logicomix 2 14-01-2010

thinking about logicomix... perhaps my only criticism is that it perpetuates a myth that one finds more commonly in the arts, that engaging in these kinds of activities (especially ones as demanding and frustrating as the attempt to provide a sound logical foundation for mathematics) can drive its practitioners insane. i think the reverse is true, that whilst mathematics is obviously attractive to those who are good at it, it is also attractive to those people who find in its clarity and detachment a refuge from the complications and discomfort of being human, some of which will doubtless be psychiatric (i think the same is true of many writers, artists and composers who seek a similar refuge from the real world in a little universe of their own devising).