Nearly any book by Smullyan is likely to be enjoyable to LW readers, if not particularly on-topic for Less Wrong.
What is the Name of this Book? is classic—this is the canonical source (maybe the original source, I’m not sure) of the liars/truth-tellers puzzles and other delights.
“To Mock a Mockingbird” is a nicely-paced set of puzzles that just happens to lead the reader through the first few key insights of combinatory logic.
“The Tao is Silent” is what happens when you soak a brilliant logician in Taoism for a while. Somewhat in this flavor is his story Planet Without Laughter, which is the best defense of something between mysticism and realism I’ve met.
I loved “Mockingbird” but usual for me and math-heavy books, I got tired of really following along and started merely reading halfway through. Beautiful stuff, though.
Nearly any book by Smullyan is likely to be enjoyable to LW readers, if not particularly on-topic for Less Wrong.
What is the Name of this Book? is classic—this is the canonical source (maybe the original source, I’m not sure) of the liars/truth-tellers puzzles and other delights.
“To Mock a Mockingbird” is a nicely-paced set of puzzles that just happens to lead the reader through the first few key insights of combinatory logic.
“The Tao is Silent” is what happens when you soak a brilliant logician in Taoism for a while. Somewhat in this flavor is his story Planet Without Laughter, which is the best defense of something between mysticism and realism I’ve met.
I’m not sure if I got Planet Without Laughter. Was the whole sequence of events (spoiler) whfg vagraqrq gb cynl n wbxr ba Arzbq?
I loved “Mockingbird” but usual for me and math-heavy books, I got tired of really following along and started merely reading halfway through. Beautiful stuff, though.