Already a few of you are turning your screens around and clicking on buttons to escape the mere phrase. I'm sure a few of you have just now written off this graphic novel as "unreadable" or "too intellectual" or even "boring" for its association with the word. Others have their interest peaked and are ordering copies from Amazon right now.

Logicomix: An Epic Search For Truth (though "epic" is in the eye of the beholder) concerns itself with a few dead white men (only one non-white man is mentioned, that in the Notes section ... Al Khwarizmi) in their search for a true foundation of mathematics. That is, the proof that the statement 1 + 1 = 2 is true and always true (a statement that our main character wrote a 362 page paper proving to be true). Throughout the narrative, we discover that which makes mathematics come alive for me; the story of the mathematicians behind the abstract thoughts.

Inbetween the stories of the people around Bertrand Russell - and the abridged story of Russell - are the ideas that these men debated. This is the era when the absolute truth of mathematics came into question. This is the era when certain numbers were still relegated to the imagination of fools (and the "imaginary numbers" retain the name to this day). This is the era when Calculus went from something that "just worked" to a branch of mathematics with rigorous definitions. Yes, this was also a time when the world was dealing with the first World War. [Strictly speaking, this book takes place between 1876ish and 1940 with digressions in the present and Ancient Greece]

Some of the most interesting stories of the history of math comes out in this period. The development of sets and the discussion of infinity (and how many types of infinity exists). The discussion of logic and whether it came from math or math from it (and also the logic inherent in other aspects of humanity). The book discusses so many huge ideas in the slim 300 pages ... its amazing it holds together so well.

The artwork is wonderful. Oftentimes it is structured logically with more or less traditional 9 panel layout, but every so often that layout is destroyed or subverted to create extra movement or a break in the logic being discussed. Nothing new for readers of comics, but very well done. The narrative is wonderfully told, with the ideas being discussed in a simplistic manner - expanded on in the optional appendix - so that everyone can enjoy the history and the ideas discussed. Sure, this is a search in the midst of the abstract. The world being debated existing in the infinite (or even whether infinity exists in the first place ... it's a relatively new concept, folks) space where everything can be rationalized ... or not.

Great book. Wonderful history (with some artistic licence here and there) and a great introduction to some of the most interesting aspects of modern mathematics (some of which is taught in high schools today).

So put aside your worries about the word, "math" and see what the great debate is about. See that the ultimate truthfulness of the subject has been debated from time to time (and may still be). Then enjoy that the basic truths you intuit take 360 pages to prove.(less)

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May 04, 2012 Johnny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, philosophy

Although I rarely cover graphic novels, this one is quite unique. Written and drawn by Greek artists and philosophers, Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, is essentially a summary of the influences upon and experiences of Bertrand Russell. Russell, of course, was an anti-church logician (and the comic illustrates some of the early influences upon him that may have given rise to some of that hostility) and an advocate of open marriage (in spite of his unsuccessful attempts at the seduction of hi...more Although I rarely cover graphic novels, this one is quite unique. Written and drawn by Greek artists and philosophers, Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, is essentially a summary of the influences upon and experiences of Bertrand Russell. Russell, of course, was an anti-church logician (and the comic illustrates some of the early influences upon him that may have given rise to some of that hostility) and an advocate of open marriage (in spite of his unsuccessful attempts at the seduction of his colleague’s and older friend’s wife) who is most famous for his efforts in Principia Mathematica (written along with my favorite philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead). This look at the famous atheist demonstrates how mathematics provided a safety net for the famous philosopher during his early years—something solid and knowable, even in the midst of the strict rules and closed attitude of his grandmother.

In terms of logic, Russell’s quest begins with the set theory of Georg Cantor. Unfortunately for Russell, his certitude is destroyed by his own paradox. In addition to the famous Greek philosopher who says all Cretans are liars and is himself a Cretan (So, he can’t be telling the truth that all Cretans are liars since he has just declared himself to be one and if he is, he isn’t telling the truth.) and the barber in the village that must shave himself even though barbers are supposed to be for shaving others, the graphic novel introduces a modern UC Berkeley professor named Christos H. Papadimitriou who asks if a catalog of all books which are not self-referential would have its own title in the catalog. If it did, it would be self-referential so it would not belong and if it did not, it wouldn’t be self-referential so it wouldn’t contain all of the books which are not self-referential. So, there came to be Russell’s paradox that the set of all sets cannot properly contain itself.

