Science and Inquiry discussion

I'd like to invite members of this group to check out today's "Numberplay" blog in the New York Times (at http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/201...), which includes an excerpt from my recent book "The Universe in Zero Words" and a short interview with me by the writer of the blog, Gary Antonick.

"The Universe in Zero Words" is a history of 24 great equations, from the simple (1+1=2) to the complex (Dirac's equation for the motion of an electron) and from the ancient to the modern. The book is intended to be friendly to all readers, not just math nerds. But even math nerds will learn something new!

The excerpt on the "Numberplay" blog has to do with non-Euclidean geometry, or Whale Geometry as I call it. Find out how whales "see" the world differently from humans! If you like the chapter that Gary wrote about, there are 23 more chapters just as good in my book...

Interesting blog! By the way, is this one of the great equations:
exp(i*pi) = -1
It's a favorite of mine.

Hi David,

Yes, that equation is a favorite of many people -- in fact, it came in #1 in a poll conducted by the Mathematical Intelligencer to select the greatest equation of all time! However, I actually prefer the equation that it comes from: exp(ix) = cos(x) + i sin(x). Read Chapter 12 to find out why!

Also, if you're interested, please take a look at my article in the next issue of Smithsonian magazine (November 2012) about beauty in mathematics -- a theme which was highly relevant to the choice of equations for "The Universe in Zero Words." However, to make the article more original I discussed two examples of mathematical beauty that weren't in the book.

Dana Mackenzie

Dana, I checked out Amazon for this book, but the kindle version says "Not currently available". It looks like it has been available or will be. Do you know if this is a temporary situation?

Hi Betsy,

This is a communication problem between my co-publishers in the U.S. and the U.K. I could go on at length about this, but it would be of interest only to other writers.

The short answer is that I don't think the situation is temporary, because the U.K. co-publisher does not seem very interested in putting out an electronic edition. I don't know what century they think they are living in!

Damn. Unfortunately I read e-books pretty much exclusively. But thanks for the response.

Hi Betsy (and any other e-book fans),

I just found out that my U.K. co-publisher and U.S. co-publisher have agreed on the electronic rights, so there will be an e-book. I don't know when exactly, but probably pretty soon.

Congratulations on the new book; I'll definitely have to check it out!

Leonardo Noto

For Betsy and anybody else who was interested -- "The Universe in Zero Words" is now available for Kindle and it's also in paperback. Strangely, I don't see the paperback version on Amazon.com, but you can find it at the publisher's website, http://press.princeton.edu/titles/966....

Thanks, Dana. It looks really interesting.

I started reading the book. Very well written--and it's beautiful! The layout, illustrations, and printing are wonderful.

I finished reading the book--it's excellent. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in mathematics. Here is my review.

Damn. I think I'm going to have to actually read a paper book. This sounds fascinating.