A book review on
A Certain Ambiguity A Mathemitical Novel by
G. Suri and H. Singh Bal
“Say What Now”
was the first three words that I used when I heard that we are going to make a
book review about a mathematical novel. I like Sci-fi movies or anything that
involves science and a great story plot but I was not really expecting to see
and do a book review about a math novel.
Mathematics was
involved in every part of the book. Principles, theorems and mathematicians are
intently woven in the storyline which I give the authors an explicit high five
for a job well done. Tsing Clap High Five. This book also involved serious
philosophical aims which would contradict point of views of the believers; you
do not want them as bashers.
Ravi Kapoor the
main character in this book is fascinated by philosophy and mathematics but
before we elaborate that further let me show you how Ravi discovered
mathematics in his life. Ravi’s Grandfather gave him a present a calculator and
a math problem on his birthday; by the way the grandpapa of Ravi is a great
mathematician so for me this is like the cliché version of the mathematician
handing down their great legacy or a heirloom for instance to the younger breed
of their kind. For me if I was Ravi I will not accept the calculator but
instead ask for a toy car or a ball for instance but Ravi was happy with the
gifts and this opened his mind to explore mathematics even more.
Another cliché
that is commonly found in novels are a death of a special someone or the most
influential person in the life of the main character. In this book Ravi’s
grandfather died, but lucky for Ravi his grandfather left him some funds to
pursue his career in Stanford University inclined to Economics. Mathematics is pretty
much involved with Economics, so yeah that explains a lot. So he goes to
Stanford fueled by hopes and dreams, his mother constantly reminds him to do
good in school in order to have a great job and help his family with the
financial difficulties. The slumdog in America where he gets to fulfill his
dream, you know where I am getting to. Moving on..
Ravi met
Professor Nico who also specializes in the field of Ravi’s Grandfather. What a
great coincidence. He took the course “Thinking about Infinity” where Professor
Nico was teaching. Ravi and Prof. Nico had this little chat and then he
mentioned his grandfather and then suddenly the Professor knows his grandfather
and suddenly looks for the book his grandfather wrote and found a footnote
stating that his grandfather wrote this book while he was imprisoned.
This was the
shocking revelation that pumped up every antagonist in most novels. Finds one
plausible secret and suddenly gets pumped up in search for the truth and know
the reasons behind. Funny point is that the grandfather of Ravi was imprisoned
because his mathematical ideas were considered as blasphemous? Who the hell
imprisons a smart ass guy which is not a threat to the national security basing
it only to his ideas? I mean ideas do not kill people unless your idea is to
kill people and he is just human so he can basically have his ideas and it
depends to the people around him if they will believe in him. Then Ravi started
exploring how his grandfather got imprisoned and started to question and did
some research that would help him know the truth. Typical things that any
protagonist would do in any movie or story; he learned so many things that
enlightened him changed his views and all.
One thing that I
do not like about this book is when they were not able to respect and recognize
the people that have faith in God. Unlike the first mathematical book that I
did a book review, this book did not give a damn about faith. The book
represented by the author considers faith as irrational and lacks reasoning. Mathematics
is based on facts and obviously mathematics should not rely on things that are
not present by the time being or things that basically you put your faith on.
That does not apply to my Faith in God. People tend to believe in something
that would help them realize and rationalize things that are unexplained for
the time being. Our human capacity is just so minimal we can not explain
everything that is why science and all sorts of field married to science can
not explain everything. Just like the Story of Maths Part 4 even mathematics
can not prove everything. Mathematics helps us a lot and really has a lot of
reasoning behind but for me I believe in God but I still have a lot of
reasoning behind my brain. Scientists, mathematicians and physicists or whatever
icist or icians you are; one can never show or prove how man came up to this
earth and explain the wonders of nature. That is just how life works, and if
you are really reasonable enough you will start believing in God.
I got a little
carried away with the argument on the book about math and religion sorry for
that. The book presents mathematical theories, postulates and many things about
mathematics and its builders. Some people mentioned ring a bell like Paul
Cohen, Euclid etc and so many other people. The story plot was a common one and
has a typical happy ending because Ravi turned out to have a happy life and
basically it is just a happy ending. Do not worry because the math part and the
arguments will totally stir up your mind juices and will totally get rid of the
boredom. Good Read and it is definitely better than the first book that we did
a book review on and basically you are going to say Say What Now while reading
the book. Adios
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