One Two Three . . . Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science (Dover Books on Mathematics) Paperback – September 1, 1988

Insightful

This is a great book for those who enjoy questioning the universe, math, science, or practically anything. Despite being forced to read this book by my parents I found the book interesting and enticing. It had me hooked on page one. George Gamow has crafted a masterpiece of complex principles made of simplified literature of things meant for college students, high school students, and teachers and adults and has changed it so that even an elementary school student can understand and enjoy. I could read this book over and over and still be fascinated. I read this book cover to cover and found every sentence just as interesting as the last. It can keep you interested for hours on an otherwise boring subject. I would much rather read this book than have to take a course o the same subject. Instead of being bored five days a week by pointless lectures and tests and quizzes I could read this exciting book at my own pace and speed yet learning the exact same things. It doesn't bore you with pages upon pages of boring, emotionless writing, but instead adds visual depictions and a bit of emotions that makes it much more interesting than your typical textbook or any other educationally directed piece of literature. This book takes complex principles and changes them for the "average" person to read comprehend. If you are a kid and your parents want you to read this take my word for it. It is much more interesting than it seems.

This is a very interesting read, but I've been attempting to read this while on my lunch break at work. It is NOT a "pick up a book and read for a second" type of book. This book, while in the preface explaining that it was originally meant for children, has very mind boggling concepts regarding infinity and a mindset has to be adopted to read with ease. Fantastic concepts, not finished with the book at this point as I've struggled to find the time to dig into it.

Then give her this book! It seems that almost all the reviewers had the same experience: we read this book at an early age, and it was so fascinating, so inspiring, and so magical that it directed us into math and science for the rest of our lives. In my case the book was loaned to me when I was about 12, by my best friend's father. As a result, when I wrote MY first math book (which cannot begin to compare with Gamow's!) thirty-five years later, I dedicated it to my friend's father in gratitude. The book explains how mathematics and science really works, in language which a young person with an eighth grade education can understand. Everyone thinks it takes a genius to understand relativity, but there are lots of fifteen-year-olds walking around with a decent understanding of Special Relativity simply because they read this book.But don't be misled into thinking this book is just for young people. It's for anyone who thirsts for knowledge and understanding, anyone who realizes that it doesn't require an alien life form to understand physics and math. Gamow discusses some of the great unsolved problems in mathematics (at least two of which - the four-color problem and Fermat's Last Theorem - have been solved since the book was written), the theory of relativity, the usefulness of imaginary numbers (square roots of negatives), geometry of more than three dimensions, and many other topics which most people think are accessible only to those anointed with stratospheric IQ's. But Gamow's writing is so clear and entertaining that you'll come away wondering why EVERYBODY doesn't understand those topics.A particularly vivid memory I have of the book is Gamow's demonstration that there are different sizes of infinity. He didn't originate the idea, of course; it was first thought of by a mathematician named Georg Cantor. But once again Gamow makes the mathematics so clear and accessible that I was enthralled. You will be too.

A short note (trying not to be mawkish) - I read and re-read this book in seventh grade, in 1957. This book changed me. It opened my eyes to worlds suspected but not yet discovered; it became a guide for me. Of course I went into the sciences (physics and engineering), and while that would probably have happened anyway, I must at least partly credit this book. Years later I had the great pleasure of hearing Dr. Gamow (GAM-off) speak at UC Santa Barbara. He was old (at least to me) and his accent was heavy, but that lecture sparkled and effervesced as his books. As others noted, when Dr. Gamow led his explorations into the wonders of physics, he did not hesitate to develop the elegant mathematical concepts along the way, clearly and understandably. He assumed his audience was intelligent enough to apprehend the concepts. There may be more modern writings, more up-to-date coverage of physics for initiates; but I know of none that alternately glows and scintillates as this one does. This book is a jewel, a gift.