The Chosen

by Chaim Potok

“Crazy world. Cockeyed.” I wondered how he was feeling and if the curtain was still around his bed. “What kind of mathematics are you interested in?” Danny asked. “I’m really interested in logic. Mathematical logic.” He looked puzzled. “Some people call it symbolic logic,” I said. “I never even heard of it,” he confessed. “It’s really very new. A lot of it began with Russell and Whitehead and a book they wrote called Principia Mathematica.” “Bertrand Russell?” “That’s right.” “I didn’t know he was a mathematician.” “Oh, sure. He’s a great mathematician. And a logician, too.” “I’m very bad at mathematics. What’s it all about? Mathematical logic, I mean.” “Well, they try to deduce all of mathematics from simple logical principles and show that mathematics is really based on logic. It’s pretty complicated stuff. But I enjoy it.” “You have a course in that in your high school?” “No. You’re not the only person who reads a lot.” For a moment he looked at me in astonishment. Then he laughed. “I don’t read seven or eight books a week, though, like you,” I said. “Only about three or four.” He laughed again.