Hao Wang (1921-1995) was one of the few confidants of the great mathematician and logician Kurt Godel. A Logical Journey is a continuation of Wang's Reflections on Godel and also elaborates on discussions contained in From Mathematics to Philosophy. A decade in preparation, it contains important and unfamiliar insights into Godel's views on a wide range of issues, from Platonism and the nature of logic, to minds and machines, the existence of God, and positivism and phenomenology.The impact of Godel's theorem on twentieth-century thought is on par with that of Einstein's theory of relativity, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, or Keynesian economics. These previously unpublished intimate and informal conversations, however, bring to light and amplify Godel's other major contributions to logic and philosophy. They reveal that there is much more in Godel's philosophy of mathematics than is commonly believed, and more in his philosophy than his philosophy of mathematics.Wang writes that "it is even possible that his quite informal and loosely structured conversations with me, which I am freely using in this book, will turn out to be the fullest existing expression of the diverse components of his inadequately articulated general philosophy. "The first two chapters are devoted to Godel's life and mental development. In the chapters that follow, Wang illustrates the quest for overarching solutions and grand unifications of knowledge and action in Godel's written speculations on God and an afterlife. He gives the background and a chronological summary of the conversations, considers Godel's comments on philosophies and philosophers (his support of Husserl's phenomenology and his digressions on Kant and Wittgenstein), and his attempt to demonstrate the superiority of the mind's power over brains and machines. Three chapters are tied together by what Wang perceives to be Godel's governing ideal of philosophy: an exact theory in which mathematics and Newtonian physics serve as a model for philosophy or metaphysics. Finally, in an epilog Wang sketches his own approach to philosophy in contrast to his interpretation of Godel's outlook.

"[Yourgrau] presents the nature of an intimate friendship between two magnificent thinkers and the nature of Godel's work, which inspired Einstein but is now lost in obscurity." (Deseret Morning News)
In 1942, the logician Kurt Godel and Albert Einstein became close friends; they walked to and from their offices every day, exchanging ideas about science, philosophy, politics, and the lost world of German science. By 1949, Godel had produced a remarkable proof: In any universe described by the Theory of Relativity, time cannot exist. Einstein endorsed this result reluctantly but he could find no way to refute it, since then, neither has anyone else. Yet cosmologists and philosophers alike have proceeded as if this discovery was never made. In A World Without Time, Palle Yourgrau sets out to restore Godel to his rightful place in history, telling the story of two magnificent minds put on the shelf by the scientific fashions of their day, and attempts to rescue the brilliant work they did together.
"[A World Without Time is] very interesting if you like [scientific] speculation. Even if you don't, the descriptions of the friendship between Godel and Einstein-Einstein said he went to his office at Princeton University mainly so that he would have the pleasure of Gšdel's company on his walk back home-make this book interesting." (Wisconsin State Journal)
如果时间只是幻想，而非真实存在，那世界将会怎样？作为一名哲学教授，此书作者在书中阐释说，爱因斯坦的相对论将允许这种可能性，而第一个意识到这一点的则是哥德尔。很多人都知道，哥德尔和爱因斯坦是非常亲密的朋友。他们每天都要一同从普林斯顿高等研究所步行回家，他们分享物理学、哲学以及政治上的想法。但是并不广为人知的是，哥德尔于1949年做出了一项不寻常的发现：他认为爱因斯坦的相对论提供了一种可能性，即可能存在一个没有时间的世界。作者以一种哲学的背景加以思考而认为，哥德尔的发现势必会带来这样一个后果：假如哥德尔是对的，那么爱因斯坦并没有解释何为时间，而只是将这个问题搪塞过去了。爱因斯坦意识到他的朋友已经对相对论做出了重要的贡献，因为正是他对其理论提出了一个令人困扰的新问题：他的理论中是否还应保留时间。爱因斯坦之后的物理学家并未在哥德尔的理论中找出什么有误的成分，而哲学家们则保持沉默。此书所聚焦的正是哥德尔和爱因斯坦之间这戏剧性的一幕，并且将它置于20世纪人类智慧发展的大背景之下来讲述。在哥德尔和爱因斯坦生活的年代，无论是物理学、数学、哲学还是艺术都获得了非常大的进步。在这一背景之下，两位思想者的友谊故事无疑是动人心弦的。