Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (Great Discoveries)

by David Foster Wallace

Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (Great Discoveries)

book data

381 ratings, 3.49 average rating, 60 reviews (more data...)

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published

November 30th 2004 by W. W. Norton & Company

binding

Paperback, 336 pages

isbn

0393326292 (isbn13: 9780393326291)

description

Before discussing the merits of David Foster Wallace's Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity, it is essential to define what the b...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 640)

All ratings | 5 stars (61) | 4 stars (135) | 3 stars (122) | 2 stars (48) | 1 star (13) | avg 3.49

all | this edition

Shannon

Shannon marked it as to-read (review of isbn 0753818825)

10/06/08

bookshelves: non-fiction, to-read, want-to-own

I think I'm going to have to return this to the library and try to read it at another time. I can't read any of Wallace's work right now, it makes me really sad. Because when I've read it in the past I've always been like: THIS IS SO BRILLIANT and I think of how amazing it is that someone so genius is alive. But.. he's not. Anymore.

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Alex V. Cook

Alex V. Cook rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

10/30/08

bookshelves: didn-t-finish-it

Read in October, 2008

I am thirty pages into David Foster Wallace's Everything and More; A Concise History of ∞, his rather witty and personable take on higher math, and while I know it is a weak impulse to read everything written by a suicide as a suicide note, his meditations on induction and phenomenology and infinity are littered with anxiety, using the notion of "if you really thought about it, you'd never get out of bed" as the pedestals on which he places intellectual theories without which the dow...more

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Suman

Suman rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

09/24/08

Reading other goodreads reviews, I decided I should write something because it seems that the other reviewers are either lazy or illiterate. "Everything and More" is unlike any other "pop" math book I've ever read. Most math books involve the personalities of these mythical math beings with some horrible math analogies sprinkled in to deceive the reader into thinking she is reading a math book rather than a poor biography. DFW does something completely different, actually wri...more

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Rob

Rob rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

10/15/08

bookshelves: non-fiction-for-egghead-spacealiens

Read in October, 2008

most books ought to be half as long as the published product. this one needed to be twice as long.

started out 5 stars. lots of great stuff on ancient greek philosophy and the relationship between how they thought about math and how they thought about the universe. typical hilarious DFW non-fiction humor/profundity mixture.

"...the single most ubiquitous and oppressive feature of the concrete world -- that everything ends, is limited, passes away."

"a language is bot...more most books ought to be half as long as the published product. this one needed to be twice as long.

started out 5 stars. lots of great stuff on ancient greek philosophy and the relationship between how they thought about math and how they thought about the universe. typical hilarious DFW non-fiction humor/profundity mixture.

"...the single most ubiquitous and oppressive feature of the concrete world -- that everything ends, is limited, passes away."

"a language is both a map of the world and its own world."

the middle third gets mathier as he goes through the 17th and 18th centuries. a lot of jolly descriptions of the personalities and human foibles that are part of all public intellectual communities. but as things get more technical, he starts talking too much about how things are getting more technical, and how he knows that he's not going to be able to please any of his readers, since it will be too techinical for many, too simplified for others, etc., etc.

finished up 3 stars. only in the last third do we finally get to Cantor, and even then it's only maybe half Cantor, with lots of Dedekind, Weierstrass, and Godel, which would be great if the book were twice as long. but as it is, there seems to be only 30-40 pages on Cantor and his work. you can feel DFW rushing and cramming, and he knows he is, and he starts apologizing and explaining over and over why he's only going to be able to barely mention this and won't have space to mention that, etc. also, he actually tries to include quite a few proofs and examples, but in almost pure prose, which makes it very hard to follow.

i think that to like this book, you have to be a fan of DFW and have a pretty serious math background. not surprisingly, it has a pretty awful rating at amazon, with lots of 1-star ratings, both from civilians who call it incomprehensible and from pro-type math geeks who call it rubbish. pretty sad.

but if you like penrose or hofstadter, you might like this. more history and humanity here than those two....less

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Meghan

Meghan rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

08/14/08

what to say about this book?

1. the first half is easier to follow than the second, even if you are already somewhat familiar with transfinite math.

2. the first is more... philosophical than the second, and the second is much more mathematical than the first. what i found interesting in the first half was the discussion of different historical views on infinity and how it reflected different historical worldviews. what i found interesting in the second half was the historical sequence of ...more what to say about this book?

1. the first half is easier to follow than the second, even if you are already somewhat familiar with transfinite math.

2. the first is more... philosophical than the second, and the second is much more mathematical than the first. what i found interesting in the first half was the discussion of different historical views on infinity and how it reflected different historical worldviews. what i found interesting in the second half was the historical sequence of mathematical discoveries which led to Cantor's inquiries into transfinite numbers. and all throughout, you've gotta love the whole real/rational/irrational number theory stuff.

