A Certain Ambiguity
When I first heard the title of the book, A Certain Ambiguity, I thought that I
might have just misheard it. I mean, it can’t be right, right? It doesn’t sound
right. But when I finally decided to open and start reading the softcopy I have
of the book, I heard it right after all. Yes, there is an existing book
entitled A Certain Ambiguity. A lot of things come rushing into my mind just
because of the title. I may be over reacting or exaggerating at some point, but
you could not blame me if I am curious and perhaps, bothered of the play of
words in the title. These words, certain and ambiguity (or ambiguous), are two
opposite words. So, what could be certain yet ambiguous at the same time? I
then started reading and feed my curiosity.
First of all, A Certain Ambiguity is a novel, a
Mathematical novel at that, by Gaurav Suri and Hartosh Singh Bal. The story
started with Ravi, the protagonist in the story, reminiscing the times he and
his grandfather shared when he was a kid. It was his grandfather who gave him a
calculator as a gift on his 12th birthday. His grandfather even
taught him tricks he could do with the calculator. That day marked the start of
his learning and exploration into the world of Mathematics. However, his happy
and knowledge-filled days with his grandfather didn’t last that long. He was
eager to find out what could be the next puzzle his grandfather would give him,
only to find out that the next puzzle would be uncovering the life of his very
own grandfather.
Years had gone by and Ravi turned into a fine
intellectual young man. He passed Stanford University and decided to study
there, using the money his grandfather had set aside for his education. He
entered the prestigious university, furthered his education and came across
different people who all had a significant influence in his life.
He enrolled in a class called Thinking about Infinity. In the class, there were discussions on
various theorems and postulates including Zeno’s paradox, Euclidean geometry
and the Continuum Hypothesis. Well, I must admit, these are discussions which I
skipped reading in the book.
As the story continues, he discovered that he may have
lived similarly like his grandfather. Aside from their love of jazz music,
dislike in long phone conversations and the likeness of their angular
handwriting, he discovered that his grandfather have also been to America
during his younger years. But one thing that really shocked him was that his
grandfather was once imprisoned in America. With the help of his friends and
further research on his grandfather’s case, he found out that his grandfather
was arrested because of blasphemy.
There are certain areas or parts of the book which are
ambiguous. Well, at least, for me. Or perhaps, it wasn’t really ambiguous.
Perhaps, I was just not used to having literature, mathematics and philosophy
all rolled into one.
Also, I must admit that I am more than halfway into
finishing the book but due to time constraints and endless academic
requirements from other subjects, I resorted to not finish the book, which is
one thing I regret. I promise though that I would get back on to reading the
book and finally finish it, and discover what might have been the certain
ambiguity that lies within the book.
To end my book review, here are words of wisdom from
Nico, as mentioned in the book, “Maybe it’s because mathematics is not a spectator
sport. You have to do it to appreciate it, and doing it requires patience and
persistence. You can love a song without being able to sing, but that doesn’t
work in mathematics. Nevertheless, the beauty is there for you to find.” His
words are strong. We need longer patience and a lot of persistence to
appreciate math.
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