Customer Reviews

The Loom Of God

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The author has done a wonderful job in taking math and making it interesting. By weaving non-fiction and fiction into one coherent story, Pickover has been able to take math and give it a life of its own. Certainly a good addition to any mathematicians library, but an even better addition to everybody's library because everybody can understand it!

If you've gotten bored of hunting the wumpus, check out The Loom of God. It covers vast mathematical areas, many of which make excellent computer programs. One intriguing concept presented was that of "sociable numbers." That is, numbers A, B, C, D, E (or more) for which the factors of A add up to B, the factors of B add up to C, and so one, until the factors of E add up to A. As you might imagine, the search for sociable numbers requires either VERY powerful computers, or VERY innovative algorithms... none of which are discussed in the book. It does however, provide an excellent introduction this and many other mathematical topics.

Entertaining bored programmers is not, of course, the primary focus of the book, but it alone makes the book worth buying.

Rarely can you find a mathematical theme devloped in such a complete and beautiful way. The photographic content alone is priceless yet one goes into the story and inmediatly you start calculating. This is a book for all ages and a true collectors item.

What does Pickover mean by the loom in the "Loom of God?" There are two historic looms that I can think of that relate to this title.

The first loom is the Greek Loom of the Fates. Each person's life is a thread. This is a loom of destiny. When one of the Fates cuts your thread, it is all over.

The second loom is a mathematical loom. The Jacquard Loom used punched cards to control the positioning of threads. Herman Hollerith adopted the punched cards for the tabulation of 1890 census data. Soon after that, he founded a company, the Tabulating Machine Company, which after some mergers, in 1924 became the International Business Machines Corporation.

Pickover's loom is a combination of the Loom of the Fates and the Jacquard Loom. It is a mathematical loom of destiny. In this work Pickover illustrates mathematical calculations for the end of the world. There is, of course, the end of the 5000-year Mayan calendar cycle, December 21, 2012. But, did you know about the population explosion of November 13, 2021, or the impending comet impact of August 21, 2126? And Pickover looks like such a happy person in his dust jacket photos.

Along the way to our destiny, we are treated to the Urantia Book which contains some interesting large numbers. The Urantia Book is like the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP). They are each over 2000 pages long, the author is unknown, and they are treated as bibles by some. We also learn that the Aubrey holes at Stonehenge can be used to predict eclipses. This interesting analysis was explained by G. S. Hawkins in Stonehenge Decoded. We also learn about quipu knot writing, numerical gargoyles, and much more.

The "Loom of God" is filled with interesting stories and mathematical curiosities. This book is wonderfully illustrated. There is a drawing or photo on almost every page to go with the stories.

As for the end of the world, my bet is September 21, 2012, three months before the Mayan calendar flips its 5000 year page to a new cycle. This date is when some models have predicted that the Arctic Ocean will be ice free. Actually, this event will not be the end, but may signal an early tipping point in the climate change scenario. In the meantime, enjoy Pickover's book.

"Clifford A. Pickover leads readers on a dazzling, lushly illustrated tour of the intersection of number and the numinous." - Publisher's Weekly, April 1997