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Title: The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero by Robert Kaplan, Ellen Kaplan ISBN: 0-19-514237-3 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.42 (36 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Diving into nothing
Comment: I write this review not only for its own sake, but to reply to the common complaints about it.
To be fair, it is true that this is not an easy read. However, this is less due to the prose of the author than it is to the great seriousness which he devotes to this concept. The further that you read into this book, the more it is clear that the concept of zero is so interwoven into every fabric of what has created our civilization that it is impossible to discuss it without summoning philosophy, religion, language, art... nothing, as this book shows, is truly in everything.
It is also true that there is no bibliography, and I too would like to look at some of the sources Kaplan uses. However, to say, as some people claim, that Kaplan had an agenda in re-writing history is not at all reinforced by the evidence. As he wades through the murky origins of this number (and concept), he takes pains to give ample amounts of evidence. His result doesn't dictate, but instead lets the reader decide.
Based on the number of 1-star reviews this has gotten, it clearly is not for everyone. However, I worked my way through it, and if I rushed at the end, it was only because I was insistent on finishing it so I could immediately give it to a friend who was interested in this concept as well. This one takes work: but in my opinion, it's a price well paid for a fanastic book on one of the most elusive of concepts.
Rating: 4
Summary: A history of a difficult idea we take for granted
Comment: This is the sort of book I like to take with me on a long airplane trip. It's easy to read in the airport, or the plane, it's small, it's paperback, and it's got enough intellectual validity to it that I don't feel like I'm vegetating or wasting my time.
Before reading this book, pay close attention to the subtitle: "A natural history of zero." That's important in understanding what this book is about. I hadn't looked closely enough when I picked it up. I'd expected it to be more along the lines of Paul J. Nahin's book "An imaginary tale: the story of root -1." A quick flip through the book was enough to show it didn't have Nahin's load of equations, but still, I was expecting more of a math book than a history book.
This is mostly a history book. It contains several different chapters that describe how ancient people first came to conceptualize the concept of zero, or nothing. This idea was wrapped up in many different cultural/religious customs/superstitions/traditions that resulted in some cultures embracing the idea, while others shunned it and only accepted it later. Often, those who rejected, and then accepted the notion of zero did so out of shear practicality because of the numerical utility of the concept in keeping track of the sale and distribution of goods. Often this was accompanied by the gradual reinterpretation of religious notions.
This process of accepting zero as a number was often an evolutionary one. As Kaplan says: "despite its power to extend the empire of numbers, we have yet to see zero treated as a number itself. It evolved from a punctuation mark and long kept its supernumerary character - no more a number than a comma is a letter."
This is an excellent book for anyone who might take our system of numbers and counting for granted. Kaplan includes several examples of ancient counting systems - without zero - and shows how painfully difficult those systems were for solving even simple problems. For example, "Roman-style counting confused the issue, since there was no year zero between 1 BC and 1 AD; hence millennialists had to reckon then - as they do now - with the difficulty that years ending in zero were the last of their decade, century, or millennium, not the first of the next..."
The book isn't just history. There are lots of practical and interesting discussions about zero as they apply to mathematics, too. There are some fun and interesting graphical examples pertaining to concepts from calculus toward the books end.
Not exactly light reading, and not too heavy, either. But definitely interesting reading, I very much enjoyed this book, and recommend it enthusiastically.
Rating: 3
Summary: The story of Zero
Comment: Two books discuss the concept of zero. They are "The nothing that Is: A Natural History of Zero" by Robert Kaplan (1999) and "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seiff (2000). The books tackle the same subject but are significantly different in their approach.
Both books recognize the difficulties zero caused to the Greeks and their successors. Kaplan emphasizes the mysticism of zero. His book describes the confusion and avoidance of "nothing" throughout civilized history. While there is a smattering of mathematical concepts, the book is mostly an essay revolving about nihilism. This seems somewhat strange as Robert Kaplan has "taught mathematics to people from six to sixty. He is the co-founder of The Math Circle, a program open to the public for the enjoyment of pure mathematics."
Seiff's story also includes descriptions of mankind's concern over "nothing" but emphasizes the solutions reached by mathematicians. The book is full of mathematical and physical concepts related to zero.
If one is interested in philosophy, read Kaplan. If Math is the desired area, read Seiff.
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Title: The Art of the Infinite: The Pleasures of Mathematics by Robert Kaplan, Ellen Kaplan ISBN: 019514743X Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife, Matt Zimet ISBN: 0140296476 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 05 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Imagining Numbers: (particularly the square root of minus fifteen) by Barry Mazur ISBN: 0374174695 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 11 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: e: The Story of a Number by Eli Maor ISBN: 0691058547 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 04 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: To Infinity and Beyond by Eli Maor ISBN: 0691025118 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 09 July, 1991 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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