Divine Language

ISBN: 1250168597

Author: Wilkinson, Alec

Condition: New

A New York Times Book Review Editors ChoiceWilkinson has accomplished something more moving and original, braiding his stumbling attempts to get better at math with his deepening awareness that theres an entire universe of understanding that will, in some fundamental sense, forever lie outside his reach. -Jennifer Szalai, The New York TimesThere is almost no writer I admire as much as I do Alec Wilkinson. His work has enduring brilliance and humanity. -Susan Orlean, author of The Library BookA spirited, metaphysical exploration into math's deepest mysteries and conundrums at the crux of middle age.Decades after struggling to understand math as a boy, Alec Wilkinson decides to embark on a journey to learn it as a middle-aged man. What begins as a personal challenge-and it is challenging-soon transforms into something greater than a belabored effort to learn math. Despite his incompetence, Wilkinson encounters a universe of unexpected questions in his pursuit of mathematical knowledge and quickly becomes fascinated; soon, his exercise in personal growth (and torture) morphs into an intellectually expansive exploration.In A Divine Language, Wilkinson, a contributor to The New Yorker for more than forty years, journeys into the heart of the divine aspects of mathematics-its mysteries, difficulties, and revelations-from antiquity to the present. As he submits himself to the lure of deep mathematics, he takes the reader through his investigations into the subjects big questions: number theory and the creation of numbers, the debate over maths human or otherworldly origins, problems and equations that remain unsolved after centuries, the conundrum of prime numbers. Writing with warm humor and sharp observation as he traverses practical maths endless frustrations and rewards, Wilkinson provides an awe-inspiring account of an adventure in a land of strange sights. Part memoir, part metaphysical travel book, and part journey in self-improvement, A Divine Language is one mans second attempt at understanding the numbers in front of him and the world beyond.