I am a self-learner who became interested in formal logic after stumbling upon some puzzles, like those by Raymond Smullyan in To Mock a Mockingbird.
I am interested in starting with an intro book like this (though I'm open to more suggestions, just took this from an old thread on reddit) and then learning more about how to solve more complex puzzles.
I have some questions about logic puzzles in general though.
What kind of logic does a problem like this (easy, early problem in To Mock a Mockingbird) use? I solved it by just "thinking", but I don't know how to describe the process for solving it and was wondering if anyone could describe the correct method.
We are given three brothers named John, James, and William. John and James (the two J's) always lie, but William always tells the truth. The three are indistinguishable in appearance. You meet one of the three brothers on the street one day and wish to find out whether he is John (because John owes you money). You are allowed to ask him one question answerable by yes or no, but the question may not contain more than three words! What question would you ask?
And would you be able to learn the technique to solve a more advanced problem like this from a textbook, or are solving these kinds of a problem more of a novelty outside of the realm of formal logic?
The problem can be found here.
So after completing a general introduction to logic, what kind of book should I read to be able to solve puzzles like these in a proper manner and learn the theory behind creating them?
Sorry for all the questions, but I these puzzles are so cool and I'd like to learn more!
It is a Knights and Knaves type of logic puzzle "where some characters can only answer questions truthfully, and others only falsely. The name was coined by Raymond Smullyan in his 1978 work What Is the Name of This Book?"
You can use Boolean algebra and logic truth tables to solve most problems like these.