A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshipped it, and the Christian Church used it to fend off heretics. Today it's a timebomb ticking in the heart of astrophysics. For zero, infinity's twin, is not like other numbers. It is both nothing and everything. 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 ...
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A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshipped it, and the Christian Church used it to fend off heretics. Today it's a timebomb ticking in the heart of astrophysics. For zero, infinity's twin, is not like other numbers. It is both nothing and everything. 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. Within the concept of zero lies a philosophical and scientific history of humanity. Charles Seife's elegant and witty account takes us from Aristotle to superstring theory by way of Egyptian geometry, Kabbalism, Einstein, the Chandrasekhar limit and Stephen Hawking. Covering centuries of thought, it is a concise tour of a world of ideas, bound up in the simple notion of nothing.
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Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.49, good condition, Sold by Hippo Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Toledo, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
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Seller's Description:
Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.49, fair condition, Sold by Hippo Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Toledo, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
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Fair. Noticeably used book. Text is legible but may be soiled and have binding defects. Heavy wear to covers and pages contain marginal notes, underlining, and or highlighting. Possible ex library copy, with all the markings/stickers of that library. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, and dust jackets may not be included.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.99, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.99, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.99, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Zero: the Biography of a Dangerous Idea to cart. $1.99, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Penguin Books.
There is a difference between not having a bank account and having a back account with no money in it. That there are different types of nothing , and how they effected history, was amazing
IanPCook
Apr 4, 2007
Shining example of "microhistory"
Seife's exploration of the concept of zero, from initial difficulties with characterizing "nothing" with a symbol to dealing with the mathematical impacts of what occurs when your system includes an "empty" quantity, is engaging and compelling. As can be said of numerous ideas (in math and elsewhere), the concept of zero seems almost staggeringly obvious in retrospect; this book makes it possible to understand why it wasn't at all trivial. And then continues to show the importance of and interest in dealing with zero in numerous aspects. I did long for a bit more weight to the book as a whole, but this may be as much a testament to Seife's style than anything else. I would be thrilled to read more detailed exposition of the place of zero in modern mathematics. But that could just be me...
