Collected Works: Unpublished Essays and Lectures, Vol. 3

Kurt Gödel (1906-1978) was the most outstanding logician of the twentieth century, famous for his hallmark works on the completeness of logic, the incompleteness of number theory and stronger systems, and the consistency of the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis. He is also noted for his work on constructivity, the decision problem, the foundations of computation theory, unusual cosmological models, and for the strong individuality of his writings on the philosophy of mathematics. The Collected Works is a landmark resource that draws together a lifetime of creative accomplishment. The first two volumes were devoted to Gödel's publications in full (both in the original and translation). This third volume features a wide selection of unpublished articles and lecture texts found in Gödel's Nachlass, documents that enlarge considerably our appreciation of his scientific and philosophical thought and add a great deal to our understanding of his motivations. Continuing the format of the earlier volumes, the present volume includes introductory notes that provide extensive explanatory and historical commentary on each of the papers, English translations of material originally written in German (some transcribed from Gabelsberger shorthand), and a complete bibliography. A succeeding volume is to contain a comprehensive selection of Gödel's scientific correspondence and a complete inventory of his Nachlass. The books are designed to be accessible and useful to as wide an audience as possible without sacrificing scientific or historical accuracy. The only complete edition available in English, it will be an essential part of the working library of professionals and students in logic, mathematics, philosophy, history of science, and computer science.

Booknews

A comprehensive edition of the 20th-century logician's work, in facing pages of German and English. This third volume is a selection of unpublished and often unfinished papers and texts for individual lectures found in G<:o>del's . A projected fourth volume will be devoted to a selection of his scientific correspondence and a full inventory of his . Each selection or group of selections is introduced. Each volume is paged and indexed separately. The indexes contain only names. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Stanford University

Pennsylvania State University

both of Harvard University

University of California, Berkeley