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Title: Number 9: The Search for the Sigma Code by Cecil Balmond ISBN: 3-7913-1933-7 Publisher: Prestel USA Pub. Date: July, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.98 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Brilliant
Comment: It captured the spiritual as well as the mathematical. A wonderful little read - for those who have an interest in what lies beyond numbers. A most unusual, charming book. Would certainly recommend it.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Very Unusual Book!
Comment: This book is one of the most unusual I've come across in quite some time. Blending elements of number theory, history, philosophy and mysticism, Cecil Balmond creates a book unique in its renaissance approach to life. Certainly, if you're looking for a book on academic number theory (see above review), this isn't the book for you, but if you want an fascinating exploration of the implications of the seemingly mundane existance of number, then by all means buy this book immediately. The passion Mr. Balmond has for his topic is clear on every page, as is his vast learning and quick mind. Written for anyone who was every curious about the nature of things in the world will be enriched by this little book.
Rating: 1
Summary: Extremely bad
Comment: The author goes around talking about the number 9 as if it had magical properties. For example, she spends the first 50 pages or so mentioning how the numbers 3, 5, 7 and the like are mentioned all over the place, so behold! so is 9!
You can prove anything with such statistics. These are small numbers so it's obvious they'll appear everywhere.
But wait. This can be a bit interesting and is by far not the worse part. She then starts making "proofs" of how some operations always yield 9. For example, get any number. For example, 673. Its most significant digit must be larger than the least significant digit (6 > 3). Now invert the order of the digits and subtract this new number from the old one (673 - 376 = 297). Now get the result, invert its order and add this inverted number to the non-inverted one (297 + 792 = 1089). All three-digit numbers get you 1089. Now if you add 1, 8 and 9 you get 18. 1 + 8 = 9. WOW!
But she either doesn't realise that happens because we're using the decimal system OR doesn't want you to know that. Use the octal system and you'll get 7 every time. Use hexadecimal and you'll get 15. If you use sexagesimal you'll get 59.
She carries on making such "proofs" on how the "number 9 holds the fate of other numbers" (this last sentence is actually written on the back cover) throughout the whole book.
If you know about math, get a number theory book. Don't be fooled like I did.
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Title: Informal by Cecil Balmond, Jannuzzi Smith, Christian Brensing, Charles Jencks, Rem Koolhaas ISBN: 3791324004 Publisher: Prestel USA Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Immaterial/Ultramaterial: Architecture, Design, and Materials (Millennium Matters) by Toshiko Mori ISBN: 0807615080 Publisher: George Braziller Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.50 |
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Title: A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History by Manuel DeLanda, Manuel De Landa ISBN: 0942299329 Publisher: Zone Books Pub. Date: 18 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Skin: Surface, Substance, and Design by Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Tobias, Alicia Imperiale, Grace Jeffers, Randi Mates ISBN: 1568983182 Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: INDEX Architecture : A Columbia Architecture Book by Bernard Tschumi, Matthew Berman ISBN: 0262700956 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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