Logic: An Introduction to Elementary Logic

by Wilfrid Hodges

Book Overview

If a man supports Arsenal one day and Spurs the next then he is fickle but not necessarily illogical. From this starting point, and assuming no previous knowledge of logic, Wilfrid Hodges takes the reader through the whole gamut of logical expressions in a simple and lively way. Readers who are more mathematically adventurous will find optional sections introducing rather more challenging material.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140219854
• ISBN13: 9780140219852
• Release Date: August 1980
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

1st half great; 2nd half wanders

(Note: the following review is of the 1st edition of Logic. I have not seen the second.) In general, I would rate this a very good intro. to logic. The first half of the book lays the necessary groundwork cogently. Hodges builds from simple principles to increasingly complex logical concepts and constructs. In the first half of the book he takes nothing for granted, and the presentation is adequate for a complete novice. In the second half, however, Hodges leaves too many concepts inadequately explained/defined. It was considerably more difficult -- at times prohibitively so as a beginner -- to follow his argumentation. That said, Logic is not a textbook on the subject (though the first half of the book adequately serves the purpose). It is more of a cursory survey. As such, it's second half does not disappoint. Though the second half did not equip me to 'practice' logic as well as the first did, it certainly piqued my interest in pursuing further studies of the subject. Overall, a very readable and enjoyable book

The best into to modern logic there is.

Hodges, please get a second edition of this wonderful book back into print!!This is probably the best intro there is to modern logic for people without prior training in science and math. The examples are all taken form linguistics and philosophy. Ironically, the author is also a high power mathematician, but he does not let that show. This is the book Quine should have written instead of his Elementary Logic. Also clearer and less threatening to sanity than Spencer Brown's Laws of Form.