When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought by Jim Holt (PDF)

Description

From Jim Holt, the New York Times bestselling author of Why Does the World Exist?, comes an entertaining and accessible guide to the most profound scientific and mathematical ideas of recent centuries in When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought.Does time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down? In this scintillating collection, Holt explores the human mind, the cosmos, and the thinkers who’ve tried to encompass the latter with the former. With his trademark clarity and humor, Holt probes the mysteries of quantum mechanics, the quest for the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of logic and truth. Along the way, he offers intimate biographical sketches of celebrated and neglected thinkers, from the physicist Emmy Noether to the computing pioneer Alan Turing and the discoverer of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot. Holt offers a painless and playful introduction to many of our most beautiful but least understood ideas, from Einsteinian relativity to string theory, and also invites us to consider why the greatest logician of the twentieth century believed the U.S. Constitution contained a terrible contradiction—and whether the universe truly has a future.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐as described and fast delivery

⭐Overall, I found this to be an engaging book. The author considers a variety of topics from “why does math work” to the history of computing to “how long will humanity will last”, and many other topics. Holt does a good job of explaining central concepts for each of the topics. There is some repetition because some of the essays have intersecting themes, and the book is composed of various essays Holt has written over the years.Having said that, there are what I would consider to be errors in some of the presentations of concepts. Holt repeats the falsehood that if one were to physically look at an object moving near the speed of light, that one would see the length contraction. This is not true, you would see a Penrose-Terrell rotation. He mentions entropy as being a measure of “disorder”, which is not always true (entropy is a measure of how likely the situation is given macrostate constraints and all the microstates possible). That being said, these are errors that physicists often make. I am also rather skeptical of his take on people’s perceptions of time and age. These types of psychology experiments seem to have had small sample sizes, and while it is not inconceivable that older people experience time differently than younger people, I would prefer more comprehensive data that has been thoroughly replicated before putting much faith in it. (I also personally just do not have the same extreme perceptions such as “It has been estimated by the age of eight, one has subjectively lived two-thirds of one’s life.” I certainly don’t have 2/3 of my memories from before age 8, and I’m not sure there is another way to make sense of the statement.)I also feel like Holt gives Copernican principle calculations too much weight without explaining reasons to be skeptical. There’s nothing actually wrong, but I often thought Holt could have improved his essays a bit by more thoroughly explaining the opposite view on ideas that he takes. Because he often does do this well, it is especially strange that he does not in other essays.This is a good read with many interesting essays if you are interested in math, science, and philosophy’s intersection. Regardless of whether you agree with all that Holt says, he has plenty of interesting ideas to relate, and he writes entertainingly.

⭐Well written overview of the history of higher math such as Godel, Fractals, and Infinity. However, Einstein and Godel had only one chapter. I wanted more about these two and their theories.

⭐I enjoyed these musings and explanations of topics I knew would interest me and some that surprised me. Had to read it to the end to make sure I didn’t miss out on anything.

⭐When Einstein Walked with Godel is a competent and articulate survey of contemporary problems in physics, mathematics and philosophy. It contains biographical insights into some of the most interesting intellectuals of the twentieth century. And one cannot doubt the fact that the author is genuinely interested in describing what would otherwise be academic arcana in a palatable fashion to the public. And yet, I think the book is unintentionally evil. Let me describe why.Holt states that he intends his essays to go to the depth of a cocktail party discussion. But, as one reads on and on, it becomes increasingly obvious that the book is discussing some of the most important questions that can be asked. What is truth? What is the likely end of the universe? Can the human mind fathom the underlying laws of nature? Why does mathematics describe the world so well? And on and on.If you are the kind of person who thinks these questions are mainly good for entertainment at dinner parties then you will enjoy the hor dourves sized essays in this book. Ultimately however, while these questions may be irresolvable with the common consent of the human race, it is necessary for every person to try to answer these as best they can. Our answers may be partial—might even contradict one another—but at least we can be fully mature human beings who can give a reasonable account of our life.To relegate the deepest questions to cocktail party subjects is, paradoxically, to provide an answer: I only care about how much fun I can have at cocktail parties.So while I actually enjoyed reading the book and getting an hor dourves sized taste of some subjects I hadn’t known about, I don’t recommend purchasing it. There is too much of a flippant attitude–of “Oh isn’t it interesting. This scientist just proved the universe will end in a reverse of the Big Bang called the Big Crunch. Can you pass the stuffed mushrooms?”Well written, interesting material but with an essentially pernicious attitude. Not recommended.

