più divulgativo che matematico

Se a voi piacciono i racconti bene ordinati nel tempo, questo libro non fa per voi: i capitoli si susseguono secondo un ordine che non ho ben chiaro, ma sicuramente non è cronologico. Se invece vi fanno paura le formule matematiche, leggetelo tranquillamente. A Clegg piace infatti raccontare storie, più che raccontare matematica. Non che lui non sappia di matematica: potete stare tranquilli che quello che c'è scritto è corretto. Semplicemente il suo pubblico è quello dei curiosi a 360 gradi, per cui la matematica è solo uno degli aspetti da considerare. Alla fine della lettura avrete insomma più un'idea dei matematici che della matematica. ( )

http://pro-libertate.net/20110207/153-read-brief-history-infinity-quest-think-un... ( )

Not an easy book to review. Clegg ranges over so many historical developments as he explains how concepts of infinity were developed and as techniques emerged to deal with the innately large and the infinitely small. One of the things that I found most fascinating was his short biographies of some of the characters along the way. Cantor, for instance, being opposed and persecuted by his former mentor, Kronecker, and, eventually, Cantor suffering from mental breakdowns. Were they directly caused by Kronecker? Maybe. And his equally delightful pen-picture of Kurt Godel...the party boy...who later turned into a very strange old man suffering from paranoia. And, of course, Galileo...suffering at the hands of the "defenders of the faith". Faith has a lot to answer for! And having faith never seems to have turned out correct when it didn't support objective facts.
I've been struggling with writing reviews of several books recently and this is one of them. There is a heck of a lot of solid information there and Clegg ranges over so many subjects from Indian concepts of zero divided by zero, to Newton and Leibnitz's competition over the invention of calculus; Cantor's techniques for dealing with multiple infinities; Bertrand Russell and set theory (and Venn diagrams .....did Euler actually invent them?). Yes, there is certainly a lot to digest there though Clegg writes well and the historical material is quite fascinating. But if you want to get a better grasp on the nature of infinity I'd recommend "Beyond Infinity" by Eugenia Cheng. She goes into a lot more detail about how one might go about filling "Hilbert's Hotel".....with infinite rooms when every room is full and a coach load with infinite guests arrives. I enjoyed Clegg's book but don't pretend to understand all the concepts. I give it 4 stars. ( )

Very brief, they weren't kidding. A lot of typos and off the wall references. But okay for an introduction ( )

Excellent...a well done history and development of our understanding or non-understanding of the concept of infinity. ( )