Well, I’ve just this morning sent off the PDF for the next reprinting of my Gödel book: it should be available mid-August. I’ve eliminated quite a few more typos (thanks to everyone who let me know of errors in the earlier printings), made a scattered selection of small clarifications/stylistic improvements, and corrected the major errors that were still lurking even in the first corrected reprint. The biggest change is the one I mentioned a couple of posts ago, concerning Rosser’s Theorem.
Being a reprint though, I couldn’t change the “extent” of the book, the number of sheets that need printing. (Fortunately, the previous version finished on a recto page, so I had the verso to play with, and needed the extra side to correct the treatment of Rosser’s Theorems). But given a new edition, I’d like another dozen or fifteen pages. First, I’d give a nicer proof that Robinson Arithmetic can capture all p.r. functions. Second, I’d fill in all the details of the proof that Prf(m, n) is p.r. (the final stages of which are just sketched). Third, I’d fill out the proof of the derivability conditions for theories with a smidgin of induction (again, I give an arm-waving sketch). As to the second and third, I originally didn’t worry about giving sketches, as filling out the details is pretty tedious and unexciting (what you surely want to get across are the proof-ideas: and I referred masochists and completists to places where they can get the full gory story). But a number of readers have thought I should have gone the extra mile and risen to the challenge of giving full, though still maximally accessible, proofs. OK: if there’s a second edition with a slightly longer page budget I’ll have a bash … But that will have to wait a bit.
Update: CUP (UK) confirms they ship the updated volumes. Good!
W.
Fill Oz a fee???
I'm pleased to see that another update to Godel's Theorems is on the way.
I confess to being a bit puzzled with Cambridge University Press. I spoke to them earlier today, attempting to ensure that your Introduction to Formal Logic (corrected printing April 2009) and Introduction to Godel's Theorems (corrected printing 2008) as described on your web site were in fact the versions being shipped. Alas, they deny knowledge of any such reprints, at least for the ISBNs and titles for these volumes.
I would be happy to give them the money, but happier still should I receive the books representing the later dates.
Out of curiosity .. are you aware of anyone else having difficulty obtaining the newer printings? Given your post of Monday it seems sensible to wait to see what CUP makes available next month, but surely the updated Introduction to Formal Logic ought to be available from them now?
Best —