Zero : The Biography of a Dangerous Idea - Softcover

9780285635944: Zero : The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
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The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshiped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. Now it threatens the foundations of modern physics. For centuries the power of zero savored of the demonic; once harnessed, it became the most important tool in mathematics. For zero, infinity's twin, is not like other numbers. It is both nothing and everything.

In Zero, Science Journalist Charles Seife follows this innocent-looking number from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe, its rise and transcendence in the West, and its ever-present threat to modern physics. Here are the legendary thinkers?from Pythagoras to Newton to Heisenberg, from the Kabalists to today's astrophysicists?who have tried to understand it and whose clashes shook the foundations of philosophy, science, mathematics, and religion. Zero has pitted East against West and faith against reason, and its intransigence persists in the dark core of a black hole and the brilliant flash of the Big Bang. Today, zero lies at the heart of one of the biggest scientific controversies of all time: the quest for a theory of everything.

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Review:
The seemingly impossible Zen task--writing a book about nothing--has a loophole: people have been chatting, learning, and even fighting about nothing for millennia. Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, by noted science writer Charles Seife, starts with the story of a modern battleship stopped dead in the water by a loose zero, then rewinds back to several hundred years BCE. Some empty-headed genius improved the traditional Eastern counting methods immeasurably by adding zero as a placeholder, which allowed the genesis of our still-used decimal system. It's all been uphill from there, but Seife is enthusiastic about his subject; his synthesis of math, history, and anthropology seduces the reader into a new fascination with the most troubling number.

Why did the Church reject the use of zero? How did mystics of all stripes get bent out of shape over it? Is it true that science as we know it depends on this mysterious round digit? Zero opens up these questions and lets us explore the answers and their ramifications for our oh-so-modern lives. Seife has fun with his format, too, starting with chapter 0 and finishing with an appendix titled "Make Your Own Wormhole Time Machine." (Warning: don't get your hopes up too much.) There are enough graphs and equations to scare off serious numerophobes, but the real story is in the interactions between artists, scientists, mathematicians, religious and political leaders, and the rest of us--it seems we really do have nothing in common. --Rob Lightner

About the Author:
Charles Seife is the author of five previous books, including Proofiness and Virtual Unreality. He has written for a wide variety of publications, including The New York Times, Wired, New Scientist, Science, Scientific American, and The Economist. He is a professor of journalism at New York University and lives in New York City.

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  • PublisherSouvenir Press
  • Publication date2000
  • ISBN 10 0285635948
  • ISBN 13 9780285635944
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages256
  • Rating

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9780140296471: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea

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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Zero is a relatively recent invention. Invented by the Babylonians, banned by the Greeks and worshipped by Hindus zero has had a fascinating history. Zero was born as an Eastern philosophical concert and this informative, accessible history traces the story of this mysterious number and the people (scholars and mystics, scientists and clergymen) who have fought over its meaning. The battles over zero shook the foundations of philosophy, science, mathematics and religion. Underneath every revolution in the last millennium lay a zero. Charles Seife is a correspondent for New Scientist and has done extensive research into probability theory, artificial intelligence and visualisation of multidimensional spaces. He was trained by mathematicians such as Andrew Wiles, who solved Fermats Last Theorem This informative and easy-to-read book is the story of the people who battled over the meaning of the mysterious number - the scholars and mystics, the scientists and clergymen - who each tried to understand zero. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780285635944

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Book Description Softcover. Condition: New. New Ed. <DIV>The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshiped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. Now it threatens the foundations of modern physics. For centuries the power of zero savored of the demonic; once harnessed, it became the most important tool in mathematics. For zero, infinity's twin, is not like other numbers. It is both nothing and everything. <p>In <B>Zero</B>, Science Journalist Charles Seife follows this innocent-looking number from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe, its rise and transcendence in the West, and its ever-present threat to modern physics. Here are the legendary thinkers?from Pythagoras to Newton to Heisenberg, from the Kabalists to today's astrophysicists?who have tried to understand it and whose clashes shook the foundations of philosophy, science, mathematics, and religion. Zero has pitted East against West and faith against reason, and its intransigence persists in the dark core of a black hole and the brilliant flash of the Big Bang. Today, zero lies at the heart of one of the biggest scientific controversies of all time: the quest for a theory of everything.</p> </div> Seller Inventory # DADAX0285635948

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