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Title: A Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable
Subtitle: Brief Histories
Author: Brian Clegg
Narrator: Gordon Griffin
Format: Unabridged
Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
Language: English
Release date: 03-04-13
Publisher: Audible Studios
Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 26 votes
Genres: History, World
Publisher's Summary:
Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.' Douglas Adams, Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Brian Clegg takes us on a fascinating tour of that borderland between the extremely large and the ultimate that takes us from Archimedes, counting the grains of sand that would fill the universe, to the latest theories on the physical reality of the infinite. Full of unexpected delights, whether St Augustine contemplating the nature of creation, Newton and Leibniz battling over ownership of calculus, or Cantor struggling to publicise his vision of the transfinite, infinity's fascination is in the way it brings together the everyday and the extraordinary, prosaic daily life and the esoteric. Whether your interest in infinity is mathematical, philosophical, spiritual or just plain curious, this accessible title offers a stimulating and entertaining listen.
Brian Clegg is author of the highly acclaimed Light Years and The First Scientist. While working for British Airways he set up the Emerging Technologies Group, responsible for researching cutting-edge technologies. He currently runs his own creative consultancy business.
Members Reviews:
Really not great in Audio, not great otherwise
Although I like mathematics and infinity this book did not work in audio very well. A lot of time is spent going over high-school level set theory, and verbally describing Venn diagrams and the interleaving many digit random numbers is pretty uninteresting. The author does not make the personalities compelling and I did not learn a thing from this book. This book is for real beginners, and audio format is not best for this material. The narration is just OK, a little boring and a few flubs.
A history of thought on infinity, lacking a PDF with equations often next to impossible to grasp in this audible format
The audiobook is well narrated and overall good at outlining the history of thought on infinity since ancient Greeks steadily onward. Unfortunately, many a time the narrator reads long equations which are virtually impossible to reconstruct in the minds eye. Surely, some supplementary PDF or accompanying ebook is necessary. In the lack of the former as of this writing, Id recommend buying the latter, which sets you back ca. 3 dollars in kindle format, its worth that. But be aware that there are two entries on Amazon, and for the entire listening I thought that there is only paperback available.
Long listen!
It sometimes gets tedious, but work through it! it freshens up nicely.
Would recommend it to anyone who has some exposure to analysis!
Good, but maths is not suited to the audio format
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Yes, though I find not finish it.
Any additional comments?
I suspect the written form is an excellent book. The audio starts well, the reader is very listenable to. However as the book progresses there is more and more formal maths in it, which ultimately is highly unsuited to the audio format. How do you read out an equation?I may well get the print version, but I gave up on the audio.
