Sleight of Mind

1 Infinity 11
2 Zeno's Paradoxes of Motion 45
3 Supertasks 61
4 Probability 75
5 Social Choice 123
6 Game Theory 139
7 Self-Reference 167
8 Induction 243
9 Geometry 275
10 Operations 301
11 Classical Physics (by N. Laurita) 321
12 Special Relativity (by A. Chatwin-Davies) 343
13 Quantum Mechanics (with M. Coughlin, A. Chatwin-Davies)389
14 Invented or Discovered? 423
Exploring more than seventy-five well-known paradoxes in mathematics, philosophy, physics, and the social sciences showing how reason and logic can dispel the illusion of contradiction.

Paradox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick. A magician's purpose is to create the appearance of impossibility, to pull a rabbit from an empty hat. Yet paradox doesn't require tangibles, like rabbits or hats. Paradox works in the abstract, with words and concepts and symbols, to create the illusion of contradiction. There are no contradictions in reality, but there can appear to be. In Sleight of Mind, Matt Cook and a few collaborators dive deeply into more than 75 paradoxes in mathematics, physics, philosophy, and the social sciences. As each paradox is discussed and resolved, Cook helps readers discover the meaning of knowledge and the proper formation of concepts--and how reason can dispel the illusion of contradiction.