Is God a Mathematician? [Hardcover]

Mario Livio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2009

Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner once wondered about "the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" in the formulation of the laws of nature. "Is God a Mathematician?" investigates why mathematics is as powerful as it is. From ancient times to the present, scientists and philosophers have marveled at how such a seemingly abstract discipline could so perfectly explain the natural world. More than that -- mathematics has often made predictions, for example, about subatomic particles or cosmic phenomena that were unknown at the time, but later were proven to be true. Is mathematics ultimately invented or discovered? If, as Einstein insisted, mathematics is "a product of human thought that is independent of experience," how can it so accurately describe and even predict the world around us?

Mathematicians themselves often insist that their work has no practical effect. The British mathematician G. H. Hardy went so far as to describe his own work this way: "No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity of the world." He was wrong. The Hardy-Weinberg law allows population geneticists to predict how genes are transmitted from one generation to the next, and Hardy's work on the theory of numbers found unexpected implications in the development of codes.

Physicist and author Mario Livio brilliantly explores mathematical ideas from Pythagoras to the present day as he shows us how intriguing questions and ingenious answers have led to ever deeper insights into our world. This fascinating book will interest anyone curious about the human mind, the scientific world, and the relationship between them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The title of astrophysicist Livio's latest wide-ranging science survey is a teaser since God rarely makes an appearance; along with the French astronomer Laplace, Livio has no need of that hypothesis. Rather, Livio (The Golden Ratio) is concerned with the contentious question: is mathematics a human invention? Or is it the intricate design of the universe that we are slowly discovering? Scientists in past centuries have argued for the latter, Platonist position. In the last 50 years, however, many scientists, calling into question the whole idea of scientific discovery, maintain that we have invented mathematics. Livio gives as one example the famous golden ratio, which has fascinated Western mathematicians for millennia and was originally emphasized for its mystical symbolism. But Chinese mathematicians, not sharing that outlook, didn't discover it—or maybe they just didn't need to invent it. Livio hedges his bets, unsatisfyingly arguing that mathematics is partly discovered and partly invented. But Livio is a smooth writer. His fans will enjoy this book, and new ones may discover him. B&w illus. (Jan. 6)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Four centuries after church inquisitors accused Galileo of dangerous skepticism, a modern astrophysicist hails the Italian scientist as the embodiment of bold faith: namely, faith that God himself inscribed the heavens in mathematics. Because mathematics now empowers research communities investigating everything from deep-space pulsars to genetic proteins, a secularized version of Galileo’s credo now defines the new orthodoxy of science. But Livio recognizes a profound mystery inherent in the formulas his colleagues employ so sedulously: Why does the universe harmonize so well with numbers accessible to human minds? Probing this mystery, Livio traces the evolution of mathematical reasoning from the ritual symbolism of the ancient Pythagoreans to the multilayered analyses of twenty-first-century string theorists. In the impressive parade of intellectual explorers, we encounter Archimedes pondering geometrical figures at the very moment of his death, Descartes overthrowing all of medieval philosophy with one audacious thought, and Gödel quashing the ambitions of system-building logicians. This wide-ranging inquiry, however, ultimately highlights far more than personalities. A sharp conflict emerges between platonically minded philosophers who view mathematical breakthroughs as transcendent discoveries and psychologically inclined thinkers who interpret these breakthroughs as merely human inventions. Testing the tensions between these views, Livio delivers an exhilarating foray into the founding premises of mathematical science. --Bryce Christensen

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; BC ed. edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074329405X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743294058
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #516,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mario Livio is a senior astrophysicist and the Head of the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of The Golden Ratio, a highly acclaimed book about mathematics and art for which he received the International Pythagoras Prize and the Peano Prize, The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved, and The Accelerating Universe. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars answers or questions?, January 10, 2009

By 

Hampton Childress (Towson, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Is God a Mathematician? (Hardcover)

The specific question posed in the title doesn't actually get answered (at least not directly by God). In fact, it gets illuminated, and in the most entertaining and probing ways. Dr. Livio weaves together science, history, and philosophy breathing life into some of the most famous thinkers and thinking about mathematics' extraordinary utility in describing our physical world. He explains these sometimes contrary perspectives so clearly and concisely you feel you could almost write a layman's treatise yourself. Were he a teacher at my high school or university he would have been my favorite, leaving me with not only profound understandings but, perhaps moreso, with profound questions.

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Livio has done it again, January 7, 2009

By 

A reader (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Is God a Mathematician? (Hardcover)

After his fabulous "The Golden Ratio," Livio now tackles the question of the "unreasonable effectiveness" of mathematics in explaining the world. Mixing philosophy, mathematics, and the sciences, he creates an intellectual tension that reads almost like a mystery novel. I liked in particular the chapter on the ideas of Archimedes and Galileo, and the chapter on logic, which was challenging but fascinating.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A concise overview of mathematical history, June 15, 2009

By 

C. Travis (Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Is God a Mathematician? (Hardcover)

I had two reactions to the book. The first is a little negative since the book does not answer the question posed in the title, or the real issue the book sets out to investigate: Why is mathematics is so unreasonably effective at describing nature? Mathematics is used to understand and describe everything from radioactive decay, the movements of planets, the way our brain works, the construction of bridges, and countless other phenomenon. But why does it work so well? The other reaction is positive. The book provides an interesting overview of mathematical history over the past 2,000 years. All concepts are explained in everyday language; no mathematical background is required. This is a strong point of the book. The book is whirlwind tour of mathematical history covering the main ideas of the greatest mathematical thinkers, and touching on such subjects as logic, geometry, gravitation, and knots.