A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel
Winner of the 2007 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Mathematics, Association of American Publishers"The joy that accompanies [Suri and Bal's] early excursions into proof will buoy up a floundering newcomer, while allowing old hands to recall the thrill of meeting the ideas for the first time."--Katherine Körner,Nature"Good stories need rich characters that we care about, not mathematical theorems, however fascinating. So a work of fiction subtitledA mathematical novelmakes you fear that it may only expose the tremendous difficulty of blending science and logic with the emotion and dramatic tension required of good literature. Fortunately, in this case that fear is misplaced, becauseA Certain Ambiguitysucceeds both as a compelling novel and as an intellectual tour through some startling mathematical ideas....A Certain Ambiguityis a brilliant and unusual novel."--New Scientist"Here is a book that succeeds both as fiction and nonfiction. . . . The book sweeps up those who are sensitive to the intellectual adventure of mathematics. It accurately portrays the attraction and enjoyment that are to be found in the play of ideas. I recommend it highly to all those who have an interest in mathematics."--William Byars,SIAM Review"In the delightful, yet deep tradition of Lewis Carroll, Martin Gardner, A.K. Dewdney, and Marco Abate comesA Certain Ambiguityby Gaurav Suri and Hartosh Singh Bal...There is no doubt that Suri and Bal have set a difficult goal for themselves and have succeeded in making difficult mathematical ideas accessible...[W]hat makes the work of Suri and Bal a fine example of this tradition is what makes any successful and more traditional novel work--rich and warm characterization, an interesting plot, and a conclusion that illustrates the equal proportions of ingredients of certainty, ambiguity, frustration, and joy in the proof of our human-ness."--Gurunandan R. Bhat,The Financial Express"I loved this novel. I hope we see more 'mathematical novels' being published in the future."--Donald L. Vestal,MAA Review"The writers have created a book that could fascinate those who have just a rudimentary knowledge of math..."--India Abroad"Suri and Bal's unconventional book praises the beauty of mathematics and the logical inevitability of its proofs. The book is also a discourse on the struggles between truth, faith, and reason. All this is woven into two weeks in the life of Ravi, an Indian student at Stanford University, and his accidental discovery that his grandfather was once convicted of blasphemy in a New Jersey town...Among the many books that aim to make mathematics more accessible to the nonmathematician, this is a remarkably pleasant and successful achievement."--J. Mayer,Choice