Table of Contents

Part 1 The story of Euclid: the first revolution; the geometry of taxation; among the seven sages; the secret society; Euclid's manifesto; a beautiful woman, a library, and the end of civilization. Part 2 The story of Descartes: the revolution in place; the origin of latitude and longitude; the legacy of the rotten Romans; the discreet charm of the graph; a soldier's story; iced by the snow queen. Part 3 The story of Gauss: the curved space revolution; the trouble with Ptolemy; a Napoleonic hero; the fall of the fifth postulate; lost in hyperbolic space; some insects called the human race; a tale of two aliens; after 2000 years, a face-lift. Part 4 The story of Einstein: revolution at the speed of light; relativity's other Albert; the stuff of space; probationary technical expert, third class; a relatively Euclidean approach; Einstein's apple; from inspiration to perspiration; blue hair triumphs. Part 5 The story of Witten: the weird revolution; ten things I hate about your theory; the necessary uncertainty of being; clash of the Titans; a message in a Kaluza-Klein bottle; the birth of strings; particles, schmarticles!; the trouble with strings; the theory formerly known as strings.

About the Author

Leonard Mlodinow is the best-selling author of The Drunkard's Walk, Subliminal and Elastic, as well as a theoretical physicist who taught at Caltech and was a fellow at The Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics. He co-authored two books with Stephen Hawking- A Briefer History of Time and The Grand Design. There are over one million copies of Leonard Mlodinow's books in print.

Reviews

"Euclid's work [is] a work of beauty whose impact rivaled that of the Bible, whose ideas were as radical as those of Marx and Engels. For with his book Elements Euclid opened a window through which the nature of our universe has been revealed." Strong words, but Mlodinow backs them up with this surprisingly exciting history of how mathematicians and physicists discovered geometric space beyond Euclid's three dimensions. Each advance in mathematical geometry has been followed by unexpected discoveries proving that the strange mathematics actually describe measurable physical properties. Mlodinow, a physicist and a former faculty member at the California Institute of Technology, has also written TV screenplays for Star Trek: The Next Generation and other shows. He has a good sense of popular science writing, and he personalizes geometric abstractions by endowing them with the personalities of his adolescent sons, Alexei and Nicholai. Euclid, Descartes, Gauss, Einstein, and Witten are among the mathematicians profiled, and each of them also emerges with a distinct personality based on the style of their writing and historical anecdotes. This engaging history does an excellent job of explaining the importance of the study of geometry without making the reader learn any geometry. For all math and science collections. Amy Brunvand, Univ. of Utah Lib., Salt Lake City Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Mlodinow's background in physics and educational CD-ROMs fails to gel in this episodic history of five "revolutions in geometry," each presented around a central figure. The first four Euclid, Descartes, Gauss and Einstein are landmarks, while the fifth, Edward Witten, should join their ranks if and when his M-theory produces its promised grand unification of all fundamental forces and particles. Mlodinow conveys a sense of excitement about geometry's importance in human thought, but sloppiness and distracting patter combine with slipshod presentation to bestow a feel for, rather than a grasp of, the subject. Certain misses are peripheral but annoying nonetheless confusing Keats with Blake, repeating a discredited account of Georg Cantor's depression, etc. Some of them, however, undermine the heart of the book's argument. Strictly speaking, Descartes, Einstein and Witten didn't produce revolutions in geometry but rather in how it's related to other subjects, while Gauss arguably produced two revolutions, one of which non-Euclidean geometry is featured, while the other differential geometry though equally necessary for Einstein's subsequent breakthrough, is barely developed. Mlodinow completely ignores another revolution in geometry, the development of topology, despite its crucial role in Witten's work. Occasionally Mlodinow delivers succinct explanations that convey key insights in easily graspable form, but far more often he tells jokes and avoids the issue, giving the false, probably unintentional impression that the subject itself is dull or inaccessible. More substance and less speculation about the Greeks could have laid the foundations for an equally spirited but far more informative book. 11 figures, two not seen by PW. (Apr.) Forecast: The Free Press may be looking for a math popularizer in the mold of Amir Aczel, but Mlodinow falls short. Don't look for big sales here. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.