The Art of Logic: How to Make Sense in a World that Doesn't - Hardcover

Cheng, Eugenia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 178816038X ISBN 13: 9781788160384

Publisher: Profile Books, 2018

Synopsis

Emotions are powerful. In newspaper headlines and on social media, they have become the primary way of understanding the world. But strong feelings make it more difficult to see the reality behind the rhetoric. In The Art of Logic, Eugenia Cheng shows how mathematical logic can help us see things more clearly - and know when politicians and companies are trying to mislead us.

First Cheng explains how to use black-and-white logic to illuminate the world around us, giving us new insight into thorny political questions like public healthcare, Black Lives Matter and Brexit. Then she explains how logic and emotions, used side-by-side, can help us not only to be more rational individuals, but also to live more thoughtfully.

Clear-sighted, revelatory and filled with useful real-life examples of logic and illogic at work, The Art of Logic is an essential guide to decoding modern life.

About this title

Review

With humour, grace, and a natural gift for making explanations seem fun, Eugenia Cheng has done it again. This is a book to savour, to consult, and to buy for all your friends. You'll think more clearly after reading this book, something that is unfortunately in short supply these days. I am buying several copies to send to heads of state. (Daniel Levitin, bestselling author of The Organised Mind & A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics)

Mind-expanding ... a meaningful contribution to creating a better society as well as happier conversations and relationships (Guardian)

In an era awash with conflict, exploitation, tribalism and fake news, the "illuminating precision" offered by logic is important. Cheng harnesses the power of abstraction to explore real-life phenomena such as sexism and white privilege. She walks us through the grand terrain of logic, from axioms to proofs. And she reveals how to build arguments as long chains of logical implications - a "virtuosic and masterful" skill that, combined with intelligent emotional engagement, can cut through pervasive irrationality (Nature)

A perceptive analysis of logic and its limitations ... Cheng is successful not only in helping readers think more clearly, but in helping them understand why others sometimes appear to be illogical. This book has the potential to help understanding and avoid confrontational arguments that serve only to entrench opposing views (Times Higher Education)

Radical and liberating (Emerald Street)

A mathematician's thought-provoking attempt to lay out the tools of rational argument (Michael Brooks New Statesman Books of the Year)

We're thankful that someone like Eugenia Cheng is here; someone to eloquently and efficiently expound on concepts like logic and truth at a time when their very basis seems to come under attack ... We're forever on the lookout for someone to make mathematics both fun and accessible, and it looks like we've found that person in Eugenia Cheng (How it Works Magazine)

A concert pianist, mathematician, polyglot and YouTube star, Cheng has carved out quite a niche for herself ... she brings an ebullient enthusiasm that's infectious (Guardian)

Witty, charming, and crystal clear. Eugenia Cheng's enthusiasm and carefully chosen metaphors and analogies carry us effortlessly through the mathematical landscape (Ian Stewart)

Clear, clever and friendly (Alex Bellos)

Book Description

A survival guide for our post-truth world using the timeless methods of logic, from a Royal Society Prize shortlisted mathematician

Edition details

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 178816038X
• ISBN 13: 9781788160384
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320