The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges' Library of Babel | 
 enlarge | Author: William Goldbloom Bloch
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $11.99
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Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 138742
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0195334574
Dewey Decimal Number: 868
EAN: 9780195334579
Publication Date: August 25, 2008
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Product Description
"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 vein of Douglas R. Hofstadter's Pulitzer Prize-winning Godel, Escher, Bach, this original and imaginative book sheds light on one of Borges' most complex, richly layered works. Bloch begins each chapter with a mathematical idea--combinatorics, topology, geometry, information theory--followed by examples and illustrations that put flesh on the theoretical bones. In this way, he provides many fascinating insights into Borges' Library. He explains, for instance, a straightforward way to calculate how many books are in the Library--an easily notated but literally unimaginable number--and also shows that, if each book were the size of a grain of sand, the entire universe could only hold a fraction of the books in the Library. Indeed, if each book were the size of a proton, our universe would still not be big enough to hold anywhere near all the books.
Given Borges' well-known affection for mathematics, this exploration of the story through the eyes of a humanistic mathematician makes a unique and important contribution to the body of Borgesian criticism. Bloch not only illuminates one of the great short stories of modern literature but also exposes the reader--including those more inclined to the literary world--to many intriguing and entrancing mathematical ideas.
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| Customer Reviews:
Astounding and beautiful October 20, 2008
Lady Ash (Spartanburg, SC USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I am team-teaching a class on literature and math this year, and my mathematician colleague and I are reading this book together. We are both seriously impressed by it. I'm going to convince him to write his own review, but I can say this:
- the book is *beautifully* written, a profound joy to read in a way that few books are
- I last took any math in high school, and I find the discussions clear and fascinating. If you think that you "hate math" or are "bad at math," don't be too sure. Bloch takes such care and pleasure in explaining mathematical concepts that I could follow them without much difficulty, and with much enjoyment.
I would recommend this book with wild enthusiasm to anyone who finds thinking pleasurable. And I can't stress enough how excellent the writing is.
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