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Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
 
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Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (Paperback)

by Charles Seife (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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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]
Price For All Three: £23.70

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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: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 39,158 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #2 in  Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Philosophy of Mathematics
    #2 in  Books > Science & Nature > History & Philosophy > Mathematics
    #3 in  Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Mathematics > Mathematical Theory > Philosophy of Mathematics

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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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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Review for Zero:the Biography of a Dangerous Idea, 30 Jul 2002
By A Customer
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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7 of 7 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
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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13 of 14 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
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

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 20 hours 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 24 days 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 2 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 8 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

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended
This is an excellent history of number Zero. Charles Seife takes you from the start, tracing the ideas of zero and inifity through time and how their concepts have been feared and... Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2001

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