The Big Bang of Numbers, Manil Suri
The Big Bang of Numbers, Manil Suri
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The Big Bang of Numbers
How to Build the Universe Using Only Math

Author: Manil Suri

Narrator: Eric Jason Martin

Unabridged: 8 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/29/2022

Categories: Nonfiction, Mathematics


Synopsis

Our universe has multiple origin stories, from religious creation myths to the Big Bang of scientists. But if we leave those behind and start from nothing—no matter, no cosmos, not even empty space—could we create a universe using only math? Irreverent and boundlessly creative, The Big Bang of Numbers invites us to try.

In this new mathematical origin story, mathematician and novelist Manil Suri creates a natural progression of ideas needed to design our world, starting with numbers and continuing through geometry, algebra, and beyond. He reveals the secret lives of real and imaginary numbers, teaches them to play abstract games with real-world applications, discovers unexpected patterns that connect humble lifeforms to enormous galaxies, and explores mathematical underpinnings for randomness and beauty. With evocative examples ranging from multidimensional crochet to the Mona Lisa's asymmetrical smile, as well as ingenious storytelling that helps illuminate complex concepts like infinity and relativity, The Big Bang of Numbers charts a playful, inventive course to existence. Mathematics, Suri shows, might best be understood not as something we invent to explain Nature, but as the source of all creation, whose directives Nature tries to obey as best she can.

About Manil Suri

Manil Suri is a distinguished mathematics professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Author of three acclaimed novels, including The Death of Vishnu, he is a former contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, for which he has written several widely read pieces on mathematics. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.


Reviews

Goodreads review by UKDana

I don't read much non-fiction but when I do it tends to be science based. Having taught Maths at secondary school level (11 to 16 years old) for 35 years I was tempted by the claim that The Big Bang Of Numbers is for "maths aficionados and an accessible introduction for enthusiastic novices". Author......more

Goodreads review by Mishehu

Quite well-done, and generally well-written. A conceit of the book which other reviewers mention critically — numerous references to the pope as reader and fellow traveler of the author — merit the criticism. It’s an annoying and totally unnecessary conceit. Other than that, I enjoyed the book great......more

Goodreads review by Hans

5 stars, rounded up from 4.5 Despite fierce competition from the majority of titles lined up on my bookshelf awaiting their first read, I might want to read this book a second time, this time using it as a guide to delve deeper into the fascinating topics it presents. My engagement with this book was......more

Goodreads review by Paul

Not exactly what I expected. I keep hearing that some scientists theorize that the universe we know and love is entirely a creation of pure mathematics. (There is, of course, a Wikipedia page about that.) Can I be excused for seeing this title in the library, and thinking that the book might be a......more