Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (Great Discoveries)

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  Just finished this and wow am I confused about what to say. Basically if you're already interested in the subject matter (abstract analysis, set theory, the history of infinity and math history in general) then you will probably know most or all of this and can see what you think of Wallace's presentation. If you're not... well despite his best intentions this is probably not the best place to start. Wallace states outright that he wants to write a book that shows the beauty of math withou... (show more)

  Just finished this and wow am I confused about what to say. Basically if you're already interested in the subject matter (abstract analysis, set theory, the history of infinity and math history in general) then you will probably know most or all of this and can see what you think of Wallace's presentation. If you're not... well despite his best intentions this is probably not the best place to start. Wallace states outright that he wants to write a book that shows the beauty of math without requiring more than a basic background, but I can't see anyone really saying that he succeeded, unfortunately. Even without his endless (and admittedly endearing) footnotes and "interpolations" and "emergency glossaries" and other plays on book structure, he seems to have made the subject matter more confusing than it already is (which is quite a bit). As someone who already knew most of the math in this book, I found myself struggling to follow his writing more than a few times.

  On the other hand, it's a wild ride, and mostly a fun one, simply by the nature of its author, who wrote fantastically inventive, quirky, clever, and enjoyably self-referential prose. For example, I'm not sure if he ever used the same adjective twice in this book, which was part of the problem but also, I think, part of the point. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook-användare on Sep 14, 2008 at 10:54AM

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  As a grad student in the sciences, I have some background in applied math. I think this background helped me throughout the book. That said, I didn't have to slog through it. I think I probably stayed up past my bedtime more than a few nights because DFW's writing is so electric.

   

   

  by Facebook-användare on Jul 01, 2008 at 07:44AM

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