Friday, December 14, 2007

"Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

I actually finished this book about a month ago, but am only now getting around to a review.

This book is lighter fare than what I'm used to and it was fun book. The author goes into the historical aspects of the number zero. Where it came fun, problems it caused, so on and so forth. Most of the book is basically one big history lesson, but a fun one to read. The latter chapters are about what zero means in the context of physics and the universe. The author goes into renormalization of numbers and black holes and even the big bang.

I enjoyed the book. It was a bit short, but very entertaining. I think the author stretches a bit in places regarding the "power of zero to wreak havoc in everything it contacts", but hey its a book about a number. You need to add some flare I suppose.

Last weekend I picked up the "His Dark Materials" trilogy after seeing the Golden Compass movie. Can you believe it!? I'm actually reading a fiction book! My wife freaked.

1 comment:

Catherine said...

I actually just finished the series (His Dark Materials, that is). I've just posted my own review here if you're interested. I'd love feedback!