Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Seife tells the “story” of zero in an interesting and fun way, tracing the history of mathematics, numbers, and various civilizations along the way. It’s written with the lay person in mind, and the proofs and equations presented are easy to understand and work through on one’s own. (I particularly enjoyed the proof in appendix A, that Winston Churchill was a carrot!) It begins with ancient civilizations most basic use of the numbers and continues through modern day as scientists hope to unravel the mysteries of time and universe. Here’s my favorite passage:

"Zero might also hold the secret of what created the cosmos. Just as the nothingness of the vacuum and the zero-point energy spawn particles, they might spawn universes. The froth of quantum foam, the spontaneous birth and death of particles, might explain the origin of the cosmos. Perhaps the universe is just a quantum fluctuation on a grand scale—an enormous singular particle that came into existence out of the ultimate vacuum. This cosmic egg would explode, inflate, and created the space-time of our universe. It may be that our universe is simply one of many fluctuations. Some physicists believe that the singularities at the center of a black hole, where time and space have no meaning, is constantly creating countless numbers of new universes that bubble off, inflate, and create their own stars and galaxies. Zero might hold the secret to our existence—and the existence of an infinite number of other universes." (Seife, p.208)

Highly recommended!