The narrative focuses on the \u201cbrilliant, eccentric, unsettlingly precise\u201d G\u00f6del, a figure whom the author, in an introduction, compares to Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin and describes as not only a mathematician, but also a \u201cphilosopher of mystery\u201d who found new puzzles in settled certainties. \u201cIn any system that\u2019s powerful enough to talk about arithmetic,\u201d Navarro writes, \u201cthere will always be true statements that the system can never prove.\u201d As a way to pursue these questions further, the author imagines G\u00f6del journeying to a series of afterworld locations to have conversations with a wide variety of famous artists and thinkers from the past. G\u00f6del talks with fellow philosophers, of course, but he also chats with such figures as painter Jackson Pollock (\u201c\u2018Logic and paint,\u2019 Pollock mused, \u2018both dance around the unknown\u2019\u201d) and even Jesus, whom he asks about the incompleteness at the heart of mathematics: \u201cIf I left no room for doubt, then there would be no true faith,\u201d Jesus tells him. \u201cFaith must be chosen.\u201d In each encounter, G\u00f6del doggedly inquires about the nature of belief and certainty and looks into the possibility of quantifying morality and doubt. It\u2019s a familiar but inspired storytelling device, and Navarro uses it skillfully, delicately navigating the dramatics of presenting each conversation and his indefatigable main character\u2019s overarching philosophical quest. Socrates, for instance, asks the protagonist whether one can ever fully grasp truth, and readers are told that G\u00f6del \u201chad always admired [mathematician Blaise] Pascal\u2019s mind, not only for his rigorous approach to mathematical truth but for his willingness to engage with the ineffable.\u201d Philosophical discussion dominates the narrative; as a result, some historical figures end up sounding more alike than they likely would have in real life. This slight shortcoming is a result of the book\u2019s pedagogical nature, but it never entirely blunts the fun.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The narrative focuses on the \u201cbrilliant, eccentric, unsettlingly precise\u201d G\u00f6del, a figure whom the author, in an introduction, compares to Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin and describes as not only a mathematician, but also a \u201cphilosopher of mystery\u201d who found new puzzles in settled certainties. \u201cIn any system that\u2019s powerful enough to talk about arithmetic,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}