3. both halves are focused on history, but the second is much more specific than the first.

4. there is no exact divide between the halves, no part 1 or part 2, but it definitely gets harder to follow in the second half or so.

5. i know have a minor in math, and i had a teacher in high school who taught us a little about transfinite numbers. i probably had the perfect amount of knowledge for this book. i knew enough not to be totally overwhelmed, but not enough to be bored. having read the book, i do wish i knew more about fourier and trig series, though.

i guess that's what i have to say about this book. also, that it would have been a lot easier to read or follow if dfw had stopped acting as though that 300 page book were a booklet, and if he therefore used page numbers to refer to different sections of the text instead of section numbers. you only get to be that presumptuous if you're writing the definitive deliniation of transfinite math's history, and this isn't it, because it doesn't balance its focus on the philosophical implications of mathematical discoveries with the history of those discoveries. the first half makes you think the book will focus more on the philosophical implications, but the second focuses more on just the history of the discoveries. i wish the philosophical implications and the history were balanced more equally throughout....less

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Jarrodtrainque

Jarrodtrainque added it (review of isbn 0393003388)

09/11/07

Before discussing the merits of David Foster Wallace's Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity, it is essential to define what the book is not. This volume in the "Great Discoveries" series is not a history of the personalities and social conditions that led to the "discovery" of infinity. Nor is it a narrative fixated on the cultish fear of--and obsession with--the infinite that has seemingly driven mathematicians insane over the centuries. Rather, Everything and ...more

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David

David rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

07/23/07

bookshelves: mind-numbingly-boring

Love him or hate him, DFW is a prodigious talent. Except for the disturbing "Conversations with Hideous Men" I have found his previous material to be so hilariously, intelligently, on-target that I was willing to overlook a multitude of stylistic transgressions (chiefly, the overly cutesy tone, gratuitous flaunting of the author's erudition, the footnote fetish).

So I was reasonably disposed to like this book and was looking forward to reading it. Sadly, it turns out that this was ...more

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1 comment

Justin

Justin rated it:

(review of isbn 0753818825)

04/15/07

Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: Wallace Fans/Math Nerds/Infinity Nerds

The reason this book works so well is that Wallace writes about the history of grappling with possibly the most slippery and forbidding concept (infinity) in a very conversant tone. While at times, I did feel like he went overboard a bit so that it went from "conversant" to "patronizing," I generally like DF Wallace a lot and appreciated what he was trying to do with this book (i.e. write a book that "anyone can read" about a "very complicated subject").
...more The reason this book works so well is that Wallace writes about the history of grappling with possibly the most slippery and forbidding concept (infinity) in a very conversant tone. While at times, I did feel like he went overboard a bit so that it went from "conversant" to "patronizing," I generally like DF Wallace a lot and appreciated what he was trying to do with this book (i.e. write a book that "anyone can read" about a "very complicated subject").

This is one in a number of books written or due out under the Great Discoveries series that Norton is putting out under their Atlas imprint. Wallace's is, I believe, the first. Regardless, this isn't typical pop science/math literature. I read this book because I really like Wallace and I had a general interest in the subject. True to form, though, this book is written in classic Wallace style. The sentences are not as long as what you may be used to with Wallace, but he has not abandoned his love for profuse footnotes, the acronym (there is an acronym glossary in the beginning of the book in case you lose track), occassionally turning common nouns into proper nouns, and generally using a very conversant prose style interpolated with really impressive words you have to look up in the dictionary that remind you just how smart Wallace is (if the suject matter itself isn't doing the trick). All of this, I believe, stems from Wallace's (perhaps excessive) concern with his audience, which, also, I believe, is what led him in part to do postmodern fiction in the first place.

My main problem was that even though this was supposedly written for the layman, I had trouble with A LOT of the heavier, abstract math, which is, well, a large part of the book. I basically just bit the bullet and trudged through it because I'm a dedicated enough Wallace fan to do that. Depending on how much you like Wallace, and how much math you had (and can remember) in high school and college, the reading may be more or less enjoyable for you.

Overall, good stuff. I'm looking forward to reading Consider the Lobster....less

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Stephen

Stephen rated it:

02/07/08

Read in February, 2008

This starts off pretty lucid and fascinating--a real page turner--with some cool paradoxes (such as, if you cross a street, first you have to cross half a street, but before you can cross half you have to cross half of that and before you can cross half of that... and so on... so how could you ever cross the street when there are an infinite number of halves you have to cross first?), interesting history, and mind-blowing concepts (a line contains an infinite number of points, no matter how long...more

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John

John rated it:

