Symbolic Logic and the Game of Logic

Lewis Carroll {a.k.a Charles Dodgson} ... used to teach this 'stuff' to 14-year olds... with the new advent of media-entertainment: from playstation to blu-ray and everything between... all hand-eye coordintation aside.... our intelects and ability to learn has suffered.. I won't lie; this took we the better part of a year to assimilate.... all the nuances Carroll has for 'Learners'.... he even gives instructions in his intro in how to go about just that... In short; this book changed my life.... at the risk of sounding 'blasphemous' I would say its almost more important then the bible.... for it has allowed me to seek its truth in a whole new light...as well as any disciplined study I now find interest in...just as Mr. Dodgson in his playful way promised.. I believe it was Socrates that once said: "An unexamined life is not worth living" ; Carroll upgrades the outdated examination-tool of Magnigying Glass to Hubbel-Telescope... it really is this good if your patient with yourself{another Carrollinian-tip} and persevere with the exercises built right there into the book.. All People who read this book will be changed for ever. All People changed for ever will in turn change others for the better. All People who change others for the better, will be changed for better. Though this may sound like a good, moral argument... it is not a sound one.... I hope you look me up sometime and tell me why... details awaiting inside....

Some books you read to relax, some to learn, and some...well, some will make you think and wonder and grow. This is one of those. The problems here have been around for more than a century, and yet they are still as effective in teaching logic as the day they were written. If you are getting ready for the LSAT, this is not a bad place to start. If you just want to tease your intellect, this is a great source for hours of amusement.

Math is fun, but the rhetoric of most 'taught' (probably an overstatement) math (and, by extension, logic) is so incredibly dry that the forest is rarely seen for the bark on the trees. But here Carroll, with tongue lodged firmly in cheek, turns the rhetoric (and by extension, the way we think about math problems) on its ear, and the result is an often incredibly funny approach to math and logic problems which stays with you and ultimately worms its way into your quotidian. I'll also say that, as an atrociously poor student in high school, this book allowed me to ace the SATs, and then ten years later the GREs.

This book by Lewis Carroll is a wonderful source to learn the basics of logic in a funny and natural way. It can be used as a self-study guide or as a manual for educators teaching elements of logic to schoolchildren. It is very clear and consequent and gives the basic idea of propositions and syllogisms. The theory is framed in an unusual game that makes it much more understandable. As always Carroll's examples are a little bit absurdic but this is exactly what makes them humorous, attractive and involving. The book is also a great brain teaser for readers of all ages. Unfortunately it is not as well known as Alice in Wonderland but it has been translated into many foreign languages. I widely used the Russain translation when teaching logic to schoolchildren in St. Petersburg, Russia. Currently being a doctoral student in the States I try to introduce it to my colleagues.