The Different Truth Math Could Offer

(A Book Review on A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel by Guarav Suri and Hartosh Singh Bal)

          I guess Gaurav Suri and Hartosh Singh Bal, the authors of the book are worthy of praise. And as much as I want to elaborate all my points for this book, I’d want to keep this review plain and simple.

          First point, the book was an excellent story teller. It is one thing to have made a storyline out of the numerous journals and personal entries of past mathematicians but it is really another thing when you are able to create an effective story telling mood from the storyline and to actually talk to the readers. This book is one of the few academic related books that I think you could vividly imagine the scenarios. The authors might not have the writing caliber of renowned authors but still, their ability to have connected with their prospect audience give this book and edge.

          Second point, it is not an easy job to review and aggregate a lot of journal entries into one and the book did good justice on the specifics. This part I guess was the hardest for the authors since they’d have to create a self-sufficient story out of the tiny scraps they could extract from the different entries. Now that is hardcore recycling.

          Third point, the fiction, the make-up story and the fictitious characters are effective enough to have proven both the author’s point. The book managed to have slipped off the boring parts of the entries and instead created a comfortable environment for the readers. It is admirable how the main character Ravi was able to revolve around the concepts of mathematics while in a state of being normal for a fictitious character. I mean, usually, being super and awkwardly talented in a certain thing means that character would usually be boring. But in the novel, not only did he entertains the readers with a certain kind of eagerness to retrace and learn the steps his grandfather did but he also gave the readers a sense of responsibility to have to explain everything for the sake of being closer to the certainty of math that he was after to.

          Fourth point, the book I might say is a “mid-brainer” and that is its best asset. No-brainer books would go off the charts usually and eccentrically made books would usually have plots which are - uhm, eccentric? But this book was not a trying-hard one. It is not trying-hard to be something; it is trying just enough to be at the middle between nothingness and fullness. It was jam-packed with theories and insights like Zeno’s paradox and Godel’s Theorem but it never gets to the point where it masks the story and somehow shifts the book from a novel to a mathematics book. As to shorten, I’d say the book is just the right flavor and is palatable (in a metaphoric sense that is).

          On to my last point, after all the praises I’ve been giving, it would be totally unfair to have not noticed anything offensive about the book. I am a believer, I rely on faith and the book just ain’t recognizing people who have religion as a pillar. They believe that whoever relies on religion as a basis for things occurring in the world already gave up on the concept of reasoning. If I take myself for example, religion is another thing and so is rationality. Reasoning is a concept and must not be intertwined with religion because as much as people wanted to believe in the Creator, they’d also want to recognize the reasons why everything were made. We cannot generalize that since these people believes only in one reason to how everything works that they have already grown tired of looking for the reasons. That is why people have ears and brains. People are always ready to listen to the newest concepts every scientist, mathematician, physicist or the likes could create or prove. Then, the brain works on rationalizing these things. Humans are sponges for information and they tend to rationalize whichever would make greater sense. And the book is questioning the ability of every person to absorb things naturally and that would be really offensive.

          I know this book has been very awesome and Suri & Bal really did a great job on creating a masterpiece novel about mathematics and the truth it can and cannot offer. And as expected from great masterpieces, its either they’ve got a simple flaw or a certain selfish concept and that is religion out of the picture from the book. Even though the book tied philosophy with it, the messy parts would have just become messier. However, the book is a magnificent and splendid work. Not once would have I known for a certain book to have existed that could really open math in a unique way.