Beyond Reason (eBook)

A.K. DEWDNEY, PH.D., is the author of several critically acclaimed math and science books, including A Mathematical Mystery Tour; Yes, We have No Neutrons; and 200% of Nothing, all from Wiley. He was a member of the computer science department at the University of Western Ontario and at the University of Waterloo for a combined period of thirty years before retiring. In 1996, he became an adjunct professor of biology at UWO. For eight years, Dewdney was the Computer Recreations columnist for Scientific American magazine.

Introduction: Where Reason Cannot Go.

Math in the Cosmos.

1. The Energy Drain: Impossible Machines.

2. The Cosmic Limit: Unreachable Speeds.

3. The Quantum Curtain: Unknowable Particles.

4. The Edge of Chaos: Unpredictable Systems.

Math in the Holos.

5. The Circular Crypt: Unconstructable Figures.

6. The Chains of Reason: Unprovable Theorems.

7. The Computer Treadmill: Impossible Programs.

8. The Big-O Bottleneck: Intractable Problems.

References.

Further Reading.

Index.

"...appropriate for general readership...should proveas popular as his other books..." (Short BookReviews, Vol.24, No.3, December 2004)

"...an intelligent book with considerableenthusiasm..." (Materials World, Vol.13, No.1)

"...one of the most rewarding science reads I have had thepleasure of in a long time...."(Chemistry &Industry, 17 January 2005)

"...fascinating...keeps firmly to the areas ofscience where the impossibility is demonstrable." (ForteanTimes, No 189, November 2004)

"...looks closely at eight great problems that revealthe limits of science..." (Materials World,September 2004)

Dewdney (A Mathematical Mystery Tour), best known for theScientific American column "ComputerRecreations," which he wrote for eight years, sets animpressive goal for himself: "to discover how physicalreality depends on mathematical reality, and to examine howmathematical reality manifests itself." He attempts to dothis by outlining four problems in the physical realm and four inthe mathematical realm that he believes can never be solved. Thetopics he discusses are largely of great interest to science andmath buffs: perpetual motion, the speed of light,Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, chaos theory, squaringthe circle, unprovable but true mathematical theorems,"simple" problems that no computer program can solve,and the fact that some mathematical problems would require aninfinite amount of computer time to solve. In his chapter on chaostheory, for example, Dewdney does a very nice job of explaining whywe will never be able to predict the weather accurately more thanfour days in advance. The problem throughout the book, however, isthat he alternates between colorful prose or explanations of basicterms (such as "primary number") and relatively densemathematics (transcendental and transfinite numbers), neversettling on who the appropriate audience for this study might be.B&w illus. Agent, Linda McKnight. (May) (PublishersWeekly, April 5th, 2004)