Since Russell’s hero was a logician named Gottlob Frege who had founded his entire approach on set theory, his paradox undid all he longed to accomplish. Frege, by the way, went mad and became an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist while the other main contender of set theory, Georg Cantor, felt he had been rescued from the demonic aspects of his theory (he believed his logic would swallow the very concept of God) by Russell’s paradox. Meanwhile, the authors of this graphic novel point out the thin, permeable barrier between logicians and madness (even citing Russell’s personal journal, transliterated into Greek letters where he considered killing himself as a young man) via Frege’s conspiratorial bent, Cantor’s insanity, Godel starving himself to death via paranoia, and both Hilbert and Russell having psychotic sons. Perhaps, the real essence of this narrative can be found when Ludwig Wittgenstein complains about infinity “creeping into” mathematics and Russell asserts that it is already there in the conceptual universe. Then, Wittgenstein gets tremendously disturbed that Russell has (almost Platonically) assumed the independent existence of a mathematical reality.

And here is the moral of the story for me. Russell’s Principia Mathematica paved the way for the work of Kurt Godel, Johann (“Johnny”) von Neumann, and Alan Turing, all of which advanced the way for the computing revolution. Yet, Russell’s desire was to find absolute certitude—something that is only possible in very limited circumstances. As a result, his quest for truth was doomed to frustration. It is impossible for humans to control all of the variables; therefore, absolute certitude is impossible. Does that mean reasoning is wasted? Absolutely not! Does it make empirical logic infallible? Absolutely not! This is a fascinating (and extremely light) overview of the thought of Russell and other very key thinkers who paved the way for our postmodern era. It’s a fascinating work and I highly recommend it, particularly to those who haven’t read these thinkers and want a quick “intro-level” survey in very entertaining form.
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Apr 15, 2012 Christoph rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

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Mar 15, 2012 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Alright. Okay. Let me know if this sounds like a good read: a graphic novel about logician Bertrand Russel’s quest for the foundation on mathematics, as told by him at a symposium wherein he is supposed to comment on America’s possible involvement in World War II, as told by the people who created this book, who are actually characters in the book and discussing the creation of the book. Sounds like a dud right? Wrong. The only dud this book is capable of being is ‘Dud’ley Do-Right.

While the fra...more Alright. Okay. Let me know if this sounds like a good read: a graphic novel about logician Bertrand Russel’s quest for the foundation on mathematics, as told by him at a symposium wherein he is supposed to comment on America’s possible involvement in World War II, as told by the people who created this book, who are actually characters in the book and discussing the creation of the book. Sounds like a dud right? Wrong. The only dud this book is capable of being is ‘Dud’ley Do-Right.

While the framing of the story is unconventional, and the subject matter not what you would think of as engrossing, Logicomix actually serves up quite an entertaining read, especially for the mathematically or philosophically inclined reader. The concepts of mathematics the books touches on have the potential to be very complicated, but the way they are presented make them really easy to understand. The best teachers can explain even the most complicated topics in simple terms, and the folks who penned this book do quite a fine job of that.

As I mentioned earlier, the book contains a few parallel narratives, with Bertrand Russel’s speech/ memoir driving the bulk of the tale and the metatextual creator commentary only popping in wherever a little extra clarification is necessary.

One of the more interesting themes discussed in the book is the association of those whose search for answers sends them to the loony bin. The authors suggest that there is a correlation between logic and madness, though they leave it to the reader to sort out. I for one can understand how one might lead to the other, as sometimes late at night when I’m looking up at the moon, I can feel the urge to rip that mocking satellite out of the sky and stick it into the microwave and nuke-blast that thing for 20 minutes on high. So, clearly I’ve got the logic thing down pat, and now I’m worried about going mad.

