[FOM] S. Barry Cooper's book "Computability Theory"

[Peter Smith]

On Feb 9 2004, Timothy Y. Chow wrote:

> S. Barry Cooper recently published a book entitled "Computability Theory."
> I am curious as to how this book compares to similar books.  Can anyone
> point me to a review, or post remarks directly here on FOM?
> 
> Tim

I can't judge how it compares to similar recent books, as this isn't really 
my subject, so I haven't been keeping up with the literature. But I 
recently got Barry Cooper's book and it strikes me (as someone who wanted a 
refresher) as terrific. In particular, it is written in a highly readable, 
attractive way and seems quite excellent at giving you a sense of what are 
important Big Ideas and how the Big Picture is structured (so you get 
through the details with a good sense of why they might matter and where 
they might be going). So my sense is of a book that is quite unusually well 
put together. Undoubtedly worth a closer look, I'd say.

Peter S.
-- 
Dr Peter Smith
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge
www.logicbook.net
www.phil.cam.ac.uk/Smith