Number 9: The Search for the Sigma Code [Hardcover]

Cecil Balmond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

In "Nine Fixed Points in the Wind", internationally renowned structural engineer Cecil Balmond travels into a semi-mystical world to unlock a secret of numbers that has never been told. Through the eyes of Enjil, the boy mathematician, he re-examines the arithmetic of his childhood and discovers behind it a remarkable new mathematical structure that we can all appreciate -yet that will intrigue scientists and mathematicians. The worlds of Enjil and that of the reader travel in parallel. As Enjil is challenged by a spirit to solve the riddle, "What is the fixed point of the wind?", the reader is introduced to strange coincidences in the world of numbers that appear to be predescribed in myth, legend and religion across the world's history. The key seems to be the number nine. On a journey of discovery, Enjil leads us deeper into an inner world in search of the solution. It describes a form - at first linear - then circular - until finally a beautifully spiralling mandala is revealed that links all the coincidences in a single structure and opens a gateway to discoveries beyond. Cecil Balmond is a man at the top of his profession making the most flamboyant ideas of the leading avant garde architects work. His research into form provokes new possibilities in architecture. Through his profession, he has gained a remarkable perception that is uniquely attuned to understanding the structures required within buildings at the cutting edge of contemporary architecture. Recently he chanced to rethink the arithmetic we all use. The results will delight all of us who remember struggling to learn our tables by rote. It is a new theorem of hidden numbers - but it is so simple.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Literary craze for maths and maps"

The Search for the Sigma Code has a dense plot and relies on another imaginary narrator (not a monk this time, but) a boy called Enjil. If you have ever wondered why any prime number is greater than three will, when raised to the sixth power, leave a remainder of one when divided by nine, you will be at home with this book. -- Vanessa Thorpe, The Independent On Sunday - 13 September 1998

"Literary craze for maths and maps" by Vanessa Thorpe. The Search for the Sigma Code has a dense plot and relies on another imaginary narrator (not a monk this time, but) a boy called Enjil. If you have ever wondered why any prime number is greater than three will, when raised to the sixth power, leave a remainder of one when divided by nine, you will be at home with this book. -- The Independent On Sunday - 13 September 1998

As the tale of Enjil's search unfolds, so the use of the Sigma Code unlocks a hidden code beneath numbers, with startling results.

Diagrams, many beautiful and intricate, are used to demonstrate even more dramatically the nature of numbers, much like people, Enjil argues, numbers have a secret nature. Underneath a mantra turns. Hidden by all the permutations of arithmetic the numbers of the code spin quietly, orbiting in a concealed universe.

And like every good mystery, this book is impossible to put down until the riddle has been solved, a solution which is perhaps more of a beginning than an end.

Highly recommended. -- Andrea Beddard - September 1998

Cecil Balmond's mediation on the number 9 is an enchanting tale that reveals a mystery at the center of unexpected arithmetic operations. In a world in which the mathematical has long since stopped being a simple symbol of cosmic order to become synonymous with the prosaic and instrumental, Balmond's work discloses the resonance of abstract, formal revelations with human truths. Number 9 is a work of pataphysical numerology that recovers the potential of numbers to be truly significant. -- Dr Alberto Perez- Gomez, Professor History of Architecture, McGill University

What do the following Architects, and their projects, have in common? The late Jim Stirling, Rem Koolhaas, Enrico Miralles, Ratael Money, Daniel Liebeskind, Ben van Berkel and Alvaro Siza? The answer is that they all called Cecil Balmond of Ove Arup & Partners in London - the author of this book... He is a latterday alchemist of shape, making anything the Architect desires appear, like a puff of smoke, from his algorithmic crucible.

Balmond canonises the compulsion to err, first proposed by Robert Venturi as the 'difficult whole'. He sanctifies with the benison of Number, laying them impartially upon one and all. His book is the tip of the iceberg (or maybe volcano is a truer metaphor) of his knowledge. It will undoubtedly be dangerous for Architects to read, for it will encourage them to believe that any form will do. John Outram is an Architect. -- John Outram for the Royal Institute of British Architects Journal

From the Publisher

Reader's comment from Boston - 16 June 1998
Congratulations on an intriguing and enchanting work!