The people attending Russel’s lecture are a group of ardent pacifists who think that America should stay out of the war at all costs. They wait patiently for the academic giant to affirm their thoughts, only to have him finish his speech being neither for nor against the war. Instead, he argues that if the foundations of mathematics can not be found, then none of the world’s difficult questions can come with hard and fast, ‘ready made’ answers. He basically says that if you want to know what to do, then you really have to think about it. Really think, not just go along with the flow, but make up your own damn mind.

I found the message really enlightening, especially in the current political climate where most people fall nicely into their ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ categories. It’s very, very clear that neither side is completely right and the other completely wrong. Instead, perhaps we should all take our cue from ol’ Bertie Russel and think for ourselves every once in a while.

Just kidding. Keep reading my blog and aligning your vision of the world with mine. Thank you!(less)

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Feb 24, 2012 Φειδίας Μπουρλάς rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: Θετικές-Επιστήμες

Συναρπαστικὸ ταξίδι στὸν κόσμο τῆς μαθηματικῆς λογικῆς, ἀναμέτρησις τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου νοῦ μὲ τὸ χάος καὶ τὴν τάξι τοῦ σύμπαντος... Ὅπως ἔγραφα σὲ σχετικὸ ἄρθρο μου, στὸ καλοσχεδιασμένο αὐτὸ κόμικ, μὲ πρωταγωνιστὴ τὸν Μπέρτραντ Ράσσελ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἴδιους τοὺς συγγραφεῖς, παρελαύνουν σὲ μιὰ συναρπαστικὴ ἱστορία οἱ θεμελιωτὲς τῆς μαθηματικῆς λογικῆς (Ἀριστοτέλης, Εὐκλείδης, Μπούλ, Κάντορ, Φρέγκε, Χίλμπερτ, Πουανκαρέ, Ράσσελ, Γκέντελ, Βιτγκενστάιν, Τούρινγκ, Φὸν Νόιμαν.) Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ σύγχρονη Ἀθήνα· ὁ...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Yanzhang rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: math

One of the most personally devastating yet inspiring lessons learning mathematics was that mathematics would be insufficient to supply all truths sufficient for my own development as a human being. It was devastating since it killed my arrogant wish that I was part of a priesthood in which the hope of all mankind rested. It was inspiring because this could only mean that I've undervalued the other fields of human enterprise and that between all them they have been doing the right thing.

One focu...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Alan Marchant rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Logicomix is very unique - a graphic nonfiction novel about the philosophy of mathematics. The book is structured around an autobiographical lecture by Bertrand Russell, with cameos by the great mathematicians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who participated in the "Foundational Quest," an effort to establish a consistent logical foundation for mathematics. The quest came to an intellectually tragic end when Godel's "incompleteness theorem" proved that not everything in mathematics can...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Aurochz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy, linguistics, graphic-novel, analytical-philosophy

An all around entertaining and slightly informative look at the history of foundational mathematics and logic of the last century. Through the use of a graphic novel format, it introduces the key ideas and people in the story of this particular philosophical and mathematical era.

The history centers around the life of Bertrand Russell and his many encounters with ideas and people and ends with Alan Turing breaking the Nazi Enigma code and coming up with the idea of the Turing machine. What would...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Christopher Stevenson rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is an awesome overview of the rise of logic. The story is fantastic until the last quarter. The author introduces you to most of the important logicians since 1700. Their lives, some of it the author embellishes, are the kinds of lives we are told academics are supposed to live. There's one drawback... It turns out the most logical are not what most people would consider rational, reasonable or logical. The author goes on to explain that this has something to do with being rational, reasona...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Seth Hahne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

When age-spanning epics are called for, there are few so often drawn from the Great Well of Story Archetypes as the battle between order and chaos. In the realms of the human and the personal, some variation of Boy Meets Girl is undoubtedly the go-to narrative frame. But when a teller really wants to up the stakes and sell his audience either a cosmology or an apocalypse, only gods and monsters will do. And such a pairing (almost until the postmoderns) demands Order in one corner, girded and rea...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Sam Quixote rated it 5 of 5 stars

The book is a modern telling of two stories: the life story of Bertrand Russell and the development of Logic. The story within the story is of an old Bertrand Russell going to give a lecture just days after Germany invaded Poland and the protestors surrounding the lecture hall demand he support the call for pacifism, to keep Britain out of the war. Russell invites them in and begins the lecture - of his life, of Logic, and his answer to their calls.

