Silvia Grimaldi Grimaldi itibaren Siemierz, Polen
The reason this book works so well is that Wallace writes about the history of grappling with possibly the most slippery and forbidding concept (infinity) in a very conversant tone. While at times, I did feel like he went overboard a bit so that it went from "conversant" to "patronizing," I generally like DF Wallace a lot and appreciated what he was trying to do with this book (i.e. write a book that "anyone can read" about a "very complicated subject"). This is one in a number of books written or due out under the Great Discoveries series that Norton is putting out under their Atlas imprint. Wallace's is, I believe, the first. Regardless, this isn't typical pop science/math literature. I read this book because I really like Wallace and I had a general interest in the subject. True to form, though, this book is written in classic Wallace style. The sentences are not as long as what you may be used to with Wallace, but he has not abandoned his love for profuse footnotes, the acronym (there is an acronym glossary in the beginning of the book in case you lose track), occassionally turning common nouns into proper nouns, and generally using a very conversant prose style interpolated with really impressive words you have to look up in the dictionary that remind you just how smart Wallace is (if the suject matter itself isn't doing the trick). All of this, I believe, stems from Wallace's (perhaps excessive) concern with his audience, which, also, I believe, is what led him in part to do postmodern fiction in the first place. My main problem was that even though this was supposedly written for the layman, I had trouble with A LOT of the heavier, abstract math, which is, well, a large part of the book. I basically just bit the bullet and trudged through it because I'm a dedicated enough Wallace fan to do that. Depending on how much you like Wallace, and how much math you had (and can remember) in high school and college, the reading may be more or less enjoyable for you. Overall, good stuff. I'm looking forward to reading Consider the Lobster.
This is NOT a fantasy book. This is an attempt at writing the Great American Novel, with references to magic. This book does NOT throw you into some widely imagined fantasy world, where you fall in love with the characters and want to live there. This book is in NO WAY an adult Harry Potter. This is NOT a book that motivates you to escape every day life... At times I put the book down to wash the dishes or write a shopping list. This book IS Harry Potter IF and ONLY IF: - you take out Hogwarts & put in a small college of a 100 geeky students who only study hard "boring texts on magic" (how it is described in the book) - you take out any interesting characters or magic from Harry Potter & put in a manic depressive main male character surrounded by other characters that have mental disorders that are boring. - you take out all of the antagonists (that's right no Snape-like, Malfoy-like, or even Voldemort-like characters..) There is no enemy. GET THIS: the enemy is (sound the bell) the main character's hope. That's right, i said it. His hope conflicts with his depression and his desire to be depressed throughout the book. - you take out the Harry Potter style of making a school year the entire story of the book & summarize Each college semester into a chapter. So that by chapter 8 you've basically gone through four years of college at this magic college and you end up having no connection too. I literally can't tell you anything interesting about the college or the professors. THIS IS A FREAKIN CHARACTER STUDY ON HOPE & DEPRESSION that is under the guise of Fantasy. Which is fine for people who love well-written fiction character studies, but I wanted a freakin fantasy book, Asshole! I didn't want to follow the journey of depressing middle class kids who are not satisfied with their parents, are consistenly depressed and negative all though nothing has happened in their lives to suggest that the depression is justified. They are not overly impressed with magic and they shouldn't be because its described as "studying for complex calculus" or even better the Dean (what's his name... I don't know, he's uninteresting, lacks interesting magic... he is no dumbledore) anyway the Dean tells them at graduation "Maybe we are all natural magicians because we are so depressed and unhappy!" This guy should be assasinated for his advertising this as an adult Harry Potter book or even fantasy!