LogiComix: An Epic Search for Truth (2009) is a daring attempt to tell the story behind the 100 year Quest for the Foundations of Mathematics in graphic novel form, i.e. as a 356 page comic book.

The narrative weaves its way through the overlapping lives of five pioneering mathematicians of the 19th & 20th centuries,  whilst switching back and forth between the 21st century personal search by authors Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou.

The result is an outstanding effort to bring a deeply interesting chapter in the history & philosophy of mathematics to a lay audience, recreating the passion, obsession, and personal pain experienced by the mathematicians who originally embarked upon the quest.

Apostolos quotes Rota when describing one of the themes, madness, inspiring the book: "It cannot be a complete coincidence that several outstanding logicians of the twentieth century found shelter in asylums at some point in their lives: Cantor, Zermelo, Gödel, Peano, and Post." [1]  Though Logicomix perhaps takes this madness theme a bit too far in extending it to Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein [7], as Rota observes, there is nonetheless something provocative in the observation.

What is the story?  From the inside flap:
"This exceptional graphic novel recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell. In his agonized search for absolute truth, Russell crosses paths with legendary thinkers like Gottlob Frege, David Hilbert, and Kurt Gödel, and finds a passionate student in the great Ludwig Wittgenstein." [5]

In this respect: "Logicomix is one of the most successful [such attempts] for philosophy classrooms. You can read it and appreciate it as an excellent example of a graphic novel, and you can study it for the philosophy that’s in it. Imagine a class where math and logic students learn about art and art students learn math and logic; and neither group is alienated. That such an initially strange blending of interests can be brought together reveals the breadth, depth, importance and inescapability of philosophy – and this is achieved through the graphic novel." [6]

For Further Reading on these topics, browse the selection of downloadable PDF papers posted in the reading list for A Course in the Philosophy & Foundations of Mathematics.  http://goo.gl/5xvD02  [3]


References:

[1] Gian-Carlo Rota, Fine Hall in its golden era [1950s], from A Century of Mathematics, AMS (1989)

[2] The Bloomberg Review & a 3 minute video in which the authors, and some famous mathematicians discuss the creation  / reception of the book:  http://goo.gl/m5mCff

[3] A Selection of Downloadable Papers (pdfs) from A Course in the Philosophy & Foundations of Mathematics: http://mathscitech.org/articles/course-philo-math

[4] Author's Website (Apostolos Doxiadis): http://www.apostolosdoxiadis.com/book/logicomix/ Book's Website
http://www.logicomix.com/en/ #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List (Graphic Novels)

[5] Logicomix -- Look inside, or buy it (Amazon): http://www.amazon.com/Logicomix-Search-Truth-Apostolos-Doxiadis/dp/1596914521

[6] Review by Icaros Publishing Group, Greece: http://goo.gl/BNcBLl

[7] Critical review by Paolo Mancosu, that addresses a few factual inaccuracies and questionable decisions in exercising creative license to strengthen the "madness theme" at the expense of historical accuracy.  www.cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/BLOGPAPERS/logicomixrev.pdf

#mathematics     #Philosophy #Logic