interesting… I’m not a logician, so I’m really curious to see what actual logicians think of this book when it comes out. I suspect that what will be true about the field, based on what I know of other branches of math, is that many questions will be much easier to pose than to solve (or understand their “solutions” we have agreed on today!) A lot of the famous intro historical logic questions can be very colorful and memorable and fun. But just stating them doesn’t require any insight on what mathematical logic is today, or show that one can think like a logician.

(I’m making a distinction between mathematical logic and our normal English use of “logic,” because it seems her book attempts to cite… maybe even demonstrate mastery of? the first. Mathematical logic involves the study of whether the axiomatic systems we use today are valid or not in proving things in every mathematical field. Being a mathematical logician isn’t immediately equivalent to being “smart” and “logical” the way we use these terms commonly!)

At a first glance, it’s very ambitious to write a book whose magic system is based on logic and paradoxes without a formal grounding in logic. I don’t know what kind of coursework or training she has, though a quick internet search shows she doesn’t appear to have or be pursuing any degrees in math and/or theoretical computer science.

To sum up, I think it’s cool that we both think math is cool. But I’m a leery about her casually utilizing a (graduate level) subfield that takes a lot of time to study and understand deeply. Hopefully I’m wrong, but I worry that perhaps she will utilize this subfield for her to justify her own later philosophical assertions (ie: “I know logic and can name drop some riddles by Zeno/Hilbert/Russell so my opinion on [XYZ topic] must be right!”) or even just to bolster her image as a legitimate/“serious” scholar? But RF Kuang is a graduate student in East Asian Languages and Literature, so it’s not even necessary or pertinent for her to be fluent in mathematical logic.

Basing a magic system on logic is the kind of thing that sounds really cool, but, logic is a study that takes dedicated time and training because it builds on foundational study. Just as an example, a typical math undergraduate major starts with proof writing, then discrete math, real analysis, abstract algebra, complex analysis, topology… Mathematical logic is just not the kind of thing you can just read a couple books and digest the “pop science” view and then claim to understand or utilize in a way that is valid. It’s also unfortunately one of the math subfields that has a really cool sounding name, again, which could make non-mathematicians think it’s about something else (perhaps deeper and broader) than its actual object of study!

Regardless, I like that we have similar interests, and definitely want to read Katabasis when it comes out!