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Charles Seife

Zero - the biography of a dangerous idea

Zero is a strange sort of number - for instance division by zero in a computer program causes all sorts of problems. This book is a look at the development of the concept of zero, and infinity, zero's twin, from ancient times to recent discoveries in cosmology and quantum physics. Aristotle tried to hide paradoxes associated with zero, with pronouncments such as 'Nature abhors a vacuum'. This held back the development of mathematics in the West, while in the East zero was accepted and the subject flourished. Eventually the usefulness of zero was accepted in the West, and mathematics took off agian, leading to the use of infinitesimals and the development of the calculus. I felt that the book would be very useful to someone learning calculus, as it gives a clear description of the ideas behind the subject.

The later part of the book looks at the concepts of zero and infinity in physics. Concepts looked at include absolute zero, the ultraviolet catastrophe and zero point energy. This is well written, giving a clear flavour of the ideas, without needing technicalities.

The book is fast moving devoting a couple of pages to each topic before moving on. To a large extent this succeeds, it has a lot of material of interest without getting boring. However, I did sometimes feel that some subjects weren't particularly related to zero, and that more space could have been given to those that were. That said, it was an enjoyable read, and has wide ranging appeal, being suitable for anybody who likes a bit of light reading on scientific and mathematical subjects.

Amazon.com info

Hardcover 256 pages
ISBN: 067088457X
Salesrank: 328721
Weight:0.7 lbs

Published: 2000 Viking Adult

Marketplace:New from $7.49:Used from $1.00

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Amazon.co.uk info

Hardcover 248 pages
ISBN: 0285635867
Salesrank: 1281974
Weight:0.93 lbs

Published: 2000 Souvenir Press Ltd

Marketplace::Used from £3.49

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Amazon.ca info

Hardcover 256 pages
ISBN: 067088457X
Salesrank: 195489
Weight:0.7 lbs

Published: 2000 Viking USA

Marketplace:New from CDN$ 13.16:Used from CDN$ 4.08

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Product Description
A concise and appealing look at the strangest number in the universe and its continuing role as one of the great paradoxes of human thought The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshiped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. Now, as Y2K fever rages, it threatens a technological apocalypse. For centuries the power of zero savored of the demonic; once harnessed, it became the most important tool in mathematics. For zero, infinity's twin, is not like other numbers. It is both nothing and everything. In Zero science journalist Charles Seife follows this innocent-looking number from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe, its rise and transcendence in the West, and its ever-present threat to modern physics. Here are the legendary thinkers--from Pythagoras to Newton to Heisenberg, from the Kabalists to today's astrophysicists--who have tried to understand it and whose clashes shook the foundations of philosophy, science, mathematics, and religion. 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. Readers of Fermat's Enigma, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Seeing and Believing, and Longitudewill find the revealingly illustrated Zero freshly informative, easy to understand, and--infinitely--fascinating.

Product Description

A concise and appealing look at the strangest number in the universe and its continuing role as one of the great paradoxes of human thought

The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshiped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. Now, as Y2K fever rages, it threatens a technological apocalypse. For centuries the power of zero savored of the demonic; once harnessed, it became the most important tool in mathematics. For zero, infinity's twin, is not like other numbers. It is both nothing and everything.

In Zero science journalist Charles Seife follows this innocent-looking number from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe, its rise and transcendence in the West, and its ever-present threat to modern physics. Here are the legendary thinkers--from Pythagoras to Newton to Heisenberg, from the Kabalists to today's astrophysicists--who have tried to understand it and whose clashes shook the foundations of philosophy, science, mathematics, and religion. 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.

Readers of Fermat's Enigma, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Seeing and Believing, and Longitudewill find the revealingly illustrated Zero freshly informative, easy to understand, and--infinitely--fascinating.

At its best when sticking to history... ***
The subtitle "The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" is the reason I picked this book up and on this count the book performs admirably. The investigation of how zero came to the Western world is fascinating from the Greeks refusal to accept this to Pascal's "proof" of God's existence using zero; the book provides a fine overview of zero's eventual inclusion in the Western canon. But a cursory investigation of zero's development on the Eastern side of the planet leans the book too heavily on the West's acceptance of the concept and does not provide enough insight into its true origins and the calculus section will be lost on the reader who is looking for history as opposed to a math lesson. Illustrations throughout will have a varying effect on the reader; some aptly demonstrating a concept, others just muddying the waters already confused by trying to do too much explaining in too short a page count. This is an interesting book, but I'm not sure who it's designed to appeal to; Too much higher math and physics for the casual reader (like me) and not enough for the mathematicians out there.

