Euclid's Window: The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace - Softcover

Mlodinow, Leonard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141009098 ISBN 13: 9780141009094

Publisher: Penguin, 2003

Synopsis

In Euclid's Window, Leonard Mlondinow takes us on a brilliantly entertaining journey through 3,000 years of genius and geometry, introducing the people who revolutionized the way we see the world around us.

Ever since Pythagoras hatched a 'little scheme' to invent a set of rules describing the entire universe, scientists and mathematicians have tried to seek order in the cosmos: Euclid, who in 300BC defined the nature of space; Descartes, a fourteenth-century gambler and idler who invented the graph; Gauss, the fifteen-year-old genius who discovered that space is curved; Einstein, who added time to the equation; and Witten, who ushered in today's weird new world of extra, twisted dimensions.

They all show how geometry is the key to understanding the universe. Once you have viewed life through Euclid's Window, it will never be the same again...

'Elegant, attractive and concise ... also very readable. Buy it'
  Ian Stewart, New Scientist

'This is an exhilarating book ... an important book ... and finally, a lovely book, one that reflects the radiance of its subject'
  David Berlinski

'Reader-friendly, high-spirited, splendidly lucid and often hilarious'
  Washington Post

'Mlodinow has a talent for lively and clear exposition ... Pythagoras' proof has lost none of its capacity to astonish and delight'
  Edward Skidelsky, Daily Telegraph

Leonard Mlodinow was a member of the faculty of the Californian Institute of Technology before moving to Hollywood to become a writer for television. He has developed many best selling and award-winning CD-ROMs and is currently Vice President, Emerging Technologies and R&D at Scholastic Inc. He lives in New York City. His other books include The Drunkard's Walk and Subliminal.

About this title

Review

In his charming mathematical history, Euclid's Window Leonard Mlodinow asks "How do you know where you are?" This question and others about space and time grew out of simple observations of the environment by a select group of thinkers whose lives and brains Mlodinow dissects. Starting with Euclid geometry has flowed out over the centuries describing the universe and, Mlodinow argues, making modern civilization possible.

This is not just a history of geometry--it's a timeline of reason and abstraction, with all the major players present: Euclid, Descartes, Gauss, Einstein and Witten, each represented by a mini-biography.

Lots of examples pepper the narrative to help readers achieve their own "eureka!" And it's impossible not to be staggered at the mathematical feats of these geniuses, accomplished as many of them were in the absence of anything but observation and intense thought. Each story builds satisfactorily upon the last until at the end of this delightful book one has a sense of having climbed a peak of understanding.

A working knowledge of basic geometry is helpful but not essential for enjoying Euclid's Window, and Mlodinow's chatty style lends itself remarkably well to explaining these deep and revolutionary concepts. --Adam Fisher

Review

Curt Suplee The Washington Post High-spirited, splendidly lucid and often hilarious.

Michael Guillen author of Five Equations That Changed the World How often can you say that a book on math -- on math! -- is a real page-turner? Well, this one is. As engaging as a soap opera, as fascinating as a whodunit, as funny as the Sunday comics, Mlodinow's book is storytelling at its best.

Brian Greene author of The Elegant Universe There is perhaps no better way to prepare for the scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow than to learn the language of geometry, and Euclid's Window makes this task lively and enjoyable.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0141009098
• ISBN 13: 9780141009094
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320