About this title: Born in Babylonia, the Zero has donned many different hats--accountant, god, devil, infinity--and has elicited as many different responses from people across the ages. Seife's scientific yet accessible text explores the biography of this enigmatic number. Winner of the 2001 PEN Award for First Non-Fiction.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics), Toronto, ON, Canada
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780140296471ISBN:0140296476
Description: Very Good. 0140296476 Previously read trade paperback book in very good condition, some very minor shelf wear, no rips or tears. 03333851 _ read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Spine straight w/o creases, binding tight, gift inscription inside cover, no reader/remainder/library marks, cover/pgs flat w/sharp corners, very slight shelf wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 248 numbered pgs. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Photos or additional information on this item available on request. Orders/e-mail responses processed daily. Please check our feedback. read more
Description: Interior Art: Matt Zimet. Fine. 248 pages, quality trade paperback with quite a few illustrations/graphs and an Index. "The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshiped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. For centuries, the power of zero savored of the demonic; once harnessed, it became the most important tool in mathematics. ZERO follows this number from its birth as an Eastern philisophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe and its ... read more
Description: Zimet, Matt. Very good in very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 248 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780140296471ISBN:0140296476
Description: Very Good. Trade Paperback--Very Good--Other than light cover creases, book is clean and bright. 248 pages with index and illustrations. read more
Binding: Hard Back
Publisher: Viking Pr, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780670884575ISBN:067088457X
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. Has old gift inscription in end papers but little use was ever made of this gift as otherwise in excellent condition. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Date Published: 2000-09-01
ISBN-13:9780140296471ISBN:0140296476
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780140296471. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780140296471ISBN:0140296476
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Zimet, Matt. Very good in very good dust jacket. Jacket shows light age browning and some edge wear. Small remainder mark on bottom page ends. One page has creased corner. Clean and unmarked text. Tight binding. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 248 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780140296471ISBN:0140296476
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 256 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Audiobook cassette
Publisher: New Millennium Audio
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9781590073544ISBN:1590073541
Description: Very good in good dust jacket. Nice audiocassette set, lightly played, light shelf wear to cardboard sleeve, stk #2299g8. 4 cassettes. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: NEW ED
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: SOUVENIR PRESS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780285635944ISBN:0285635948
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 256 pages. (254 pages) not just another book about maths-but also of history. the clashes over zero were to shake the fundamentals of philosophy, science, of mathematics and of religion. the science book of the year in paperback for the first time. previously announced in september 2001 buyers' guide. illustrations edition new ed (Paperback) read more
"Very well-written, very well-structured as I expected having read one of his later books before this. Presents the concept and meaning of zero in many ways, at many levels. Liked how he applied concrete examples to a concept that extends downwards and upwards beyond our normal "sensible" 3-D world.
It gives one a nice foretaste of his later book on cosmology, "Alpha and Omega". (The book I had previously read and enjoyed.)
Another side bonus, it confirmed my assertion that now-a-days we use Leibniz's notation for differentiation and not Newton's clumsier "dot" notation and "fluxions".
Even if you are only mildly interested in mathematics, the book covers the topic more as a history of science and mathematics than as an adept's manipulation of numbers and equations. High-school math will see you through it, but if you do like math you'll be happy you read it!"
"A neat subject, and a lot of seemingly disparate information pulled together. I came in with a passing familiarity with a lot of the underlying math. I'm sure the book would have read very differently with either more background or less, but from my perspective it took ideas that were individually familiar and described how they linked up and how they were derived from one another.
As a history of mathematics, though, the math is definitely stronger than the history. Seife is good at explaining the underlying flaws in earlier methods, but less good at identifying what the situation would have looked like at the time. He's got a tendency to portray anyone who wasn't on the right track (as we can see it now) as blinkered and anti-rational... some were, but others were just mistaken, or just weren't the ones who had the critical insight needed to move forward.
One thing that did grate on the math side was Seife's tendency to refer to infinity in terms of very large numbers. This is as misleading as referring to zero as a very small fraction; it's a weird mistake to make given the subject matter.
Still, an interesting enough read all told, and a fairly quick one; likely worth a look."
"The concept of zero has always intrigued me. How did the ancients manage without it? Why did it originate in the east and why did it take so long to catch on in the west? Charles Seife answers all of these questions and many more I didn't even know to ask. He takes us from the times before zero (It simply wasn't needed. You don't start counting with zero of anything.), through it's genesis and maturation and on into its affect on sub-atomic particles and black holes.
Seife is a truly excellent science writer because he has no specific agenda. He is a science journalist, not a scientist trying to explain his chosen discipline to lay readership. He blends thoroughly researched knowledge with the techniques of a skilled story teller to make a book about mathematics ( fear and loathing) into a fast reading page turner. Even if you have no interest in science, this book is worth reading for its entertainment value alone."
"Seife, a science writer, leads us down the rabbit hole we term 'zero'. The mathematical history of the number follows a convoluted path, early on a place-holder in counting systems or a much-feared void forbidden by belief on pain of death. Eventually the path leads to infinity which, like its twin zero, figures the limit of human experience. For Seife this means that nature - described in its native language of mathematics - breaks completely with possible human experience at zero and infinity. Yet the need to confront these limits and by increments bring them within the space of the humanly possible is the impulse behind this book. Short as it is, the first two thirds of the work provide an engaging survey of the development and application of 'zero' in mathematics. A substantial part of its current conception is bound up in the development of the calculus which underlies so much of mathematical physics. Relativity theory and the development of thermodynamics spurred further application of the concept in theories of nature. Nonetheless, singularities represent limits to what we know and perhaps can know, as well as what we can do. Zero's enigmatic presence in our thoughts is a gateway to the speculative, sometimes nearly mystical suppositions in a scientific vein that take up the final third of the work. Zero, in Seife's account, is a main character in a story about mathematics and physical science. But his account of the concept as an artifact of culture and of language may offer some additional insight. For example, in common English usage, zero is nothing apart from comparison. The activity of comparing and by extension of measuring is part of this odd number which happens to be even."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
