Gallery of the Infinite

by Richard Evan Schwartz

Gallery of the Infinite is a mathematician's unique view of the infinitely many sizes of infinity. Written in a playful yet informative style, it introduces important concepts from set theory (including the Cantor Diagonalization Method and the Cantor-Bernstein Theorem) using colorful pictures, with little text and almost no formulas. It requires no specialized background and is suitable for anyone with an interest in the infinite, from advanced middle-school students to inquisitive adults.

Genres: Science, Mathematics

187 pages, Paperback

Published November 17, 2016

About the author

Richard Schwartz grew up in Los Angeles. He wore only blue clothes between the ages of 7 and 11. He spent his youth obsessively playing tennis until video games distracted him. He majored in math at UCLA, got a PhD in math from Princeton, and is currently the Chancellor's Professor of Mathematics at Brown University. His research interests lie in geometry and dynamics. He likes to do mathematical experiments on the computer and then find proofs for the results he discovers.

Rich was an Invited Speaker at the 2002 International Congress of Mathematicians, a Guggenheim Fellow in 2003, a Clay Research Scholar in 2009, and Simons Fellow in 2012. He is the author of a number of books, including Spherical CR Geometry and Dehn Surgery, Outer Billiards on Kites, You Can Count on Monsters, Man Versus Dog, Unnecessary Surgery, and The Extra Toaster. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Barrington, Rhode Island. In his spare time, he listens to music, writes comic books, cycles on the bike path near his house, walks on the beach, or spends time with his family.

Reviews

[Joseph Knecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good illustration of the nature of nothingness and infinity.

The biggest learning is that every set is composed of an empty set (nothing). And there are infinitely many sizes of infinity or many infinite variations of nothing.

[nelleth · Rating 1 out of 5]

problem with Kindle not the book

Heard good things about this book, but when I downloaded the kindle version
It just contained pictures of roosters. The 1 star is just for the bizarre kindle situation, not the quality of the book which was not there to read.

[Ivette Ramos · Rating 1 out of 5]

glitched

It’s not even showing me the actual pages of the book. I think this is bugged or something is wrong.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explanation of multiple sizes of infinities (as well as how to tell if 2 infinite sets are the same size).

The book has bright bold illustrations and few words. It makes complex things relatively simple.

This goes well beyond the Hilbert Hotel.