08/22/08

Read in March, 2004

This book is long and feels long. I took three weeks to finish it. Nonetheless, it is an engaging study of the theory of infinity, and the implications of infinity in mathematics from the Greeks to the early 20th Century. If you have an affinity for math, the first five chapters are fun, the sixth and most of the seventh are hard, and then it all comes together at the end. I felt like I learned something, though I can't remember much of it now. I can tell you that the Pythagoreans hated irration...more

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Angela

Angela rated it:

09/06/08

bookshelves: 2005, math, nonfiction

Read in August, 2005

I forced myself to read this jumbled, ill-organized, and badly edited math book solely because it was written by David Foster Wallace, one of my favorite authors. "Everything and More" forced me to look up many unknown pieces of math terminology and nearly caused me to buy a handy math reference book due to its hideous lack of an index or a list of symbols used. Curse you, DFW! All this tremendously difficult and dense reading required a week or two of forced marches to manage. Frankly...more

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Anna

Anna is currently reading it (review of isbn 0393003388)

06/09/07

bookshelves: currently-reading, mathematics

Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: anyone who finds math interesting

I'm still reading this book, but what I find most interesting thus far is DFW's use of abbreviations and symbols as a part of his writing--for example, using the lemniscate instead of writing the word "infinity". It has the effect of making the reader aware of concepts that essentially exist beyond language (in this particular occasion) and in others, makes one aware of how highly developed and ingrained linguistic sign patterns are that we can use either symbols, acrostics or initial...more

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Mame

Mame rated it:

(review of isbn 0965156257)

02/10/08

Read in January, 2007

This is pop mathematics with wit and charm second only to E. T. Bell.

Infinity is a tricky subject---it is so easy to dramatize without saying anything substantive. But, thankfully, DFW is straightforward with the math. He does ham up the drama a fair bit, which made the book feel kind of tired. I am going to blame my boredom with the book on the fact that I read more history and philosophy of math than any girl should. OTOH, since I love history/philosophy of math so much, I can't help but r...more

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erock

erock rated it:

(review of isbn 0753818825)

03/02/07

Read in December, 2004

recommends it for: people with beards

What?
Huh?
Yeesh, what happened?

Infinity got the best of me...this time.

If this book taught me anything it is that Infinity is bigger than me.
In fact, it made brain shrivel a little.
When it comes to math, I'll admit, I'm a bit of a slouch. When it came to reading this book, I'll also admit I was a bit of a slouch.
Interesting, to say the least, this whole Infinity thing.
But, at the end of the day, I like my like my liquor neat and my coca-cola warm and my numbers f...more

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Brad

Brad rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

10/06/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

It's not entirely accurate to catagorize this book as "currently reading". It's the book I'm always reading. I've read it cover to cover many times and will likely read it many more times. It's the book I read between books or when I need a sure travel companion or when I need to be inspired. The concept is staggering and the writing is, per all DFW's work, exquisite. Perhaps the ultimate meeting of form and content... Not an easy read but oh so worth it.

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Keef

Keef rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

10/06/08

This wants to be a pop intro to the concept of history. It succeeds, mostly, and gives a fairly concise socio-historical look at the history of infinity through its modern applications. Unfortunately, I couldn't get all the way through it-- I got about two-thirds of the way through before I got tired of understanding so little of the actual math involved. This was a book that made me want to take a math class again. It should be commended for that.

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Matt

Matt is currently reading it (review of isbn 0393003388)

10/03/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

I bought this book today, along with Bob Dylan's memoir, a Mishima book, and another book on Gustav Klimt. Call it a bit of birthday shopping compulsion. The concept of recursion, loops, circles, and infinity have long interested me, and how coincidental that the main author I've been digging of late, David Foster Wallace, wrote what he dubbed a 'pop technical' work on one of my amateur interests. It will be fascinating to see what I learn.

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2 comments

arphaxad

arphaxad rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

11/22/08

Read in November, 2008

Erm, it starts out just fine, but I'm just wasn't good enough at math (and/or a patient enough reader) to keep up with this one. I suppose if I'd ever actually taken trig or calc, I may've done better, but ultimately this was too much technical math stuff and not enough dfw goodness for me to do much more than struggle on through.

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Paul

Paul rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

07/01/07

For thousands of years, people smarter than me have struggled with the ideas of "infinitely big" and "infinitely small". This book chronicles their the history of their ordeals.

I find DFW's footnote-heavy in-jokey style mildly to heavily irritating, but I was willing to tolerate it because of his obvious excitement. I used to think of analysis as pointless pedantry, but DFW convinced me otherwise -- high praise!

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Jim

Jim rated it:

(review of isbn 0393003388)

12/31/07

Read in December, 2007

i really like david foster wallace. and by like, i mean something along the lines of - i seek out his words like a junkie seeks out smack. here, he takes on a massively complex subject of which i know nothing (and have always been curious) and renders it lucidly.

i didn't dig into the hardcore math to the extent i could have, but wallace managed to generate understanding on multiple levels.

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