At its best when sticking to history... ***

The subtitle "The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" is the reason I picked this book up and on this count the book performs admirably. The investigation of how zero came to the Western world is fascinating from the Greeks refusal to accept this to Pascal's "proof" of God's existence using zero; the book provides a fine overview of zero's eventual inclusion in the Western canon. But a cursory investigation of zero's development on the Eastern side of the planet leans the book too heavily on the West's acceptance of the concept and does not provide enough insight into its true origins and the calculus section will be lost on the reader who is looking for history as opposed to a math lesson. Illustrations throughout will have a varying effect on the reader; some aptly demonstrating a concept, others just muddying the waters already confused by trying to do too much explaining in too short a page count. This is an interesting book, but I'm not sure who it's designed to appeal to; Too much higher math and physics for the casual reader (like me) and not enough for the mathematicians out there.

Intellectual Junk Food ****
This book is a great read for the nerd in your life who loves to think deeply about abstract concepts like the number 0. It's a dry book, with a little humor interspersed, full of facts, figures, history and the author offers mathematical proof of what he's explaining. I was fascinated by the in-depth history offered by Charles Seife. He has clearly done his homework, and I thoroughly enjoyed how well versed he was in the subject. I listened to the Audible downloaded audio book, read by the author. It was obviously not done by a professional reader, but I feel like that gives a more genuine portrayal of the author's tone and message. It will benefit the reader to have a basic understanding of Cartesian planes and basic algebra. Bottom Line: If you've got time to kill, and the title sounds interesting, you won't regret getting to know Charles Seife in "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea".

Intellectual Junk Food ****

This book is a great read for the nerd in your life who loves to think deeply about abstract concepts like the number 0. It's a dry book, with a little humor interspersed, full of facts, figures, history and the author offers mathematical proof of what he's explaining. I was fascinated by the in-depth history offered by Charles Seife. He has clearly done his homework, and I thoroughly enjoyed how well versed he was in the subject. I listened to the Audible downloaded audio book, read by the author. It was obviously not done by a professional reader, but I feel like that gives a more genuine portrayal of the author's tone and message. It will benefit the reader to have a basic understanding of Cartesian planes and basic algebra. Bottom Line: If you've got time to kill, and the title sounds interesting, you won't regret getting to know Charles Seife in "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea".

A Truely Entertaining Read ****
In simple summary, this is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. It takes the reader through a long, troublesome, history of zero. The author has definitely done his research, and the book remains entertaining throughout. The only drawback is that he gets a bit off topic sometimes, and it feels like he's trying to fill up a bit of remaining space. The 'padding' is still very entertaining, however. There is much criticism about how the author uses non-standard language throughout the book. I think those folks are missing the point. This is not supposed to be a book used to teach from, nor is it meant to sit among other mathematical/scientific journals. The book is intended as journalism, and nothing more. That means you are meant to read it, enjoy it, and put it back down. Any confusion can be solved by doing actual research in the field, if the topics interest you so. Note: The "proof" he presents that one reviewer claimed was a proof that it was better to be Christian than atheist was just an example of the church's acceptance of infinity, nothing more. Pascal brought about the church's acceptance of a concept that mathematicians needed, Seife simply explained how he did it.

A Truely Entertaining Read ****

In simple summary, this is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. It takes the reader through a long, troublesome, history of zero. The author has definitely done his research, and the book remains entertaining throughout.

The only drawback is that he gets a bit off topic sometimes, and it feels like he's trying to fill up a bit of remaining space. The 'padding' is still very entertaining, however.

There is much criticism about how the author uses non-standard language throughout the book. I think those folks are missing the point. This is not supposed to be a book used to teach from, nor is it meant to sit among other mathematical/scientific journals. The book is intended as journalism, and nothing more. That means you are meant to read it, enjoy it, and put it back down. Any confusion can be solved by doing actual research in the field, if the topics interest you so.

Note: The "proof" he presents that one reviewer claimed was a proof that it was better to be Christian than atheist was just an example of the church's acceptance of infinity, nothing more. Pascal brought about the church's acceptance of a concept that mathematicians needed, Seife simply explained how he did it.

This book should rate a ZERO. *
The book wandered around a bunch including a stupid "proof" that it was better to be a Christian than an atheist. Most of Seife's text was just boring and poorly argued.

This book should rate a ZERO. *

The book wandered around a bunch including a stupid "proof" that it was better to be a Christian than an atheist. Most of Seife's text was just boring and poorly argued.

