Zero

the biography of a dangerous idea

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  • 4.2 (5 ratings) ·
  • 60 Want to read
  • 6 Currently reading
  • 12 Have read

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Last edited by frstndlstlns
April 29, 2023 | History

Zero

the biography of a dangerous idea

  • 4.2 (5 ratings) ·
  • 60 Want to read
  • 6 Currently reading
  • 12 Have read

"Zero follows the number zero from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe and its apotheosis as the mystery of a black hole. Here are the legendary thinkers who battled over the meaning of this mysterious number - scholars and mystics, cosmologists and clergymen whose clashes over zero shook the foundations of philosophy, science, mathematics, and religion.".

"Charles Seife's account takes us from Aristotle to superstring theory by way of Pythagoras, Descartes, the Kabbalists, and Einstein. It is a concise tour of a universe of ideas bound up in the simple notion of nothing."--BOOK JACKET.

Publish Date
Publisher
Viking
Language
English
Pages
248

Buy this book

Previews available in: English French

Edition Availability
Cover of: Zero
Zero
2008, Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Electronic resource in English
Cover of: Zéro, la biographie d'une idée dangereuse
Zéro, la biographie d'une idée dangereuse
September 18, 2002, Lattès
Paperback in French
Cover of: Zero
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
September 5, 2000, Penguin (Non-Classics)
in English
Cover of: Zero
Zero: the biography of a dangerous idea
2000, Viking
in English

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Book Details


First Sentence

"Zero hit the USS Yorktown like a torpedo."

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-238) and index.

Published in
New York
Copyright Date
2000

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
513
Library of Congress
QA141 .S45 2000

Contributors

Illustrator
Matt Zimet

The Physical Object

Pagination
vi, 248 p. :
Number of pages
248

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL43063M
Internet Archive
isbn_9780670884575
ISBN 10
067088457X
LCCN
99036693
OCLC/WorldCat
45029776
Library Thing
16170
Goodreads
64829

Work Description

The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshiped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. Now it threatens the foundations of modern physics. 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.

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History

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April 29, 2023 Edited by frstndlstlns added people
April 29, 2023 Edited by frstndlstlns added copyright
October 21, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
September 9, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
October 15, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page