It helps to have the two narrating voices - Ru...more The book is a modern telling of two stories: the life story of Bertrand Russell and the development of Logic. The story within the story is of an old Bertrand Russell going to give a lecture just days after Germany invaded Poland and the protestors surrounding the lecture hall demand he support the call for pacifism, to keep Britain out of the war. Russell invites them in and begins the lecture - of his life, of Logic, and his answer to their calls.

It helps to have the two narrating voices - Russell in 1939 looking back on his life and the creative team putting all of this together in the '00s, as we get two interpretations of events to give a balanced view to the reader.

I won't go into all the detail of Russell's life but it is interesting. I also won't go into the maths/philosophy side of the book - mostly because I've forgotten it! The book does a very good job of explaining the philosophies of the thinkers in the book. Russell, Frege, Godel, even Wittgenstein are accessible and understandable in the writers' hands. The fact that, 2 days later, I've forgotten them just shows that I've no strong grasp of Logic theory and is no bad reflection on the book.

No matter - as the creators themselves acknowledge, every pain was taken to make this a graphic novel and by no means a maths/science/philosophy book. The narrative is more important than any lengthy explanations of the theories or the lives depicted within and so the story is the centre of the book which is why it's so much fun to read. Despite the lofty ideas you never find yourself intimidated and the pages fly by enjoyably.

The book also talks about how many logicians became mad. Christos, the consultant on the book, has a map in his mind of the area he grew up in but 30 years have passed when he visits it again and gets lost amid the changed landscape. He uses this to come up with a great line on insanity: "Sure, Frege, Russell, Whitehead were excellent map-makers but maybe eventually they confused their reality with their maps." (p.217).

A separate note should be made of the artwork. The team of Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna have created a story that is beautiful to look at. Their artwork reminded me of the other brilliant comics team of Phillippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian whose "Monsieur Jean" stories are gorgeous to see (though the subject matter is much more lightweight). The artwork really brought the book to life juxtaposing the academic material with swirling images and colourful landscapes. The scenes of Wittgenstein in WW1 were extraordinary as the reader was invited to see Wittgenstein's breakthrough in his work pulled back with a vast view of the nightmarish trenches and mortar fire with him in the midst of it. Really amazing work throughout.

It's an extraordinary comic and a brilliant piece of work. (less)

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Jul 26, 2011 Jimm Wetherbee rated it 4 of 5 stars

There is a story of a newly minted Ph.D. entering her first position as an assistant professor of philosophy. The department chair assigns her (as one might expect) to teach a basic course in the history of philosophy. “Well,” the new assistant returned with some hesitation “I suppose I could go back to Early Russell.” It is a bit of an exaggeration, but there was a time with the Anglo-American (or Analytic) School of philosophy that it seemed generally assumed that--with the possible exception...more There is a story of a newly minted Ph.D. entering her first position as an assistant professor of philosophy. The department chair assigns her (as one might expect) to teach a basic course in the history of philosophy. “Well,” the new assistant returned with some hesitation “I suppose I could go back to Early Russell.” It is a bit of an exaggeration, but there was a time with the Anglo-American (or Analytic) School of philosophy that it seemed generally assumed that--with the possible exception of David Hume--philosophy, real philosophy, hadn't really been practiced until the advent of G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell. Logicomix is a graphic novel of the world of Bertrand Russell.

A graphic novel, a comic book about a philosopher, you ask? Well, why not? First of all, Russell was not only a philosopher and public intellectual, he was an out-sized character. While Logicomix leaves out a fair bit of Russell's life prior to World War II (and includes nothing thereafter), what it does include of Russell's personal life will show that a philosopher does not have to be dull.

But why a graphic novel? There may be a number of reasons, let me take a stab at a few. First, analytic philosophy can seem extremely dry. This is in part because it is so formidable, so abstract, and so mathematical and removed from what one would think of as philosophizing that one does not dare approach it, lest one catch the contagion. The graphic novel serves to make the theory of types, set theory, the incompleteness theorem, Hilbert's Hotel, and (naturally) Russell's Paradox accessible, almost whimsical.

