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"Last words are for people who haven't said anything in life."
- Karl Marx
(1818 - 1883)
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ZIN Product Number: 10037491
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| | | |  | | | Product Details
 Format: Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195142373
Release Date: Jan 12, 2000
Average Reader Review:    (Based on 4 reviews.)
| |  | | | From The Publisher
"Look at zero and you see nothing," writes Robert Kaplan, "but look through it and you will see the world." In this delightfully engaging book, fizzing with wit and insight, Kaplan shows how zero is a lens through which we can see the evolution of mathematics as our tool for understanding the universe.
Where did zero come from--and what, exactly, does it mean? The Nothing That Is begins as a mystery story, tracing back to ancient times the way this symbol for nothing developed, constantly changing shape, even going underground at times. (The ancient Greeks, mathematically brilliant as they were, didn't have zero--or did they?) The trail leads from Babylon through Athens, to India, then to Europe in the Middle Ages. Brought to the West by Arab traders, zero was called "dangerous Saracen magic" at first, but quickly made itself indispensable. With the invention of calculus in the seventeenth century, zero became a linchpin of the Scientific Revolution. And in our own time, even deeper layers of this thing that is nothing are coming to light: our computers speak only in zeros and ones, and modern mathematics and physics have shown that "nothing" can be the source of everything.
For Kaplan, the story of zero reveals truths about the nature not only of mathematics but of human thought itself. It shows how mathematics develops in a process of "recursive abstraction": once we create a symbol to represent an idea, that symbol gives rise to new operations that in turn lead to new ideas. The beauty of mathematics is that even though we invent it, we seem to be discovering something that already exists.
The joy of that discovery shines through Kaplan's pages, as he ranges from Archimedes to Dostoevsky, making fascinating connections between mathematical ideas from every age and culture. A tour de force of science history, The Nothing That Is takes us through the hollow circle that leads to infinity.
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 | | | | | Number of Reviews: 4 Average Rating:
Abominable Style
-- Edwin Núñez, September 11, 2000
Weak on Ancient Greek Philosophy of Nature
-- Goe, a Pythagorean mathematician., February 26, 2001
Great Understanding of Zero
-- Juan Calles, a student at NJIT, July 5, 2000
Leaves you feeling empty....
-- Mathieu, a fan of scientific nonfiction, November 1, 2001
Also Recommended: Feynman, Sagan, Hawkins
| | | | The Reader's Catalog
The origin and evolution of the symbol of zero explained in lucid detail by a renowned mathematician. With 38 line illustrations. "An absolutely scintillating essay, asking the reverse of the time-honored query: Why is there something rather than nothing? ... both enormously accessible and routinely challenging" — The Philadelphia Inquirer
| |  | | | | Acknowledgements | | | A Note to the Reader | | | Zero: The Lens | 1 | | 1 | Mind Puts its Stamp on Matter | 4 | | 2 | The Greeks Had no Word for it | 14 | | 3 | Travelers' Tales | 28 | | 4 | Eastward | 36 | | 5 | Dust | 50 | | 6 | Into the Unknown | 57 | | 7 | A Paradigm Shifts | 68 | | 8 | A Mayan Interlude: The Dark Side of Counting | 80 | | 9 | Much Ado | 90 | | 10 | Entertaining Angels | 116 | | 11 | Almost Nothing | 144 | | 12 | Is it out There? | 175 | | 13 | Bath-House with Spiders | 190 | | 14 | A Land where it was Always Afternoon | 195 | | 15 | Was Lear Right? | 203 | | 16 | The Unthinkable | 216 | | Index | 220 |
| |  | | | Find similiar books in these subject areas:
All Topics > Science > History & Philosophy > General
All Topics > Science > History & Philosophy > History of Science
All Topics > Science > Mathematics > History
All Topics > Science > Mathematics > Popular & Elementary > Arithmetic
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| | | | | | Keywords
Science/Mathematics, History Of Mathematics, Mathematics, History & Philosophy, Arithmetic, Philosophy & Social Aspects, Science, History, Science/Mathematics, History Of Mathematics, Mathematics, History & Philosophy, Arithmetic, Philosophy & Social Aspects, Science, History, Zero (The number)
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