Much more than mathematics ****
I was initially skeptical about this book, because in the early chapters I felt like Seife sometimes presented questionable anecdotes as fact. Plus, for the chapters that I knew the most about, I lamented the lack of footnotes, which isn't really a fair criticism of a popular science work. The book quickly won me over, though, and I often found myself reluctant to put it down. The story presented here is about much more than math: there's history, philosophy, religion, and modern physics too. Much of the material was already familiar to me, but Seife brought it all together into a satisfying overview of the evolution of western thought. I would recommend this even to people who don't particularly like math; it's not very technical and is full of information that would be interesting to anyone.

Much more than mathematics ****

I was initially skeptical about this book, because in the early chapters I felt like Seife sometimes presented questionable anecdotes as fact. Plus, for the chapters that I knew the most about, I lamented the lack of footnotes, which isn't really a fair criticism of a popular science work. The book quickly won me over, though, and I often found myself reluctant to put it down. The story presented here is about much more than math: there's history, philosophy, religion, and modern physics too. Much of the material was already familiar to me, but Seife brought it all together into a satisfying overview of the evolution of western thought. I would recommend this even to people who don't particularly like math; it's not very technical and is full of information that would be interesting to anyone.

Wonderful *****
This was a summer read and one that I completed in two evenings - its that engaging. The idea is simple: Zero is a recent invention and without it, the World would be a different place. It's hard to imagine counting without "0" but Mr Seife explains just how that worked. Good summer reading.

Wonderful *****

This was a summer read and one that I completed in two evenings - its that engaging.

The idea is simple: Zero is a recent invention and without it, the World would be a different place. It's hard to imagine counting without "0" but Mr Seife explains just how that worked.

Good summer reading.

Fascinating history of the concept of zero *****
A fascinating account of the evolution of the understanding of zero - and, in recent centuries, its relationship to infinity. The book explains some deep ideas of maths and physics in a way comprehensible to someone with only very elementary knowledge of maths. A rewarding read.

Fascinating history of the concept of zero *****

A fascinating account of the evolution of the understanding of zero - and, in recent centuries, its relationship to infinity. The book explains some deep ideas of maths and physics in a way comprehensible to someone with only very elementary knowledge of maths. A rewarding read.

Zero! *****
I used this book for a mathematics assignment on the number zero. It was really interesting and went right through history and different cultures and their use of zero. The book was humourous and easy to follow. I would definately recommend this book!

Zero! *****

I used this book for a mathematics assignment on the number zero. It was really interesting and went right through history and different cultures and their use of zero. The book was humourous and easy to follow. I would definately recommend this book!

Journalism is not History of Ideas *
This book is like a news paper report; whenever it deals with something with which I am familiar it is wrong or grossly misleading. So I assume the same when it deals with what I know not. Hence I find this book a completely useless piece of trash. Obviously the idea of sexing up dossiers has its own history

Journalism is not History of Ideas *

This book is like a news paper report; whenever it deals with something with which I am familiar it is wrong or grossly misleading. So I assume the same when it deals with what I know not. Hence I find this book a completely useless piece of trash.

Obviously the idea of sexing up dossiers has its own history

A really fabulous read *****
I was given this as a gift and showed it to my Romanian father in law - who pulled out of his brief case the exact same book in Romanian. If he has anything in his brief case, it is always a great recommendation. He was so enthusiastic about this book. I started to read it and was completely blown away by it all as it is full of facts, which are written in a really exciting way. It certainly made my 1 hour long underground tube rides fly by! I also liked it as I am a primary school teacher, and so my class was fascinated to learn the Romans and the Egyptians had no zero. Some of if was a little above the head of a primary school teacher, it was one of those things were you read it, and understood it immediately (a sign of a great science writer) - then I forgot it equally fast (a primary teacher brain!) - but I would recommend anyone with the slightest interest in Maths to read this book.

A really fabulous read *****

I was given this as a gift and showed it to my Romanian father in law - who pulled out of his brief case the exact same book in Romanian. If he has anything in his brief case, it is always a great recommendation.

He was so enthusiastic about this book. I started to read it and was completely blown away by it all as it is full of facts, which are written in a really exciting way. It certainly made my 1 hour long underground tube rides fly by! I also liked it as I am a primary school teacher, and so my class was fascinated to learn the Romans and the Egyptians had no zero.

Some of if was a little above the head of a primary school teacher, it was one of those things were you read it, and understood it immediately (a sign of a great science writer) - then I forgot it equally fast (a primary teacher brain!) - but I would recommend anyone with the slightest interest in Maths to read this book.

A lot more than zero ****
Seife writes eloquantly about zero and its evil twin brother infinity in an easy to read, easy to understand text that is highly recommended. A lot of tough ideas (including Cantor's infinities) are well described and interesting. The book drifts into physics and cosmology but does so well. Nicely written.

