One Million [Paperback]

Hendrik Hertzberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 1993

Five thousand dots on each page, coupled with amazing events and statistics, help the reader grasp the concept of "one million" and understand what being a millionaire is all about. Reissue. 10,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hendrik Hertzberg is a senior editor and staff writer at the New Yorker, where he frequently writes the opening Comment in "The Talk of the Town." Hertzberg originally joined the New Yorker in 1969, after serving as an officer in the U.S. Navy. He left after the 1976 Presidential election to serve as President Jimmy Carter’s chief speechwriter from 1979 until 1981. From 1981 until 1992 he was associated with the New Republic and served two terms as its editor. In 1992, he returned to the New Yorker. 

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 201 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1st edition (August 10, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812920996
• ISBN-13: 978-0812920994
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,408,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars time for a revised edition, September 19, 2005

By 

holly moors (haren gn, gn Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Million (Paperback)

Hendrik Hertzberg's "Politics" is the best book on politics I have ever read. Period. His "One Million" is a highly original book that makes your "feel" for numbers improve by each page. Time for a revised reprint though.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The simplest possible statement of the profound., April 22, 2001

By 

Adams Douglas (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One million (A Gemini Smith book) (Paperback)

How big is the quantity 1,000,000? Do you know? Okay, you know it's a thousand thousands or some other multiple or metaphor. But can you think of the quantity one million and _know_ it? This book allows you to do that.

In a world where we are bombarded with huge numbers from every side with graphs and charts that show comparisons--sometimes good, sometimes not so good--this book is a revelation. Its graphics are stark simplicity: 200 pages of an array of dots, each page has 5,000 dots; every two-page spread has 10,000 dots, all arranged in rows on each page of 100 dots per row.

To keep us interested in the numbers and not numb us with visual repetition, certain dots are set aside and numbered with a particular statistic from fanciful (2: population of the Garden of Eden) to concrete for the time of the book's publication (a number in the 11,000's for the number of taxicabs in New York City in 1970). Each page is also headed with where we are in the march to 10^6.

This is not a book you "read" so much as experience. Once you page through it and understand what One Million means you can start to generalize by going back to the first page: One billion is the same as the first fifth of the dots on the first page--where every dot represents a copy of the book.

I suppose it is out of print because of the ease which anyone could reproduce it on a personal computer nowadays and the obsolesence of some of the statistics. But as an educational artifact for those who need help with their numeracy, it is priceless.

I only hope it is reprinted, or its equivalent is recreated soon for the benefit of all students of Number.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Million, July 20, 2010

By 

Jewel - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Million (Paperback)

This book represents a very interesting way to demonstrate to students and children what one million means.