 "Nothing... Something to get excited about" | 2008-09-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3E68QNSCABRVW |
I'll admit, writing a book about nothing and making it exciting is probably a challenging thing to do. This is going to be a rather odd thing to bring up at the start of the review, but I have to ask did people read a different book than I did? Seriously, I read through just about every negative review and the points made against the book are barely in the book I read. If anything, they focus in on a minor detail, interpret it wrong, and then give the book a one star. I digress, let me get to the review and then I may go over some points to refute.
This book focuses on the history of Zero for the most part. In there it touches upon historical moments in mathematics and later in physics as it gets to the modern scientific era. I personally found the research on the early history quite on point and very fun to read (there's a lengthy bibliography at the end if you feel the need to see his words backed up). The sensational writing didn't bother me at all, because I realize the relationship between the title and the style. Seife is trying to make nothing exciting! If you didn't get that point or got annoyed with that style then you missed out on a really fun read. The author tried to include fairly random historical anecdotes about the people discussed to lighten the mood in the book. I thought these were fun additions and interesting to read as well.
Overall the book is written in decently easy to understand language. I have a fairly decent mathematical background and I didn't feel I really needed to know everything to read the first half of the book. However, when Seife starts delving into concepts like Calculus and Set Theory I think knowing how to do calculus was definitely a help in understanding this section. If you're more of a lay reader and more interested in the history than the math then this book really might be a bad choice. The first part is absolutely fascinating, but it does get confusing towards the end, especially when he starts delving into Quantum Theory and Particle Physics.
One aspect on the section of early history that I found particularly fascinating was the relation of zero to philosophy. The ancients were heavily influenced by beliefs and philosophy so it's not much of a stretch to think this influence stretched beyond just those subjects and into math and science. So when Pythagoras and Aristotle reject notions of the void philosophically it's reasonable to assume they would find such notions nonsense mathematically. For a long time, and still today, Math is merely a representation of the world we see and observe. They didn't observe voids or vacuum's during Aristotle's time so naturally they wouldn't exactly latch onto it as a real possibility. One thing that really fascinated me was the possible hindrance philosophy and belief (or religion) had in holding back mankind's ability to progress mathematically. The main reason that zero didn't make it into the western world probably had more to do with the stranglehold the Romans put on the people than with their unwilling to believe in the void or infinity, which is also why it was trade that finally used zero. However, there were intellectuals alive and breathing during the Dark Ages and a lot of their hindrance to accept concepts like zero was philosophical. The Church had adopted Aristotle's model of the universe and it was blatantly wrong. (This book does not say Aristotle is at fault for holding back people philosophically, it merely says his view/model, that the Earth is the center of the universe, is wrong. Which it is.) However, the rising power of the Catholic Church adopted his explanation and said it was a fact and back then their word was law. Once mathematics and science came across discrepancies in that proof then Church asserted its power and only tried to tighten its grip on those communities until people revolted against it. I'm not saying zero is the reason we got out of the Dark Ages, but it didn't hurt us any! It probably helped us a lot more in the long run. My point in bringing this up is that things like belief and philosophy can hinder progress in fields like the sciences. (These are not beliefs, as in making assumptions about testable criteria by the way.) It seems to make more sense, that if you must derive some divine notion, you would interpret the data, not try to fit the data into a preconceived belief. Thus belief would interpret the math and math would not interpret the belief. The ancients had this backwards for a long time, which I think that's a major factor and this book touches upon that.
As I mentioned above the book can change gears into something very complicated. I think this is kind of the downfall of this book for some people because the confusing explanations at the end leave them on a low note. As the book progressed and got beyond my mathematical understanding I found the explanations a lot more confusing. When it finally got out of the confusing areas I think it picked up again during the sections on the expansion of the universe. I enjoyed the parts of Zero Point energy, but I'm not entirely sure it's written in a fashion that is easily understood. Seife makes comments in a very historical manner and I think that really confuses people at times. Such as one reviewer complained that the books information is outdated on Vacuums and concepts like limitless energy. However, this book does touch on that subject during its discussion of Zero Point energy, maybe it was merely presented in a way that confused readers? I'm not entirely sure; I didn't personally feel confused until he started talking about Set Theory, which I clearly need to brush up on.
In the end I simply loved this book. I tore through it in a mere three days and I'm a pretty slow reader. I personally didn't mind the sensationalizing of zero to fairly emphatic levels. This is a book about nothing after all and you might as well make it sound really exciting! Maybe there should've been more exclamation points so we can see how impressive the author's thoughts really are! Anyway I had fun with this book, but I wouldn't recommend it to people that haven't made it beyond calculus or else the second half might get a little confusing. Previously understanding Einstein's work would be a bonus to getting through this book as well. Other than that the first half is absolutely fascinating and I feel I walked away with more knowledge than I went in even if the book repeated a lot of things I already knew.
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 |
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 "Not a math lover but I still enjoyed the book!" | 2008-09-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3V9UZMZ60WEKO |
The thing I liked most about Zero was the humor & sarcasm thrown in by the author. It breaks up the seriousness & complexity of some of the topics he covers & relates to zero (i.e. Calculus, Quantum Physics). Seife gave plenty of examples & metaphors to help the average joe understand the overall concepts. He also goes deeper for those readers that are math buffs.
While the entire concept of zero/infinity is constantly repeated throughout the book, I like the way the book was organized: chonologically. Zero begins with a history/religion lesson as it discusses zero's origin. Then, the book moves into philosophy/mathematics & zero's role. Last, the book covers topics on a much bigger scale such as astrology/physics/Big Bang theory, and how zero will affect the future.