Reader's comment from architect at New Haven - September 1998
Thanks so much for the wonderful book - mysterious and lucid and a great telling of this fantastic adventure.

Reader from Haifa, Israel - 13 October 1998
First of allow me to congratulate you on a most inspiring book ... and thank you... for the book you have wrote.

Reader from Germany - 27 September 1998
I was overjoyed to find Number 9, The Search for the Sigma Code in my local bookshop yesterday. I have been fascinated with the same number for many years and have built up a small dossier of events and coincides all revolving round the number 9... I have always thought 9 to be a magical number, a number of consequence and portent. Your books some way to confirming my beliefs. It was a jolt and a joy to find another believer.

Reader from Los Angeles - 17 October 1998
I really enjoyed the book's concept. What most intrigued me is the way you have interwoven the story of Enjil with the fascinating quest for magic qualities of Number 9.

Reader from New York - 9 September 1998
You are the only person who can make math's mysteries understandable to me.

Reader from Kent - 6 December 1998
This is a book that has completely altered my way of thinking. From the moment I picked up the book and started to delve into the pages, I kept searching for the number 9 in my own life and now find that I am constantly counting up digits to determine whether they add up to 9. Nine is the number of initiation and departure. When I added up the digits in my date of birth it came to number 9 and the digits in my phone number add up to number 9. Yet before reading this book I have never given it any thought. As each new page revealed even more intrigues governing the number 9, I was spell bound. The book was such a fascinating insight into the world of numbers. It gave me so much pleasure and I would like to think that it would give many more readers the same pleasure and inspiration. It has opened up a whole new world for me.

Reader from London - 8 September 1998
As a teacher I have been frustrated by the limitations of the national curriculum. I have always felt that, because of the pressures in getting pupils through examinations, there is not the time to allow them to have fun with numbers and explore the wonderful world of patterns as much as I would have liked. Now here is a book, which does exactly that. It shows the reader that numbers can be fun. They are taken on a wonderful mystery tour and by the end of the tour will have made many wonderful discoveries on the way. It shows that numbers do not have to be 'boring'. I will certainly be recommending it to my pupils. But in addition I have many friends who share my love of numbers and they too have been charmed by the book.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 236 pages
• Publisher: Prestel (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3791319337
• ISBN-13: 978-3791319339
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #900,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to read this book, February 9, 2004

By 

Srikaran Rajasingam (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Number 9: The Search for the Sigma Code (Hardcover)

I would just like to respond to Flavio's review. As a physicist, I drew the same kinds of mathematical conclusions he did when he read the book. I do not, however, feel that this is the point. Whether 9 comes out in the decimal system or 7 comes out in the octal system is irrelevant. "No 9" remains a beautifully written piece of literature that expresses author's fascination with numbers and geometry. Sure, you can find rigourous mathematical proofs why '9' must come out. I have worked it out myself, and I don't disagree. However, there are many scientific phenomena (rainbows, fractals etc.) that are no less beautiful despite being taken apart, analysed, and understood.
Number 9 is a captivating, well written and beautiful book that was a pleasure to read. The reader is drawn in by the author's fascination with the subject, and kept there by the author's storytelling skill.
I recommend it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Unusual Book!, November 17, 2000

By 

"susanandrews" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Number 9: The Search for the Sigma Code (Hardcover)

This book is one of the most unusual I've come across in quite some time. Blending elements of number theory, history, philosophy and mysticism, Cecil Balmond creates a book unique in its renaissance approach to life. Certainly, if you're looking for a book on academic number theory (see above review), this isn't the book for you, but if you want an fascinating exploration of the implications of the seemingly mundane existance of number, then by all means buy this book immediately. The passion Mr. Balmond has for his topic is clear on every page, as is his vast learning and quick mind. Written for anyone who was every curious about the nature of things in the world will be enriched by this little book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, December 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Number 9: The Search for the Sigma Code (Hardcover)

It captured the spiritual as well as the mathematical. A wonderful little read - for those who have an interest in what lies beyond numbers. A most unusual, charming book. Would certainly recommend it.