Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel

Written by Stephen Budiansky

Narrated by Bob Souer

The first major biography of the logician and mathematician whose incompleteness theorems helped launch a modern scientific revolution.



Nearly a hundred years after its publication, Kurt Gödel's famous proof that every mathematical system must contain propositions that are true—yet never provable—continues to unsettle mathematics, philosophy, and computer science. Yet unlike Einstein, with whom he formed a warm and abiding friendship, Gödel has long escaped all but the most casual scrutiny of his life.



An intimate portrait of the scientific and intellectual circles in prewar Vienna and a vivid re-creation of the early days of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, Journey to the Edge of Reason is the first biography to fully draw upon Gödel's voluminous letters and writings—including a never-before-transcribed shorthand diary of his most intimate thoughts—to explore his profound intellectual friendships, his moving relationship with his mother, his troubled yet devoted marriage, and the debilitating bouts of paranoia that ultimately took his life. It illuminates the mind-bending implications of Gödel's revolutionary ideas for philosophy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and man's place in the cosmos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781666104080

Stephen Budiansky

Stephen Budiansky is a journalist and military historian whose writings frequently appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic Monthly. His previous books include Her Majesty’s Spymaster, Air Power, and Battle of Wits. He lives in Virginia.

Reviews for Journey to the Edge of Reason

[Marcus Sinclair · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the description of the Nazi takeover of Austria and put a lot of Godels fears in context. I will try and understand his theorems if I can

[le.vert.galant · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good summary of the life, if not the mathematics. The author spends about half the book explaining the political situation of Austria in the 1920s and 30s, which explains the complications involved with getting Gödel to settle in Princeton; however, there is not much here on the intellectual background of his discoveries. If your primary interest in Gödel is his logic, then you might want to look elsewhere.

[capewood · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

2022 book #3. 2021. Godel, born in 1906 came up with his genius Incompleteness Theory, showing that in mathematics, not every true proposition can be proven when he was 23. He lived a troubled life after that, fearful he would never do anything else as important. Well written bio