Collected papers. Volume 1: 1921--1934. Volume 2: 1935--1944. Volume 3: 1945--1957. Volume 4: 1958--1979. Ed. by Steven R. Givant and Ralph N. McKenzie (Q1084387)

Alfred Tarski (1901--1983) was one of the greatest logicians of this century. His work and influence in the field of mathematical logic can be compared only to that of Kurt Gödel. The first edition of Tarski's collected papers from 1921 to 1979 was published in 1981 (University of California, Berkeley, California). This is the second, reprinted edition, in four volumes, containing all his published papers and abstracts. A complete bibliography of Tarski's publications (by S. R. Givant) is given as well [reprinted from J. Symb. Logic 51, 913--941 (1986)]. Tarski's voluminous work can be roughly divided into the following subjects: classical and nonclassical logic, decidable and undecidable theories, pure and applied model theory, deductive systems, algebraic logic, general algebra, set theory and foundations of geometry. Having in mind that even his earliest papers are topical nowadays, his Collected Papers will be interesting to all logicians and mathematicians. Perhaps, it would have been better if Tarski's papers were accompanied by some comments or by some surveys of his works, at least like those published in J. Symb. Logic 51 (1986) and 52 (1987). At any rate, this will be one of the jewels in Birkäuser's Contemporary Mathematicians series.