Euclid's Window: The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.60 (889 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B002XGLCVA |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 477 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-11-19 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
This is not just a history of geometry--it's a timeline of reason and abstraction, with all the major players present: Euclid, Descartes, Gauss, Einstein, and Witten, each represented by a minibiography. Each story builds satisfactorily on the last, until at the end of this delightful book, one has a sense of having climbed a peak of understanding. --Adam Fisher. Starting with Euclid, geometry has flowed out over the centuries, describing the universe, and, Mlodinow argues, making modern civilization possible. Lots of examples pepper the narrative to help readers achieve their own "eureka!" And it's impossible not to be staggered at the mathematical feats of these geniuses, accomplished as many o
"Don't Be Fooled - This Is More History of Modern Physics than Geometry" according to LVZee. This book purports to tell "the story of geometry from parallel lines to hyperspace." The first half starts to do exactly that. Then Mlodinow seems to get bored with geometry. Starting with the chapter on Einstein, he switches over to physics. While the history of modern physics may be interesting, it has been told many times, and was not wha. Very Good Book With An Excellent Epilogue This is a very good book, much better than I expected. I thought it would be more like a college mathematics text book. Instead it is more like a novel. It is very readable and the subjects flow smoothly from one to another. I found the reading enjoyable and it kept my interest from one chapter to the next. Most of it is not too technical or . "Great back stories" according to Don Anderson. Having taught University Chemistry for many years, this book was great because it gave the back story on the lives of many of the physics/chemistry theory discoverers.Favorite quote: "This question was settled for good in 19Great back stories Having taught University Chemistry for many years, this book was great because it gave the back story on the lives of many of the physics/chemistry theory discoverers.Favorite quote: "This question was settled for good in 1931 by the shocking theorem of Kurt GÄdel: he proved that in a system of sufficient complexity, such as the theory of . 1 by the shocking theorem of Kurt GÄdel: he proved that in a system of sufficient complexity, such as the theory of
Then, while intrepid mariners were sailing back and forth across the Atlantic to the New World, a fifteen-year-old genius realized that, like the earth's surface, space could be curved. But further advance was halted when the Western mind nodded off into the Dark Ages. Today we are in the midst of a new revolution. Based on Mlodinow's extensive historical research; his studies alongside colleagues such as Richard Feynman and Kip Thorne; and interviews with leading physicists and mathematicians such as Murray Gell-Mann, Edward Witten, and Brian Greene, Euclid's Window is an extraordinary blend of rigorous, authoritative investigation and accessible, good-humored storytelling that makes a stunningly original argument asserting the primacy of geometry. Finally in the fourteenth century an obscure bishop in France invented the graph and heralded the next revolution: the marriage of geometry and number. Here is an altogether new, refreshing, alternative history of math revealing how simple questions anyone might ask about space -- in the living room or in some other galaxy -- have been the hidden engine of the highest achievements in science and te