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The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero |
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T he Nothing That Is:A Natural History of Zero by Robert Kaplan Oxford University Press 225 pages, 1999 ISBN 0195128427 Reviewed by Lisa Eagleson-Roever Kha. Ambara. Sunya. Null. All have been used as names for the lowly and yet oh-so-controversial zero. Before numbers were understood in the abstract, they had to stand for something in particular. Some ancient shopkeepers even modified their numbers to both represent the amount and the object being counted. Thus, for millenia there was no zero. After all, how can something stand for nothing? Can nothing exist without actually being something? Robert Kaplan's THE NOTHING THAT IS explores the practical, theoretical, and (human) psychological history of zero, both as a character and as a concept. It's fascinating and funny. It would make a nice gift, too, as you only need high-school-level algebra and geometry to follow most of it. If you're looking for something truly different, check out THE NOTHING THAT IS. |
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