A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFINITY: THE QUEST TO THINK THE UNTHINKABLE

Book ID/图书代码： 03275015B86571

English Summary/英文概要： Brian Clegg takes us on a fascinating tour of that borderland between the extremely large and the ultimate that takes us from Archimedes, to the latest theories on the physical reality of the infinite. Full of unexpected delights, whether Newton and Leibniz battling over ownership of calculus, or Cantor struggling to publicise his vision of the transfinite, infinity’s fascination is in the way it brings together the everyday and the extraordinary.

We have trouble with infinity - yet infinity is a surprisingly human subject. Philosophers and mathematicians have gone mad contemplating its nature and complexity - yet it is a concept used by schoolchildren. Exploring the infinite is a journey into paradox. Here is a quantity that turns arithmetic on its head, making it feasible that 1 = 0. Here is a concept that enables us to cram as many extra guests as we like into an already full hotel. Most bizarrely of all, it is quite easy to show that there must be something bigger than infinity - when it surely should be the biggest thing that could possibly be.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 布瑞恩•克莱格带我们踏上极大和终点之间边界的迷人旅程，从阿基米德到关于无限的物理现实的最新理论。充满了意想不到的欢乐，无论是牛顿和莱布尼茨对微积分所有权的争夺，还是竭力宣传自己的超穷数理论的康托尔，无限的魅力在于它将平凡和非凡聚集在一起。

我们对无穷有疑惑——尽管无限是一个令人惊讶的人文科学。哲学家和数学家们已经走火入魔般地深思它的本质和复杂性——然而它依然是学生所使用的概念。探索无限是一段进入悖论的旅程。它是一个数，完全改变了算术，使1 = 0成为可能。它是一个概念，使我们能够往一个已满的酒店里挤进更多的客人。最奇怪的是，很容易证明必须有一些比无限更大的东西——当它已经是所能成为的最大的东西。（LNL）

Awards/获奖情况：在书中，克莱格在让最复杂的概念被理解方面做得非常好，同时在没对焦的情况下让他们的神秘继续闪光。——柯克斯评论

克莱格的书可读性很强，并设法传达给听众一些关于无限的关键的数学思想…一个成功。——佳杰思，时代高等教育增刊

易懂，当然，是对无限的开放式概述，从古希腊开始，神学家，数学家和哲学家就开始构想它，并为之争论…无尽的迷人。——劳伦斯•费伦，独立报

Here [Clegg] has done an excellent job of making the most complex concepts accessible while allowing their mystery to continue to shimmer just out of focus. --Kirkus Reviews

Clegg is immensely readable and manages to convey to a lay audience some of the key mathematical ideas concerning infinity... a success. --H. Geiges, Times Higher Education Supplement

An accessible and, of course, open-ended overview of infinity as conceived of and wrestled with by theologians, mathematicians and philosophers, from Ancient Greece onwards... endlessly fascinating. --Laurence Phelan, The Independent

About the Author/作者介绍： 布瑞恩•克莱格是英国最重要的科学作家之一。他在剑桥大学学了自然科学并专攻实验物理，现在为许多杂志和报纸撰稿，包括观察者，华尔街日报，自然，英国广播公司焦点，物理世界和时代。克莱格的作品包括《十个物理学家》，《光年》和《罗杰•培根》。

Brian Clegg is one of the UK’s leading science writers. He read Natural Sciences, specializing in Experimental Physics, at Cambridge University and now writes for numerous magazines and newspapers, including the Observer, the Wall Street Journal, Nature, BBC Focus, Physics World and the Times. Clegg’s works include TEN PHYSICISTS, LIGHT YEARS and ROGER BACON.

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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：Rights have sold variously in China, Korea, Italy and Romania, and Audible have released AudioBooks.

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