It has been a long time since “The Fountainhead” that I came across a novel so satisfying as “A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel” by Gaurav Suri and Harosh Singh. Certainly not two of the known strata of intellectual authors that I have tried to read over the past year, kudos to them for the book! Now the book does not boast about a great vocabulary or the use of satirical statements that make you smirk at the wit of the author. Neither does it transport you to a fairy land. It talks about two things: Mathematics and Philosophy. Or rather one, Mathematical Philosophy.
The book has two subplots, one being the narrator’s story and the other being the story of the narrator’s grandfather’s arrest when he came to America as a mathematics student. Both the stories run parallel and get interspersed with each other by the end. Each one complimenting the other. The story is simple, without any romantic drama that often accompanies a novel. A grandchild follows into the footsteps of his mathematician grandfather, goes on to study at an American university and realizes that he has a lot of finding out to do about his grandfather and himself. Where is the math?
I say, everywhere.
Did you know there are other geometries apart from the “Eucledian Geometry” which are co-existent with the Eucledian Geometry? Did you know that a simply stated problem as that of the Continuum Hypothesis has led to the formulation of a set theory co-existent with the one that we read about? Did you know it is actually possible to just read the proof of a theorem in laymen’s terms and be able to understand it without the help of any mathematical symbols? And, most importantly, did you know that the Axiomatic Approach of mathematics is just one of the many schools of mathematics that have been adopted by philosophers like Spinoza?
Well, pardon me for being a little too obnoxious and putting up the above mentioned things as discoveries of higher order when in fact they have been there for a long time! It’s just that I chanced upon them through this book and I am glad I did! The main theme of the book which is established at a leisurely pace and dealt with quite mathematically is the concept of absolute truth or “certainty”. Now, for someone who often finds herself confused about what is real and what is not, having the characters of the book as accomplices was quite a consolation!
So, summing it up, there are three main elements to the book that I liked: the variety of introductory mathematical theorems supplemented with easy to understand proofs, the fictitious journal entries by famous mathematicians obviously based on a lot of research about their ways of thinking and the intertwined philosophical aspect of God, faith and truth. Though the main theme of the book makes for another blog post in the near future, here is what I suggest to all mathematics enthusiasts: Read it! In fact, all those looking for a stimulating book reading experience: Read it!
The book has two subplots, one being the narrator’s story and the other being the story of the narrator’s grandfather’s arrest when he came to America as a mathematics student. Both the stories run parallel and get interspersed with each other by the end. Each one complimenting the other. The story is simple, without any romantic drama that often accompanies a novel. A grandchild follows into the footsteps of his mathematician grandfather, goes on to study at an American university and realizes that he has a lot of finding out to do about his grandfather and himself. Where is the math?
I say, everywhere.
Did you know there are other geometries apart from the “Eucledian Geometry” which are co-existent with the Eucledian Geometry? Did you know that a simply stated problem as that of the Continuum Hypothesis has led to the formulation of a set theory co-existent with the one that we read about? Did you know it is actually possible to just read the proof of a theorem in laymen’s terms and be able to understand it without the help of any mathematical symbols? And, most importantly, did you know that the Axiomatic Approach of mathematics is just one of the many schools of mathematics that have been adopted by philosophers like Spinoza?
Well, pardon me for being a little too obnoxious and putting up the above mentioned things as discoveries of higher order when in fact they have been there for a long time! It’s just that I chanced upon them through this book and I am glad I did! The main theme of the book which is established at a leisurely pace and dealt with quite mathematically is the concept of absolute truth or “certainty”. Now, for someone who often finds herself confused about what is real and what is not, having the characters of the book as accomplices was quite a consolation!
So, summing it up, there are three main elements to the book that I liked: the variety of introductory mathematical theorems supplemented with easy to understand proofs, the fictitious journal entries by famous mathematicians obviously based on a lot of research about their ways of thinking and the intertwined philosophical aspect of God, faith and truth. Though the main theme of the book makes for another blog post in the near future, here is what I suggest to all mathematics enthusiasts: Read it! In fact, all those looking for a stimulating book reading experience: Read it!
hmmmm... yes, it seemed to be quite interesting! i'll TRY reading it for sure! ;) samjha dena doubts ho toh!
ReplyDeleteAye.. have to give this one a flip!
ReplyDelete:)
@Both - Yes, sure thing! :)
ReplyDelete