The narration of this most curious “graphic novel” or “adult comic” is constructed as an improvisation: the history of scientific thought at the beginning of the XNUMXth century flows into the drama of life choices, and at the end turns into a philosophical parable. The main storyline is the life of the British scientist Bertrand Russell, who is trying to find the logical foundations of mathematical science. And at the same time — with the help of strictly rational argumentation, to convince the supporters of pacifism (to which he himself once belonged) of the need to go to war with Hitler. However, Russell fails to do either. And this can be called the main challenge that the authors throw to the readers. If the problems of moral choice cannot be “sorted out” with the help of reason, then what is left for a person to be guided in making the most important decisions? And is it possible, in this case, to find solid ground for our ideas about the world at all? The creators of the book — the mathematician Apostolos Doxiadis and the computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou — themselves appear as heroes and try to find their own answers. And they warn against any attempt to reduce life’s problems to formulas and axioms. Anton Soldatov
Career Press, 336 p.