Zero kept me entertained, challenged me to think abstractly regarding religion/philosophy/our universe, and kept the tone very light. I have always struggled with math & hated the subject, but this book is more than a math lesson! Try it! |
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| "Interesting, but a bit stretched" | 2008-08-26 |
| - Reviewed By lemasmitchell |
The book was something like 200 pages, but it read like it was a little more than that.
The good points:
1. An interesting demonstration of how things that are only of moment to intellectuals at one point in time become things of great significance later.
2. An interesting demonstration of how ugly the fight for influence can be. (It is interesting to speculate that people now are no different to what they have been for the last 250,000 years, and that the motives of people who seek to "educate" others about environmentalism/ military-industrial complexes/ etc.) may not be as pure as what they seem.
3. The perspective on the dynamics of the Catholic Church's suppression of contrary ideas was also very interesting. Many people (preferring to spout anti-religious screed) do not treat this fact as one set of intellectuals fighting to impose their vision to the detriment of some other set of intellectuals' vision-- which it in fact seems to be.
4. It was interesting to note how slow the development of ideas was. Can a person really believe that it took nearly a thousand years to popularize the number "0" until he reads this book?
Bad points:
1. The treatment of differential calculus was diminished by the use of strange notation. It might have been easier to show how this would come up in the context of trying to solve a real problem rather than just presenting the idea the way that it was presented.
2. The treatment of integral calculus is simply poor. He could have spent a few more pages on it without diminishing the book.
3. The treatment of the Riemann plane was not good, either. I understood the calculus before reading the book, and so I could see what he was trying to get at. However, I didn't understand much of anything after that. So the weakness of the explanations became more evident when delving into new topics.
4. The book could have used some additional appendices to flush out explanations that the author didn't want to put in the text of the book.
5. The topic of the book seems to become a bit stretched at the end. It goes from explaining the intellectual history of zero to its uses in physics, and the transition is not smooth. One gets the feeling that the author was stretching to find a connection to finish the book.
All in all, worth the purchase price of a secondhand book. |
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| "Good work of science" | 2008-07-21 |
| - Reviewed By newtonooi |
| This book looks at the idea of zero, and its opposite, infinity, in the history of human thought from multiple civilizations, such as the Mayans, Indians, Arabs, ancient Greeks, Renaissance Europe, and China. The book is fast-paced and the author adds in some humor here and there. For a book about math, the subject material was made quite accessible, and the author added in the occasional drawings, proofs and derivations to explain concepts better. Quite an enjoyable read. |
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| "Highly Entertaining" | 2008-07-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2GFRZ4HAWY6RZ |
| I am a math teacher and read this book on recommendation from a fellow math teacher. The book is well-suited for high schoolers (as far as concepts go), but can also be used in middle school. I start by saying that I find history, even the history of math, fascinating; my emphasis in teaching is on the "why" and often times, that answer is found in history or in the field of ethnomathematics. Not only is the book educational, it is extremely well written. Often times it is even funny. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history or math. |
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 "Zero" | 2008-07-08 |
| - Reviewed By User: A22JZ1B49KPYQW |
| This is an interesting book that has some flaws. The most fascinating were the earlier parts of the book that addressed the various cultures around the globe and how their practical needs and philosophical points of view affected their mathematical development, and how the number zero fit into that big picture. As the book progresses the author tries to address cosmology on larger and larger scales, and he stretches things quite a bit. There also seemed to be a good bit of filler. I think if the author had stuck to the more mathematical side of the story this could have made for a really great extended magazine article, such as you might read in The Atlantic. |
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| "1000 years lost to superstition" | 2008-06-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1WB1420FCP6MO |
Who new zero could be so feared by Western Civilization? We musn't let new ideas scare us away from exploration. No one...not government...not church...not education has that right. With zero forbidden by these three bastions of civilization, we lost 1000 years of knowledge.
"Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife is a wonderful trip through the development and evolution of zero and infinity; sometimes quirky, sometimes humorous, but always a little sad that knowledge was forbidden.
You don't have to be a math genius to read it...only curious. |
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| "Reviewing: Zero (Seife)" | 2008-05-02 |
| - Reviewed By harvardgirl06 |
| This book was splendid. Seife was one of those rare (but, thankfully, increasingly less rare as time progresses) writer-scientists who write about conventionally dry and largely unaccessible topics in a lucid, beautiful, elegant, and often entertaining way. Reading this book not only made me laugh out loud (a curious enough phenomenon for a book that has math as its premise) but increased my appreciation not only for the concepts but for literature. Seife belongs to the welcome order of writers of Alan Lightman (of Einstein's Dreams). This book is a lovely little gem. |
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| "The old merging of philosophy and math" | 2008-03-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A10X7BK2JZTHD |
Not only has zero not always existed, numbers aren't quite as concrete as our math teachers would have us believe. Seife presents the entire history of counting and numbers before getting into the history, philosophy and theology surrounding the number zero (and frequently, infinity).
It helps to be somewhat comfortable with mathematical concepts, but it is not mandatory at all. Nor is it mandatory to know much about Greek philosophy-and the two get about as much attention.
This is an excellent and sweeping history of how religion has had to change itself because of the immutable idea of nothingness. This also goes into the history of physics, particularly quantum physics and string theory, and astronomy. This is because, in almost all situations, mathematical theorums work beautifully and explain nature and the cosmos-until you have to account for zero.
Well writen and researched. Highly recommended for any level reader-layman or expert. |
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 "Interesting Topic, Poorly Written" | 2008-02-03 |
| - Reviewed By dalanger2 |
| This book contains many interesting tidbits of information and a general timeline of the concept of zero that is intriguing. It is sometimes a battle to get through the author's meandering style and I was tempted to put the book down many times (but the information kept me reading). If the author took out all of the times he wrote something like, "but they didn't recognize the power of zero," the book would be half it's size and much better for it. |
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