Uncovering Writing

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting romp through some of the mathematics of the 16th and 17th centuries. The author’s larger goal was to tie the battle regarding infinitesimals (which would lead eventually to calculus and modern analysis) to the rise of modernity across Europe. He succeeds on the first part but I think fails on the linkage. It’s a clever hook but it feels like he’s forcing the facts into his thesis to make a gripping story, not because they cleanly fit.

This is not a math textbook, but there are some neat things for the reader to work through. I enjoyed even more the history of the mathematicians: where they were from, how they were educated, what they did, who they worked for, who they collaborated and fought with, etc. That was very interesting and worth reading the book just to get their stories.

The writing was repetitive. Points were made, reiterated, reflected upon and written again. I felt whole chapters could have been reduced to several paragraphs. This topic would have been better suited to a long article instead of a book-length piece. While redundancy can be forgiven (one can always skim), the author was often melodramatic. I can tell he was excited about his topic and that excitement was contagious, but he went overboard in trying to make each paragraph feel like a cliff-hanger of a poor television series. I kept waiting for music to cue up and hear the announcer from Batman say “What will become of Cavalieri? What secrets does Guldin have up his sleeve? Tune in next paragraph to find out.” [Yes, I am being consciously melodramatic here.]

I’d originally thought of giving this book two stars, but I looked at my reviews from the last two years and I thought that would be unfair. So, I gave it three stars. I did learn things and I enjoyed the history of mathematics, religion and politics.