⭐I enjoyed 99% of Holt’s work on Einstein and Godel, with just a bit of a pinch here and there. His take on those who do not fear death is off, as he says that this tends to make you calloused about others death, or words to that effect. Those who do not fear death, also do not fear life. You can be well beyond fear of your own death and yet grieve the loss of others, or grieve with those who have lost others. Holt throws in a few extra large words here and there are some foreign phrases…I wonder what the point of that is….? An ability to get to the heart of the argument is a talent this Author has and I enjoyed his take on the present King of Atheists, Dawkins. Correctly, Holt points out that Religion does not arise from a Delusional mind set, but from some inner instinct, which is world wide. His teaching on Godel’s Theorem is very lucid and brings this important intellectual work under a much clearer lens. All in all, this book, like Millions of others…is really about the Human Mind and the truth, or falsity, of Matter. Beyond Matter lies it’s interpreter, the Mind, and beyond Mind lies pure Awareness…the only Reality.

⭐This is a great bedside book. The essays are long enough to engage and fascinate. But they are like a large intellectual nightcap.

⭐Great read so far. Very interesting material. I’ve learned about brain research, math, and other items of interest. I look forward to reading deeper into this book.

⭐Das Buch ist super!- 1 Stern für die Verpackung bzw. den Umgang mit dem Buch vor Verkauf.Das Buch war nicht ausreichend geschützt. Und hat es eine Kante im Papier. Ebenfalls ist irgendein Kleber auf dem heiklen Papier-Umschlag gewesen. Ein wenig dreckig ist es auch.Beim Kauf eines Hardcover geht es vor allem um die qualitative Verpackung bzw. Zustand der Ware. Vor allem wenn es ein neues Buch und kein second Hand ist. Wer lesen will: Eventuell sollte ein anderer Verkäufer angedacht werden 🙁

⭐

⭐A promising title, and only a few very nice pages among very many disappointing ones.The writer is obviously very knowledgeable in science and its history. But he appears to want to follow the “Discovery Channel” format of writing: a shower of very small facts, a focus on totally irrelevant questions and a preference for major judgements without any backup. The most irritating example of an irrelevant question is the way intelligence could still exist in the universe in the distant future (10^120 years). He even goes to visit some scientists you see on Discovery Channel to interview them.An example of a sweeping judgement without backup is: “It is only after 1990 that some improvement in productivity through computers can be seen, and then only in America, Europe appears to have missed out on them”. He must think that in Europe cars are still beaten out of sheet metal by hand, and that payments still require you to go bring some banknotes to the recipient.He should have written less pages and chosen more intelligent questions, like what Gödel’s ontological proof was about, and what Grothendieck discovered after he stopped doing mathematics the hard way, or what other geniuses worked at Bletchley park besides Turing.He can still do that, that book I would buy.

⭐I was a bit let down not for the book itself, but for I expected too much of it. It seems to me it is a book for free hours and not a somewhat deeper philosophical book. It is ok to take a first contact with some nice ideias in mathematics, physics an experimental psychology but that’s what it is…only that…time passing information for free hours.Hails to the author, but I would prefer a somewhat deeper approach to so much beauty!

⭐Um dos melhores livros sobre ciência já publicados, podem ter certeza. O autor, Jim Holt, tem excelente texto, didático e profundo ao mesmo tempo. Vale muito a pena lê-lo. Parabéns à Amazon por nos disponibilizar obra tão relevante!!!

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⭐una magnífica reseña de la amistad entre Einstein y Gödel…, y una buena oportunidad de asomarse a lo más avanzado del conocimiento científico actual… (no olvides tener Wikipedia a la mano)

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