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Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea [Paperback]

Charles Seife (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
Price: £6.05 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea + "e": The Story of a Number (Princeton Science Library) + An Imaginary Tale: The Story of i [the square root of minus one] (Princeton Library Science Edition) (Princeton Science Library)
Price For All Three: £22.70

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Souvenir Press Ltd; New Ed edition (12 Oct 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0285635948
  • ISBN-13: 978-0285635944
  • Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.4 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 20,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #14 in  Books > Biography > Medical, Legal & Social Sciences > Philosophy
    #68 in  Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Popular Maths
    #27 in  Books > Biography > Science, Mathematics & Technology > Science

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More About the Author

Charles Seife
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Product Description

Review

This is one of the best-written popular science books to have come this way for quite a while... Seife has a neat turn of phrase, an easy yet respectful familiarity with his subject that helps the maths slip down easily. --Nicholas Lezard, 'The Guardian'

A witty but lucid account... A must for armchair logicians. --'BBC Focus'

A breathless tour of the dangerous idea of zero. --'New Scientist'

'Focus', July 2003

a witty but lucid account... A must for armchair logicians.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
82% buy the item featured on this page:
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife Paperback 4.4 out of 5 stars (14)
£6.05
An Imaginary Tale: The Story of i [the square root of minus one] (Princeton Library Science Edition) (Princeton Science Library)
5% buy
An Imaginary Tale: The Story of i [the square root of minus one] (Princeton Library Science Edition) (Princeton Science Library) by Paul J. Nahin Paperback 4.0 out of 5 stars (5)
£8.69
"e": The Story of a Number (Princeton Science Library)
5% buy
"e": The Story of a Number (Princeton Science Library) by Eli Maor Paperback 4.6 out of 5 stars (7)
£7.96
Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable
4% buy
Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable by Brian Clegg Paperback 4.3 out of 5 stars (17)
£5.38
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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
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3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Review for Zero:the Biography of a Dangerous Idea, 30 July 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (Paperback)
This book was absolutely wonderful, it delves into the history of mathematics, as far back as the creation of numbers themselves. It looks at the contribution that the Greeks, Babylonians and Hindus made to mathematics, and how religion had restricted the development of mathematics. The book was written very well, it felt like a story book, rather than a factual book. I recommend this book for everyone with an interest in Maths, you do not need to be a mathematician to enjoy this book.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Zero and infinity, 7 Aug 2007
By Mikko Saari (Tampere, Finland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (Paperback)
Babylonians invented it, Indians worshipped it, Greeks abhorred it. Zero has been a problematic number for a long time. European mathematicians followed Greek footsteps, until they finally realized how important thing zero was for advanced mathematics.

Seife presents us the history of zero and its sister concept infinity, not only in mathematics, but also in physics and quantum mechanics. Zero is an entertaining book, if a bit light. For quick popular science entertainment purposes it's a good choice. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best maths books around, 8 Dec 2006
By marthiemoo (bristol, uk) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (Paperback)
Being an undergraduate philosopher I've had to read a lot of maths books, and this is by far the best. It's true that you don't need much maths background to understand it, but it's also highly enjoyable for those with a lot of maths or physics knowledge - it links up and explains general assumptions in a way which seems never to occur to most teachers of sciences courses. The proof of 0=1 (and, extrapolating, that winston churchill = a carrot) is excellent and well worth committing to memory just to freak out any maths nerds one knows. Also worth a go is the step-by-step guide to making your own wormhole time machine (Step 1: Make a small wormhole, and attach one end to something really heavy). Really excellent, buy everyone you know a copy for christmas.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful
This was a summer read and one that I completed in two evenings - its that engaging.

The idea is simple: Zero is a recent invention and without it, the World would... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Glen Gilchrist

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating history of the concept of zero
A fascinating account of the evolution of the understanding of zero - and, in recent centuries, its relationship to infinity. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. F. Cayley

5.0 out of 5 stars Zero!
I used this book for a mathematics assignment on the number zero. It was really interesting and went right through history and different cultures and their use of zero. Read more
Published 3 months ago by R. Wilson

1.0 out of 5 stars Journalism is not History of Ideas
This book is like a news paper report; whenever it deals with something with which I am familiar it is wrong or grossly misleading. Read more
Published 3 months ago by R. Larham

5.0 out of 5 stars A really fabulous read
I was given this as a gift and showed it to my Romanian father in law - who pulled out of his brief case the exact same book in Romanian. Read more
Published 5 months ago by P. Fogarty

3.0 out of 5 stars good but not outstanding
I read a lot of popular science, especially math and physics. This book was well written but not among the top books in its genre.
Published 10 months ago by Risto

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating!
The first chapter (chapter zero) is rubbish, I nearly put the book down thinking it would be a novel. Thankfully it is a very short chapter and I continued reading. Read more
Published 11 months ago by L. Morris

5.0 out of 5 stars Zero or Infinity!
I bought this book without any expectations. I took it to read during my vacations and it worked!

A very light book, that tells us the history since the Babylonian's... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Carlos Nicolau

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will fascinate, surprise and confuse in equal measures
It has been awhile since anyone has reviewed this book so I thought I should show that even though it was published a few years ago it is still a very well written and breathless... Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. Duducu

4.0 out of 5 stars Mathematics history
A very readable book. This book covers the life story of the number zero, and it is a facinating story which is being told. Read more
Published on 11 April 2003 by Steve Trumpet

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