Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable (Paperback)

by Brian Clegg (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
It amazes children, as they try to count themselves out of numbers, only to discover one day that the hundreds, thousands, and zillions go on forever-to something like infinity. And anyone who has advanced beyond the bounds of basic mathematics has soon marveled at that drunken number eight lying on its side in the pages of their work. Infinity fascinates; it takes the mind beyond its everyday concerns-indeed, beyond everything-to something always more. Infinity makes even the infinite universe seem small; yet it can also be infinitesimal. Infinity thrives on paradox, and it turns the simplest arithmetic on its head, with 1 seeming feasibly to equal 0, after all. Infinity defies common sense. The contemplation of it has relieved at least two great mathematicians of their sanity. Thoroughly readable and entirely accessible, science writer Brian Clegg's lively history explores infinity in its many intriguing facets, from its ancient origins to its place today at the heart of mathematics and science. He examines infinity's paradoxes and profiles the people who first grappled with and then defined and refined them, offering information, mystery, and poetry to conceive the inconceivable and define the indefinable.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (December 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786712856
• ISBN-13: 978-0786712854
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #558,656 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and somewhat informative, August 25, 2004

By	Marvin J. Greenberg (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I know that Clegg is trying to reach a broad audience and I think he writes well enough to succeed. But I think that by skipping certain details he underestimates the ability of his readers.

For example, I was disappointed that he did not adequately explain Weierstrass' great epsilon-delta explanation of limits, which turns infinity in the calculus into a facon de parler, nothing mysterious after all.

In his discussion of Bolzano, I learned interesting things about his political conflicts but it wasn't clear what he contributed to better understanding the real numbers.

He mentions that Gabriel's Horn has infinite surface area but volume pi, which is fascinating, but he gives no explanation of why these results hold.

But I did learn about the belated 1993 publication of an important work by Leibniz on indivisibles, as well as a few other valuable tidbits, so the book was useful to me as a professional.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, but I wish he'd give more details, December 29, 2003

By	Bruce R. Gilson (Rockville, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I liked the book. Clegg covers both the concept of infinity and its companion, the concept of infinitesimal, from Greek days to the present, in a way I found very readable. I have very little to complain about except that I found it sometimes frustrating that his treatment oversimplified and didn't give enough details.

(For example, he has a chapter on Abraham Robinson's nonstandard analysis. I think that, next to Cantor, Robinson's ideas are probably the most important on the subject of anyone who has worked in it, yet I felt I did not get an adequate picture of Robinson's ideas of infinity and infinitesimals from the chapter.)

Still, it is the best book on the subject at a "popular" level I have seen.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good look at math history through one idea, February 16, 2004

By	Ronald Brown "rboffp" (Florham Park, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoy these types of books that track one idea through history. This book tracks the concept of infinity through history. It gives you a good look at the history as math as well as good insight into infinity. I thought Clegg did a good job making the concepts understandable for a "lay" person. If you are interested in math history, this book is a worthwhile read.