This book provides an introduction both to symbolic logic as well as linguistic logic. Issues such as probability, truth and fact statements, conditional statements, decision theory and validity are all presented in clear, concise ways. There are fourteen chapters (a lot of chapters for book with barely over 100 pages of text), and each chapter deals with a few key points summarised in a pull-quote box at the end of each chapter. There are diagrams, sentences and equations to illustrate the points in visual as well as language terms.

The final chapter, 'A Little History and Some Further Reading', is a good short review of key figures and historical issues that underpin the material presented in the previous chapters. There is a helpful glossary of terms, and Priest also provides a page of logic puzzles and problems to be worked by the students, keyed to an Oxford University Press website that has the solutions to the questions.

This is a good book for review of logic prior to taking tests (such as the LSAT) or graduate courses that require understanding of logical thought processes (systematic theology or philosophy). As some reviewers have noted, this is not a lock-step presentation of standard analytic logic (indeed, many of Priest's other writings have a more non-standard approach), but does provide some good insights in the overall way in which logic is structured and done.


Not suitable for beginners   June 5, 2003
 8 out of 13 found this review helpful

This book is really not an introductory text.
It does delve too deep for someone not acquainted with formal logic.
The Icon Series Introducig Logic is a much easier read and gives a more comprehensive overview of the subject.
This book is probably better read by someone who has a background in the subject.


A very good introduction   October 18, 2002
 16 out of 18 found this review helpful

..this book is a very good introduction to logic, a fundamental aspect of philosohpy and mathematics. For example, logical propositions are constructed as a so called fraction with the premiss as the "numerator" and the conclusion as the "denominator", and this is explained clearly on page 7 out of 109.

The book condenses a wide range of loigcal topics into 109 pages very well, and as it says on the back cover 'it does not attempt to be a text-book' but rather provides a basic introduction to logic.

Any one with a difficulty, perhaps, to mathemtics and symbols might find this book slighlty challenging, but even then the symbols are explained so well it should be no problem. Besides, one cannot hope to be introduced to a technical subject, similar but not the same as mathematics, without the use of symbols.

The whole text is very thought provoking and mentally stimulating, and further questions for consideration are provided a the back, as well as a further reading list.

So, this book is a good introduction for anyone interested in formal logic, mathematics, computers etc., irrespective of previous knowledge.