Euclid's Window

Name: Euclid's Window
ISBN: 9780713996340

The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace

by Leonard Mlodinow · first published 2001

5mentions

5recommended by

5HN commenters

2016–2022first – last mentioned

100% recommend

Why HN recommends it

Narrative history of geometry, from Euclid to non-Euclidean ideas, explaining the why of mathematics. Readers find it novel-like and wonder-inducing; suited to general readers and parents curious about math.

Summarised by Claude from recommending comments

Mathematics History

Physicist/writer Mlodinow leads us on a journey through five revolutions in geometry, from the Greek concept of parallel lines to the latest notions of hyperspace. Here is a new alternative history of math revealing how simple questions anyone might ask about space have been the hidden engine of the highest achievements in science and technology. The journey goes from Pythagoras through Gauss and Einstein and into the midst of a new revolution in which scientists are recognizing that all the varied and wondrous forces of nature can be understood through geometry--a weird new geometry of extra,

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What Hacker News says

JohnDotAwesome · Mar 19, 2016 · Recommends

…book. It's probably one of my favorite narrations (I've got over 120 audiobooks under my belt now). Bryson set the bar pretty high. Then I listened to Leonard Mlodinow's "The Upright Thinkers"; Oh god. Euclid's Window by Mlodinow was absolutely fantastic, and it was narrated by the slightly pompous-sounding -- but fitting -- Robert Blumenfield. Leonard had a somewhat slow, drawling voice, and he often stumbled over…
on “Ask HN: How much do you make at Amazon? Here is how much I make at Amazon” ↗
vmurthy · May 3, 2022 · Recommends

As a dad to a 7 year old (and another one on the way :)) , I find the following books wonderful. They evoke wonder in me and hopefully I will be able to transmit some of this to the kids . 1. Euclid's Window 2. Music of the primes
on “Ask HN: Books that made you fascinated to learn more mathematics?” ↗
KirinDave · Sep 2, 2017 · Recommends

…making decisions for a product. The Information by James Gleick. Remember, Africa has had long range, distributed, fault tolerant wireless communication networks since before Europe had reliable clocks. Euclid's Window by Mlodonow. The entire arc of history in a sweeping curve towards, ultimately, machine learning. Reading Doc Smith's lensmen series (particularly the chronologically first 2) helped me recognize how…
on “Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?” ↗
eyeundersand · Nov 17, 2020 · Recommends

…here's some (across different genres) that are in my memory at this moment: Finance/statistics : The Black Swan by Nicholas Nassim Taleb The Drunkards Walk by Leonard Mlodinow Math/science history : Euclid's Window by Leonard Mlodinow A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson Physics: Newton's Principia for the Common Reader by S. Chandrasekhar Lit: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky House…
on “What Gödel Discovered” ↗
jimmy1 · Feb 25, 2019 · Recommends

…like books that read almost like novels to really grasp the "why" of mathematics, so these are more to embellish your general understanding of "what is the point" type questions -- so things here like Euclid's Window come to mind, and "An Imaginary Tale: The story of square root minus one" will help explain complex numbers in more detail than you ever cared. Reading about the history of mathematics and the writings…
on “Books I Recommend” ↗