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A Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable (2003)

av Brian Clegg

MedlemmarRecensionerPopularitetGenomsnittligt betygOmnämnanden
4401156,308 (3.41)6
'Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.' Douglas Adams, Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy We human beings have trouble with infinity - yet infinity is a surprisingly human subject. Philosophers and mathematicians have gone mad contemplating its nature and complexity - yet it is a concept routinely used by schoolchildren. Exploring the infinite is a journey into paradox. Here is a quantity that turns arithmetic on its head, making it feasible that 1 = 0. Here is a concept that enables us to cram as many extra guests as we like into an already full hotel. Most bizarrely of all, it is quite easy to show that there must be something bigger than infinity - when it surely should be the biggest thing that could possibly be. Brian Clegg takes us on a fascinating tour of that borderland between the extremely large and the ultimate that takes us from Archimedes, counting the grains of sand that would fill the universe, to the latest theories on the physical reality of the infinite. Full of unexpected delights, whether St Augustine contemplating the nature of creation, Newton and Leibniz battling over ownership of calculus, or Cantor struggling to publicise his vision of the transfinite, infinity's fascination is in the way it brings together the everyday and the extraordinary, prosaic daily life and the esoteric. Whether your interest in infinity is mathematical, philosophical, spiritual or just plain curious, this accessible book offers a stimulating and entertaining read.… (mer)
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» Se även 6 omnämnanden

engelska (10)  italienska (1)  Alla språk (11)
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più divulgativo che matematico

Se a voi piacciono i racconti bene ordinati nel tempo, questo libro non fa per voi: i capitoli si susseguono secondo un ordine che non ho ben chiaro, ma sicuramente non è cronologico. Se invece vi fanno paura le formule matematiche, leggetelo tranquillamente. A Clegg piace infatti raccontare storie, più che raccontare matematica. Non che lui non sappia di matematica: potete stare tranquilli che quello che c'è scritto è corretto. Semplicemente il suo pubblico è quello dei curiosi a 360 gradi, per cui la matematica è solo uno degli aspetti da considerare. Alla fine della lettura avrete insomma più un'idea dei matematici che della matematica. ( )
  .mau. | Jul 18, 2023 |
Not an easy book to review. Clegg ranges over so many historical developments as he explains how concepts of infinity were developed and as techniques emerged to deal with the innately large and the infinitely small. One of the things that I found most fascinating was his short biographies of some of the characters along the way. Cantor, for instance, being opposed and persecuted by his former mentor, Kronecker, and, eventually, Cantor suffering from mental breakdowns. Were they directly caused by Kronecker? Maybe. And his equally delightful pen-picture of Kurt Godel...the party boy...who later turned into a very strange old man suffering from paranoia. And, of course, Galileo...suffering at the hands of the "defenders of the faith". Faith has a lot to answer for! And having faith never seems to have turned out correct when it didn't support objective facts.
I've been struggling with writing reviews of several books recently and this is one of them. There is a heck of a lot of solid information there and Clegg ranges over so many subjects from Indian concepts of zero divided by zero, to Newton and Leibnitz's competition over the invention of calculus; Cantor's techniques for dealing with multiple infinities; Bertrand Russell and set theory (and Venn diagrams .....did Euler actually invent them?). Yes, there is certainly a lot to digest there though Clegg writes well and the historical material is quite fascinating. But if you want to get a better grasp on the nature of infinity I'd recommend "Beyond Infinity" by Eugenia Cheng. She goes into a lot more detail about how one might go about filling "Hilbert's Hotel".....with infinite rooms when every room is full and a coach load with infinite guests arrives. I enjoyed Clegg's book but don't pretend to understand all the concepts. I give it 4 stars. ( )
  booktsunami | Feb 8, 2023 |
Very brief, they weren't kidding. A lot of typos and off the wall references. But okay for an introduction ( )
  Baku-X | Jan 10, 2017 |
Excellent...a well done history and development of our understanding or non-understanding of the concept of infinity. ( )
  stevetempo | Dec 1, 2015 |
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The infinite is a concept so remarkable, so strange, that contemplating it has driven at least two great mathematicians over the edge into insanity.
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'Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.' Douglas Adams, Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy We human beings have trouble with infinity - yet infinity is a surprisingly human subject. Philosophers and mathematicians have gone mad contemplating its nature and complexity - yet it is a concept routinely used by schoolchildren. Exploring the infinite is a journey into paradox. Here is a quantity that turns arithmetic on its head, making it feasible that 1 = 0. Here is a concept that enables us to cram as many extra guests as we like into an already full hotel. Most bizarrely of all, it is quite easy to show that there must be something bigger than infinity - when it surely should be the biggest thing that could possibly be. Brian Clegg takes us on a fascinating tour of that borderland between the extremely large and the ultimate that takes us from Archimedes, counting the grains of sand that would fill the universe, to the latest theories on the physical reality of the infinite. Full of unexpected delights, whether St Augustine contemplating the nature of creation, Newton and Leibniz battling over ownership of calculus, or Cantor struggling to publicise his vision of the transfinite, infinity's fascination is in the way it brings together the everyday and the extraordinary, prosaic daily life and the esoteric. Whether your interest in infinity is mathematical, philosophical, spiritual or just plain curious, this accessible book offers a stimulating and entertaining read.

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