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The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges' Library of Babel
"The Library of Babel" is arguably Jorge Luis Borges' best known story--memorialized along with Borges on an Argentine postage stamp. Now, in The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges' Library of Babel, William Goldbloom Bloch takes readers on a fascinating tour of the mathematical ideas hidden within one of the classic works of modern literature.
Written in the ve...more
Written in the ve...more
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
September 1st 2008
by Oxford University Press, USA
(first published 2008)
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Paul
marked it as to-read
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Of all the short stories in Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges' masterpiece collection FICCIONES, "The Library of Babel" is one of the most peculiar. This weary narration by an aged caretaker of a library of seemingly infinite expanse involves several exotic mathematical principles, yet ones fairly easily graspable by the layman. The mathematician Bloch has written a fine book about all the thought-provoking concepts in Borges' story.
The complete text of "The Library o...more
The complete text of "The Library o...more
“Bloch is not only a mathematician, he's also a critic who has reviewed a lot of the literature on the Library of Babel and the life of Borges. So there is a lot in the book besides working out some of the mathematical implications of Borges' inspirations.
If you got as far as calculus in your math studies then you can probably follow most of the math without too much trouble. If you are a fan of Borges, there is a lot here about his math background and interests that you probably didn...more
If you got as far as calculus in your math studies then you can probably follow most of the math without too much trouble. If you are a fan of Borges, there is a lot here about his math background and interests that you probably didn...more
This book is *awesome*! Why? The author takes a short story, "The Library of Babel," by Jorge Luis Borges and analyzes it along many different mathematical dimensions. The results are stimulating and accessible to non-mathematicians. The story is about a library, which is composed of:
An indefinite number of ... hexagonal galleries. In the center of each gallery is a ventilation shaft, bounded by a low railing. ... Twenty bookshelves ... line four of the hexagon's six sides......more
The author does a very good job of explaining some of the mathematics that are implied from Borges' short story, and thus uses this as a generative point. The section on the manifold may be a bit confusing for many (although the author does give his frequent "advisories"). Perhaps a little too much time is spent in the beginning making qualifying comments / apologies when they may not be necessary. In my view, there were a few other avenues the author could have explored, but that is h...more
A clear and straightforward explanation (for laypeople) of the complex and high-level math implicated in Borges' classic short story, "The Library of Babel." Though the story is just a few pages long--a fabulous translation, much better than the one I had previously read, is included in the beginning of this text--it raises questions from all different fields of mathematics, relating to the vastly huge number of books, the possible shape of the Library, and the textual combinations tha...more
This book is well written and shows many aspects of infinity as well as explaining much of what infinity means and how we can view or believe some things to be infinite. It explains the passage very well and analyzes many of the arguments of how Borgues conveys this library. I enjoyed it thoroughly but don't think many others would unless they enjoy math or explanations of philosophical concepts.
Great book about the maths behind trying to make a library of every book that could ever be written. My favorite part of the book is in the preface when the authors asks "who is the intended audience for this work" and answers his question "Of the more than 6 billion people who are not Umberto Eco, I imagine that those who'd find this work appealing are..."
A concise exposition of the mathematics we can employ to orient ourselves in The Library.
Ok, so I'm an easy mark for this book. I was concerned that this would be insufficiently mathy or literary or both, but it is a careful balance of readablity and high concept math. What the title promises, the book delivers.
I just pulled this off the shelf. Reading just the first page makes me feel like Umberto Eco.
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