I just took a quick look at the Amazon page for Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity and paused on this quote from a customer review as I scrolled down the page: "I could carve a better book out of a banana." Bwahahahaha!

Okay. It made me laugh, and I admit I'm a big geek.

marydell | March 7, 2004 8:26 PM

Ana’s note about novelists, math, and infinity reminded me a great mathematical quote from Peter Hoeg’s book, Smilla’s Sense of Snow. If I remember correctly, Hoeg quotes Euclid in his book. Euclid gives the reader a definition of a line and it goes as follows, “A line is length without breadth.” This sentence to me is as close to perfection as one can get – there is not an extraneous word present, and it gives the reader something to ponder and consider. For a mathematician, in my humble opinion he does a fine job of writing. Somewhere in the novel there is also a quote defining a point, which is also excellent but this one slips my mind.

Steve

Steve | March 7, 2004 11:28 PM

My sister really enjoyed How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space by Janna Levin. The book has physics and mathematics in it but also reads like a novel.

amy | March 8, 2004 8:02 AM

That's really interesting. I recently saw Copenhagen and definitely intend to read it, just because there was so much to absorb and digest. I haven't sought out any novels with math-centered themes, though, but considering how much I liked Copenhagen, maybe I should.

Andy | March 8, 2004 7:14 PM