There is certainly the danger that any such illustrated treatment might serve only to reduce the topic to “Anglo-American Philosophy for Dummies.” Logicomix cleverly avoids any dumbing down so that even those who study philosophy for a living will enjoy themselves. There is also a lot going one in this novel. There Russell narrating his story as an argument for why his, pacifist that he is, will not join the protesters over America's impending entry into World War II. In it he relates his quest for certainty and complete rationality and why that quest should lead him not to protest but a lecture on the “Role of Logic in Human Affairs.” Along the way we come across almost every major philosopher and mathematician of the first half of the twentieth century—along with Russell's personal escapades (Both Russell's time with Whitehead and especially Wittgenstein are well worth reading). This by itself goes back and forth. Add to this that the authors and illustrators appear in the novel to form a running commentary. If that were not enough, an attentive reader will find that the very structure of the book illustrates some of the logical problems that inspired and bedeviled philosophers of those palmy days.

So then, why Russell? To begin with, Russell is both formidable and approachable. He was, as I said, a public intellectual and worked to make his ideas the common coin of the realm. Also, because he was in contact with so many thinkers of the day, Logicomix is able to bring in an entire intellectual milieu.

And if you are not interested in types, universal sets, and the like, Logicomix asks questions about what it is about people (or at least certain people) to go to incredible lengths of abstraction in the pursuit of truth, rationality and certainty? Does such an obsession itself lead to madness, or is it a curious mad genius that impels some of us to pursue truth absolutely? A fair number of people around Russell either become mad or are wildly eccentric. It should also not go without saying that Logicomix makes a point that this ardent pursuit of rationality, truth and certainty came hand in hand with what has been to date one of the maddest centuries in human history. If uncertainty is a given, is the pursuit of truth in vain, or is it necessary for us to grasp what truth we can afford?(less)

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May 30, 2011 R. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dans cette BD, nous suivons en parallèle une histoire centrée sur le personnage de Bertrand Russell — un mathématicien — et celle de la création et de la conception de la BD par les auteurs. C'est une technique qui est parfois utilisée et qui permet habilement aux auteurs de justifier leurs choix et de faire part aux lecteurs de leurs interrogations ou de leur commentaires — c'est une technique semblable qui est utilisée dans HHhH. Dans cette partie du récit, les auteurs parlent entre eux mais s...more Dans cette BD, nous suivons en parallèle une histoire centrée sur le personnage de Bertrand Russell — un mathématicien — et celle de la création et de la conception de la BD par les auteurs. C'est une technique qui est parfois utilisée et qui permet habilement aux auteurs de justifier leurs choix et de faire part aux lecteurs de leurs interrogations ou de leur commentaires — c'est une technique semblable qui est utilisée dans HHhH. Dans cette partie du récit, les auteurs parlent entre eux mais s'adressent aussi directement au lecteur, notamment au début du livre. C'est donc une métafiction car l'auteur est un personnage du livre qu'il écrit et il s'adresse par ce biais directement au lecteur faisant prendre conscience à ce dernier que ce qu'il lit est une oeuvre de fiction. Ce procédé fait beaucoup penser au travail de Scott McCloud et me conforte dans l'idée que la BD peut être un très bon support pour parler de sujets qui n'ont rien à voir avec les thématiques classiques. A ma connaissance et avant ce roman graphique, les sujets de ce type traités dans la BD concernaient majoritairement la BD elle-même, c'est notamment le cas des oeuvres de Scott McCloud et de Will Eisner. Même Lewis Trondheim c'est essayé à ce genre avec son Bande dessinée : Apprendre et comprendre.

Pour en revenir au sujet du livre, il est particulièrement complexe sur le papier puisqu'il s'agit de mathématiques et en particulier d'une de ses branches un peu méconnue: la logique. C'est cette branche des mathématiques — et c'est d'ailleurs bien illustré dans le livre — qui a mené à l'informatique. Les auteurs laissent d'ailleurs entendre qu'un nouveau livre pourrait bien aborder cette partie de l'histoire.
Nous croiserons au cours du récit des personnages historiques plus ou moins connus du grand public et notamment: John Von Neumann et Alan Turing — deux des pères de l'informatique. Le fil conducteur de ce récit est la vie de Bertrand Russell qui est connu pour son paradoxe concernant les ensembles :

L'ensemble des ensembles n'appartenant pas à eux-mêmes appartient-il à lui-même ?

