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One to Nine: The Inner Life of Numbers | 
 enlarge | Author: Andrew Hodges
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $9.50
You Save: $14.45 (60%)
New (34) Used (12) from $9.35
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 275710
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st American Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.7 x 1.4
ISBN: 039306641X
Dewey Decimal Number: 513.211
EAN: 9780393066418
ASIN: 039306641X
Publication Date: May 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
What Lynne Truss did for grammar in Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Andrew Hodges now does for mathematics.
Andrew Hodges, one of Britain's leading biographers and mathematical writers, brings numbers to three-dimensional life in this delightful and illuminating volume, filled with illustrations, which makes even the most challenging math problems accessible to the layperson. Inspired by millennia of human attempts to figure things out, this pithy book, which tackles mathematical conundrums from the ancient Greeks to superstring theory, finds a new twist to everything from musical harmony to code breaking, from the chemistry of sunflowers to the mystery of magic squares. Starting with the puzzle of defining unity, and ending with the recurring nines of infinite decimals, Hodges tells a story that takes in quantum physics, cosmology, climate change, and the origin of the computer. Hodges has written a classic work, at once playful but satisfyingly instructional, which will be ideal for the math aficionado and the Sudoku addict as well as for the life of the party. 40 illustrations.
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| Customer Reviews:
target audience is unclear October 3, 2008
As a math / non-fiction fan and a real fan of Hodges' "Alan Turing" bio, I was really looking forward to "One to Nine". The promise was not met. The material is all over the place and, at times, I had little idea what he was talking about. As a simple example, the relationships among the harmonics in music mean nothing to me. Should I know that background information? Sorry, I don't.
Thus, who actually will buy the book? It's certainly not popularized enough for the general public and it's not heavy enough for a serious math guy. The niche is unclear and probably not large. "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" and "It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science" are better.
Some of the material is indeed quite enlightening and a pleasure to read. Hodges clearly enjoys the ideas and wants to spread the excitement. Through the first half, there were enough moments to keep me going. The second half clicked better, perhaps because it is actually less about numbers and more essay-like about general math and science. Hodges' venture into familiar territory with Turing machines and computers and such has little to do with the specific numbers for the containing chapters, which serve as a vague hook. That was fine with me, as some of that material was quite good.
I wish Hodges had provided answers for some of the many posed problems. Most of them were out of my league and I may not have understood the answers, even if short enough to provide. For several others, I really would have liked to know.
 One to Nine and a lot more September 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am enjoying the book a lot, but bewarned--you may not get a lot of the references he makes if you don't a some math background. I have undergraduate degrees in math and physics and I needed that to understand some of the details. Hodges discusses a lot more than just the numbers. For example he uses the number eight (one byte) as an excuse to discuss a lot about computers and computing with many (interesting) references to the ideas of Alan Turing (about whom he wrote a book). Many of the other chapters also wander into areas you might not have guessed were related to that number--but that's not a bad thing. I recommend the book to readers who haven't forgotten all their algebra.
 Great idea, but disappointing August 27, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Granted I'm only about halfway through the book, but there's a reason for that. The idea, as presented by the NYT book review, is good: relate the math you learned in school, from memorized formulas to more difficult abstractions, to its much more interesting real-life applications, all while illustrating how those memorized relationships and hard-to-grasp concepts underpin so much of what you already take to be fact without attributing the reasons to mathematical relationships. But the prose is just not that enjoyable to me. Perhaps it will improve as I get more into the author's rhythm, but this isn't what I was looking for.
Interesting, Yes, But Way Over My Head August 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have always enjoyed math and use numbers constantly in making illustrations about everyday events. I won't tell you not to try this book as much of the material is fascinating! However, in spite of my mathematical background, I found that most of the material was too abstract for my feeble mind. I had trouble comprehending some of the concepts that were presented as being fairly simple. Hopefully, you are smarter than I am and will enjoy this book. If you struggle with numbers to begin with, I would suggest something more basic.
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