I stumbled across a reference to this book in a thread somewhere about teaching digital logic. I teach a digital systems class and my students struggle with the laws and theorems of Boolean algebra, so I borrowed a copy of this book from my library in search of some inspiration.

The contents of this book are all about how people have built logic machines in the past (and, I suppose, if it were still 40 years ago, in the present as well). As I am not a philosopher or a mathematician but an engineer, I did not realize the extent to which people attempted to solve non-binary-type problems using logic. Apparently Boole was not taken very seriously because he attempted to form logic laws for binary-type problems and attempted to systematize the rules into algebraic concepts. I suppose he gets the last laugh, considering that's how all of modern computing works.

I can't say that this book gave me any advice or inspiration for how to teach digital logic to a bunch of 18-year-olds, but it was certainly an interesting look into the past and how people attempted to find truth. ( )

Written in 1958 this is one of Martin Gardner’s earliest books, but even so his writing is clear and engaging. As the title suggests the book covers logical diagrams like Venn circles, Lewis Carroll’s logic game (yes, the author of “Alice in Wonderland” was a mathematician), and Gardner’s own network notation. It also describes machines built by Jevon, Marquand and others that demonstrate the truth or falsehood of logical statements.

I have had classes in set theory, symbolic logic and digital logic design and, apart from the Venn diagrams, have never come across any of this material. While newer techniques and computers have completely superseded this early work it was still interesting to see how the pioneers of logic created ways to demonstrate and teach their methods. I particularly enjoyed the first chapter on Ramon Lull. His diagrams of concentric circles are fascinating. I also thought the author’s network diagrams were a very creative and powerful way to demonstrate logical reasoning. The last chapter on the future of logic machines was a little surreal. Written over 50 years ago it is both optimistic and naive, which I suppose is exactly how predictions of the future always turn out. ( )