Ce paradoxe (plus d'info ici) — que je me refuse à commenter ici afin d'éviter un bon mal de tête — a fait vaciller l'un des socles des mathématiques.
L'axe choisi par les auteurs est de partir du postulat — tiens un terme de logique — que l'enfance perturbée de Russel l'aurait poussée vers cette logique, cette relative sécurité, ce sentiment de tout maîtriser dans un monde ou tout s'explique par des formules.
Le résultat est en demi-teinte, on sent bien que les auteurs marchent sur un fil entre la volonté de traiter correctement un sujet complexe et très technique tout en préservant le côté grand public et accessible de leur oeuvre. Un sentiment mitigé pour une oeuvre qui mérite tout de même d'être saluée pour la prise de risque qu'elle constitue. http://www.aubonroman.com/2011/05/log...(less)

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About Apostolos Doxiadis

Apostolos Doxiadis (Greek: Απόστολος Δοξιάδης) was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1953, and grew up in Greece.
Although interested in fiction and the arts from his youngest years, a sudden and totally unexpected love affair with mathematics led him to New York's Columbia University at the age of fifteen. He did graduate work in Applied Mathematics at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, w...more Apostolos Doxiadis (Greek: Απόστολος Δοξιάδης) was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1953, and grew up in Greece.
Although interested in fiction and the arts from his youngest years, a sudden and totally unexpected love affair with mathematics led him to New York's Columbia University at the age of fifteen. He did graduate work in Applied Mathematics at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, working on mathematical models for the nervous system.
After his studies, Apostolos returned to Greece and his adolescent loves of writing, cinema and the theater. For some years he directed professionally for the theater, and in 1983 made his first film Underground Passage (in Greek). His second film, Terirem (1986) won the prize of the International Center for Artistic Cinema (CICAE) at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival.

Since the mid-eighties, most of Apostolos' work has been in fiction. He has published four novels in Greek, Parallel Life (1985), Makavettas (1988), Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture (1992) and Three Little Men (1997). His translation of Uncle Petros was published internationally in 2000, to great critical acclaim, and has since been translated into over thirty languages. Apostolos now writes in both Greek and English.

imageview.aspx2Apart from his work in fiction, Apostolos has written two plays. In 1999, he wrote and directed the musical shadow puppet play "The Tragical History of Jackson Pollock, Abstract Expressionist", accompanied by a volume of texts and images, Paralipomena. In 2006, his play Seventeenth Night had a year-long run in an Athens theatre. The play is a fictional recreation of the last days in the life of the great logician, and father of the incompleteness theorem, Kurt Gödel.

In autumn 2008, Apostolos, completed the graphic novel Logicomix, co-authored with Christos H. Papadimitriou, with art by Alecos Papadatos and Annie di Donna. The book's story is based on the epic quest for the foundations of mathematics. Logicomix was published in Autumn 2009 by Bloomsbury in the U.S. and the U.K.

Apart from his work in the various modes of storytelling, in the past few years, Apostolos has been studying the relationship between mathematics and narrative. He is currently editing a volume on mathematics and narrative with mathematician Barry Mazur, of Harvard University, due to be published in 2010.

Apostolos lives in Athens with his wife, the novelist Dorina Papaliou, and their children.(less)

More about Apostolos Doxiadis...

Books by Apostolos Doxiadis

Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession

Από την παράνοια στους αλγόριθμους: Η δέκατη έβδομη νύχτα και άλλες διαδρομές

Circles Disturbed: The Interplay of Mathematics and Narrative

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“It's been said before: 'The sleep of reason produces monsters.” — 6 people liked it

“Put a man on the brink of the abyss and - in the unlikely event that she doesn't fall into it - he will become a mystic or a madman... Which is probably the same thing!” — 6 people liked it

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