Principia Mathematica
Principia Mathematica by Whitehead and Russellby Whitehead and Russell
Shares rank 3 of 20 mathematics books by recommenders
Recommended as a landmark of formal logic that shaped later work on formal systems, and as a demanding read for serious students. Critics find its length, tedious presentation and archaic syntax hard going.
Recommended as a landmark of formal logic that shaped later work on formal systems, and as a demanding read for serious students. Critics find its length, tedious presentation and archaic syntax hard going.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 56%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Archaic, hard-to-parse syntax
“gave up after a few pages, because for me it was nearly impossible to parse the syntax”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Principia Mathematica is modern and insightful” “The archaic syntax is a serious issue.”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Principia Mathematica is modern and insightful”
Other mathematics books people recommend
The four most recommended other mathematics books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elements by Euclidby Oliver Byrne | 17 | 9 | 65% | 8 | — | — |
| Fermat's Last Theoremby Simon Singh | 11 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Principia Mathematicaby Whitehead and RussellThis page | 10 | 8 | 56% | 1 | — | — |
| Gödel's Proofby Nagel and Newman | 10 | 1 | 91% | 2 | — | — |
| Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiosityby David Bessis | 9 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
20 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Seeking to demonstrate a hypothesis that is later shown to be erroneous is not”
“We'd all be the poorer for it”
“which shows which are the more top-level operators without having to match up parentheses”
“The notation for avoiding parentheses is interesting”
“A large chunk of the book is philosophizing about AI and the nature of the mind and intelligence.”
“Goedel proves that Principia cannot do what it sets out to do, nor can any such system.”
“there is still utility for its value as a programming self-teaching resource for serious students of computer science”
“It blows my mind that Russell invented (formalized) types.”
“a lot of Principia Mathematica's bulk is repeated code”
“wildly inferior series derivation”
“I don't think any of it is dated to any particular time period.”
“gave up after a few pages, because for me it was nearly impossible to parse the syntax”
“there is no known logical error in PM”
“the ancient childish attempt to prove mathematics using mathematics”
“The archaic syntax is a serious issue.”
“ahead-of-its time, and a monumental influence on all subsequent work on formal systems”
“other than the length and tedious presentation, I don't really think the material in the Principia Mathematica is outside the reach of an advanced undergraduate”
“I have a copy and like it much.”
“there is indeed a huge logical error at the heart of the whole enterprise”
“If you can read this book cover-to-cover, you're an absolute hero.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.