AP - Need a good book to make me think

1
10 May 2003

Jonnie:

Looking for a good book to curl up with. Anyone got any personal recommendations? I like things a bit off the beaten track that make you think.

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Deb:

I?m reading a book at the moment called ?Fermat?s Last Theorem? by Simon Singh and I am really enjoying it. It?s about the struggle to solve a mathematical problem that was stated without proof 300 years ago, and the toils and frustration behind one man?s attempt to solve the riddle. My son gave me a copy and told me to read it, he is studying mathematics at university but he knows that I?m an idiot when it comes to mathematical calculations, so don?t let the thought of technical theories put you off. The book centres on the human achievements, jealous passions, intellectual challenges and spiritual motivations of a string of mathematicians from Pythagoras through to modern day.

This book has made me think deeply about how the spiritual dimensions of mathematics were, until recently, at the very heart of astrological study. How the great astrologers of the past were also the great mathematicians, and were stimulated by the profound and intricate relationship between number and cosmic order. We might think we are aware of this in general numerological principles and the work of Pythagoras and Kepler, etc., but this book really drives home the point that the scientific study of mathematics was essentially built upon ?divine? relationships and leaves me convinced that we have a lot to rediscover. Anyway, it?s not the sort of book I would normally read but I can hardly put it down. It was published in 1997 by Fourth Estate, London.

That?s my recommendation.

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Jonnie:

Im going to try to get hold of this.
Sounds a bit similar to *Longitude* by Dava Sobel, which was about John Harrison's struggle to make a scientific breakthrough.

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Sue:

Fermat's Last Theorem has an interesting discussion for people who think that astrology can or should be explained using science or for those who attempt to use science to prove astrology wrong. Singh explains why, when it comes to science, absolute proof is always going to be impossible. There is always going to be an element of doubt. He explains how scientific proof relies on things such as perception and observation. Both are fallible. He then goes on to explain why mathematical proof is infallible.
I got this book last year after reading a great review of it and really liked it. I have no background in mathematics,in fact I was allergic to it at school. However, I found the book very easy to follow.

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Deb:

Sue, I?m starting to think you?ve read every book that?s ever been written!
I have read Sobel?s ?Longitude? and yes I loved that one too. There is similarity in the way both books build sympathy for those that have had to struggle against political opposition, academic rivalry, sinister jealousies, and the trials of fate in pursuit of their quest. Such a common story in the history of human knowledge - it seems that achieving something of real value requires a monumental effort of will to rise above distractions, often to the point where everything else has to be sacrificed or lost.
Actually ?Longitude? was the first, and only other book that my son recommended to me ? I find it strange the way that his recommendations, this thread, Garry?s Phillipson?s ?Anatomy of Doubt? and Sue?s article on Hypatia, have all left my mind swilling with new thoughts and cause for reflection.
I?m not an avid reader ? I can?t count the number of books I start and never bother to finish. When I find a good book that keeps my interest and leaves me wanting more, it makes a deep impression on me. Usually they?ve been around a few years and I ?give them a go? because someone else insists I should. I?m wary of reviews of new books, because they are so full of marketing distortions and friendly favours.
So I?d love to hear more about books that come recommended by their readers.
--Deb

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GarryP:

The Fermat book does sound interesting. My personal recommendation for a good make-you-think-about-things type of book is 'The User Illusion' by Tor Norretranders. It aims to elucidate the nature of consciousness, and manages to pull in all kinds of intriguing scientific and philosophical stuff in.

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Tom:

I'm a book junkie, and I'm going to suggest one I haven't read yet, but the review looks good. *Modern Physics and Ancient Faith* by Stephen M. Barr published by the University of Notre Dame.

Barr's thesis is that the probability that our world, our cosmos, and life were caused by random events is effectively zero. In other words only a Divine Intelligence could have created our world.

From the review: "Barr takes the reader on a journey from Kepler's three laws of planetary motion through Newton's universal law of gravitation to quantum physics, showing that 'as one goes deeper and deeper into the workings of the physical world, to more and more fundamental levels of the laws of nature, one encounters not ever less structure and symmetry, but ever more. The deeper one goes the more orderly nature looks, the more subtle and intricate its design.' "

In short its a scientific version of us versus the materialists and in this book, we win.

On a lighter or perhaps darker subject, one might want to read Patricia Cromwell's *Portrait of a Killer* yet another expose of the identity of Jack the Ripper. I don't think it is Case Closed as she has stated, but her thesis is stronger than her critics allow. Really, once the case is closed what will all those "RIpperologists" do with their time?

Tom

another good book

2
I'm not certain if you can still find this book in print, I've suggested it to Tom, but not on this list, it is one of my favorites.

"Men of Mathematics" by E.T. Bell

It is a book of short biographies of many famous mathematicians. I note it leaves out much of the astrology, but I forgive the book that for all its other interesting notes. For instance Pascal and Des Cartes were contemporaries who hated each other... I'd love to see a book like this about the great astologers (some are already in this book, but what is left out needs to be added back)

MissB