Everything and More A Compact History of Infinity

Is infinity a valid mathematical property or a meaningless abstraction? David Foster Wallace brings his intellectual ambition and characteristic bravura style to the story of how mathematicians have struggled to understand the infinite, from the ancient Greeks to the nineteenth-century mathematical genius Georg Cantor's counterintuitive discovery that there was more than one kind of infinity. Smart, challenging, and thoroughly rewarding, Wallace's tour de force brings immediate and high-profile recognition to the bizarre and fascinating world of higher mathematics.

"A gripping guide to the modern taming of the infinite."-The New York Times.With a new introduction by Neal Stephenson

''Everything and More is, in nearly every way, a gift. It's a thoughtful and witty 300-page testimonial to the qualities I never fully understood that mathematics possessed: Math is astonishing and full of 'shadowlands,' and-ultimately-stunning beauty.'' -Anthony Doerr - Boston Globe

''Wallace is the perfect parachute buddy for a free fall into the mathematical and metaphysical abyss that is infinity.'' -Dennis Lim - Village Voice

''Wallace brings to his task a refreshingly conversational style as well as a surprisingly authoritative command of mathematics. . . . A success.'' -John Allen Paulos - American Scholar

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