A lot more than zero ****

Seife writes eloquantly about zero and its evil twin brother infinity in an easy to read, easy to understand text that is highly recommended. A lot of tough ideas (including Cantor's infinities) are well described and interesting. The book drifts into physics and cosmology but does so well.

Nicely written.

Fascinating, Lively and Wide-Ranging *****
This is a book about the concept of zero throughout the ages - from pre-historic times when counting began (but zero was not needed) to the present. The notion and evolution of zero, as well as the many problems that it caused, are presented from several angles - religion, philosophy, mathematics and physics. The author does an excellent job of retaining his focus on zero while covering millennia of human history and mathematical thought. The writing style is clear, engaging, lively, friendly, often witty and occasionally humorous. This book can be enjoyed by any dedicated general reader, although the math phobic may feel uncomfortable through good parts of it. Science buffs, on the other hand, will likely have been exposed to much of the mathematics and science discussed here, but the fascinating historical aspects alone make it very much worth the read for them as well.

Fascinating, Lively and Wide-Ranging *****

This is a book about the concept of zero throughout the ages - from pre-historic times when counting began (but zero was not needed) to the present. The notion and evolution of zero, as well as the many problems that it caused, are presented from several angles - religion, philosophy, mathematics and physics. The author does an excellent job of retaining his focus on zero while covering millennia of human history and mathematical thought. The writing style is clear, engaging, lively, friendly, often witty and occasionally humorous. This book can be enjoyed by any dedicated general reader, although the math phobic may feel uncomfortable through good parts of it. Science buffs, on the other hand, will likely have been exposed to much of the mathematics and science discussed here, but the fascinating historical aspects alone make it very much worth the read for them as well.

Fantastic Read *****
I would never have believed it myself, but of all the books sitting in my shelf, this is one of those that I reread the most. The Biography presents a grand picture through a series of anecdotes, mixed with a fair bit of mathematics understandable by everyone. This book gives an idea of the history and confusion behind every scientific idea our lives are founded on today.

Fantastic Read *****

I would never have believed it myself, but of all the books sitting in my shelf, this is one of those that I reread the most. The Biography presents a grand picture through a series of anecdotes, mixed with a fair bit of mathematics understandable by everyone. This book gives an idea of the history and confusion behind every scientific idea our lives are founded on today.

not so dangerous ****
as the title suggests, this book is not so dangerous...but, very interesting...found it to be informative and a definite read for all high school addicts and wanna bees...got it from Dale books in Nova Scotia...on time and in very good condition, thank you, again,Dale Books

not so dangerous ****

as the title suggests, this book is not so dangerous...but, very interesting...found it to be informative and a definite read for all high school addicts and wanna bees...got it from Dale books in Nova Scotia...on time and in very good condition, thank you, again,Dale Books

Zero is fundamental ****
Entertaining book for students of philosophy, historians, and math neophytes, but Seife's simple-minded application of the principle of the conservation of energy to the quantum electrodynamic sea of spacetimemassenergy, i.e. the "zero point field," among other things, reveals him to be among the least imaginitive of physicists. His dismissive proposition that "nothing can come from nothing," overlooks the very simple fact that the QED sea of energy is hardly "nothing," otherwise there would be no such thing as Brownian motion or the Casimir Effect, not to mention the space, time, mass, and energy of our universe. Hal Puthoff claims that a cupful of this so called "vacuum energy" could boil away the oceans of our planet. (The most intriguing concept of "zero" is that promulageted by today's heretics such as Tom Bearden.) Presumably, however, Seife's math and philosophical history of zero is accurate. Before reading this book, this reader had known very little of it, and it was this part that he found quite enjoyable.

Zero is fundamental ****

Entertaining book for students of philosophy, historians, and math neophytes, but Seife's simple-minded application of the principle of the conservation of energy to the quantum electrodynamic sea of spacetimemassenergy, i.e. the "zero point field," among other things, reveals him to be among the least imaginitive of physicists. His dismissive proposition that "nothing can come from nothing," overlooks the very simple fact that the QED sea of energy is hardly "nothing," otherwise there would be no such thing as Brownian motion or the Casimir Effect, not to mention the space, time, mass, and energy of our universe. Hal Puthoff claims that a cupful of this so called "vacuum energy" could boil away the oceans of our planet. (The most intriguing concept of "zero" is that promulageted by today's heretics such as Tom Bearden.) Presumably, however, Seife's math and philosophical history of zero is accurate. Before reading this book, this reader had known very little of it, and it was this part that he found quite enjoyable.