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“High-spirited, splendidly lucid and often hilarious” —The Washington Post
“[A] surprisingly exciting history of how mathematicians and physicists discovered geometric space beyond Euclid's three dimensions… This engaging history does an excellent job of explaining the importance of the study of geometry without making the reader learn any geometry.” —Library Journal
“Mlodinow delivers succinct explanations that convey key insights in easily graspable form” —Publisher’s Weekly
“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.” —Brian Greene author of The Elegant Universe
“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. —Michael Guillen author of Five Equations That Changed the World
With his book, Elements, the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid opened a window through which the nature of our universe has been revealed. In the centuries since, genius and geometry have helped us to gaze beyond our horizons, and have inspired us to ask profound questions. What can you prove about space? How can you know where you are? Can space be curved? How many dimensions are there? How does geometry explain the order and unity of the cosmos? These are the questions behind the five revolutions in the history of geometry that are explored in this fascinating book.
Through Euclid's Window Leonard Mlodinow brilliantly and delightfully leads us on a journey through these revolutions, from the Greek concept of parallel lines to the latest notions of hyperspace. Here is an altogether new, refreshing, alternative history of math revealing how simple questions anyone might ask about space -- in the living room or in some other galaxy -- have been the hidden engine of the highest achievements in mathematics, science and technology.
Based on Mlodinow's extensive historical research; his studies alongside colleagues such as Richard Feynman and Kip Thorne; and interviews with leading physicists and mathematicians such as Murray Gell-Mann, Edward Witten, and Brian Greene, Euclid's Window is an extraordinary blend of rigorous, authoritative investigation and accessible, good-humored storytelling that makes a stunningly original argument asserting the primacy of geometry.
Geometry is the basis of many epic breakthroughs in philosophy and science, and it has helped to usher in modern civilization. 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. For those who have looked through Euclid's window, no space, no thing, and no time will ever be quite the same.