Books about Symbolic from Amazon.com

An extraordinary book that will dramatically change the way you experience life.
Finite games are the familiar contests of everyday life, the games we play in business and politics, in the bedroom and on the battlefied -- games with winners and losers, a beginning and an end. Infinite games are more mysterious -- and ultimately more rewarding. They are unscripted and unpredictable; they are the source of true freedom.
In this elegant and compelling work, James Carse explores what these games mean, and what they can mean to you. He offers stunning new insights into the nature of property and power, of culture and community, of sexuality and self-discovery, opening the door to a world of infinite delight and possibility.
"An extraordinary little book . . . a wise and intimate companion, an elegant reminder of the real."
-- Brain/Mind Bulletin.
Price: $3.09 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Perhaps the most important work of philosophy written in the twentieth century, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was the only philosophical work that Ludwig Wittgenstein published during his lifetime Written in short, carefully numbered paragraphs of extreme brilliance, it captured the imagination of a generation of philosophers. For Wittgenstein, logic was something we use to conquer a reality which is in itself both elusive and unobtainable. He famously summarized the book in the following words: 'What can be said at all can be said clearly; and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.' David Pears and Brian McGuinness received the highest praise for their meticulous translation. The work is prefaced by Bertrand Russell's original introduction to the first English edition..
Price: $10.66 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Discrete Mathematics and its Applications, Sixth Edition, is intended for one- or two-term introductory discrete mathematics courses taken by students from a wide variety of majors, including computer science, mathematics, and engineering. This renowned best-selling text, which has been used at over 500 institutions around the world, gives a focused introduction to the primary themes in a discrete mathematics course and demonstrates the relevance and practicality of discrete mathematics to a wide a wide variety of real-world applications…from computer science to data networking, to psychology, to chemistry, to engineering, to linguistics, to biology, to business, and to many other important fields..
Price: $90.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Gödel's incompleteness theorem--which showed that any robust mathematical system contains statements that are true yet unprovable within the system--is an anomaly in 20th-century mathematics Its conclusions are as strange as they are profound, but, unlike other recent theorems of comparable importance, grasping the main steps of the proof requires little more than high school algebra and a bit of patience. Ernest Nagel and James Newman's original text was one of the first (and best) to bring Gödel's ideas to a mass audience. With brevity and clarity, the volume described the historical context that made Gödel's theorem so paradigm-shattering. Where the first edition fell down, however, was in the guts of the proof itself; the brevity that served so well in defining the problem made their rendering of Gödel's solution so dense as to be nearly indigestible.

This reissuance of Nagel and Newman's classic has been vastly improved by the deft editing of Douglas Hofstadter, a protégé of Nagel's and himself a popularizer of Gödel's work. In the second edition, Hofstadter reworks significant sections of the book, clarifying and correcting here, adding necessary detail there. In the few instances in which his writing diverges from the spirit of the original, it is to emphasize the interplay between formal mathematical deduction and meta-mathematical reasoning--a subject explored in greater depth in Hofstadter's other delightful writings. --Clark Williams-Derry.
Price: $11.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This outstanding book is a leading text for symbolic or formal logic courses All techniques and concepts are presented with clear, comprehensive explanations and numerous, carefully constructed examples. Its flexible organization (all chapters are complete and self-contained) allows instructors the freedom to cover the topics they want in the order they choose..
Price: $90.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Ideas about heredity and evolution are undergoing a revolutionary change. New findings in molecular biology challenge the gene-centered version of Darwinian theory according to which adaptation occurs only through natural selection of chance DNA variations. In Evolution in Four Dimensions, Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb argue that there is more to heredity than genes. They trace four "dimensions" in evolution -- four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act. Evolution in Four Dimensions offers a richer, more complex view of evolution than the gene-based, one-dimensional view held by many today. The new synthesis advanced by Jablonka and Lamb makes clear that induced and acquired changes also play a role in evolution.

After discussing each of the four inheritance systems in detail, Jablonka and Lamb "put Humpty Dumpty together again" by showing how all of these systems interact. They consider how each may have originated and guided evolutionary history and they discuss the social and philosophical implications of the four-dimensional view of evolution. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors engage the contrarieties of the fictional (and skeptical) "I.M.," or Ifcha Mistabra -- Aramaic for "the opposite conjecture" -- refining their arguments against I.M.'s vigorous counterarguments. The lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points..
Price: $11.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Organization Theory offers a clear and comprehensive introduction to the study of organizations and organizing processes. It encourages an even-handed appreciation of the different perspectives contributing to our knowledge of organizations and challenges readers to broaden their intellectual reach..
Price: $50.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Eli Maor examines the role of infinity in mathematics and geometry and its cultural impact on the arts and sciences He evokes the profound intellectual impact the infinite has exercised on the human mind--from the "horror infiniti" of the Greeks to the works of M. C. Escher; from the ornamental designs of the Moslems, to the sage Giordano Bruno, whose belief in an infinite universe led to his death at the hands of the Inquisition. But above all, the book describes the mathematician's fascination with infinity--a fascination mingled with puzzlement. "Maor explores the idea of infinity in mathematics and in art and argues that this is the point of contact between the two, best exemplified by the work of the Dutch artist M. C. Escher, six of whose works are shown here in beautiful color plates."--Los Angeles Times "[Eli Maor's] enthusiasm for the topic carries the reader through a rich panorama."--Choice "Fascinating and enjoyable.... places the ideas of infinity in a cultural context and shows how they have been espoused and molded by mathematics."--Science

.
Price: $4.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Puzzle lovers of every persuasion, prepare to be mystified and wonderously maddened! These 51 original puzzles by Barry R. Clarke, puzzle columnist for the Daily Telegraph (UK), present challenges ranging from moderate to difficult and span a terrific range of clever conundrums : word puzzles, complex crosswords, and math and logic puzzles.

The first section, Popular Puzzles, calls for a moderate amount of effort and imagination. It features complex crosswords in which cryptic clues must be solved in sequence and the solutions fitted together on the grid. Teaser Tales, the following section, contains longer puzzles in the form of amusing stories with a series of clues that must be solved to provide a single solution at the end.

The final section represents the Mount Everest of the collection, the Advanced Puzzles. Designed to stretch the mental muscles, these puzzles are more mathematical than their predecessors, but even the most difficult ones require no greater knowledge than high school algebra. Most of the puzzles include hints, and solutions are provided for all (no peeking!)..
Price: $3.65 [Notify me when price goes down.]