A Certain Ambiguity

3rd Book Review. A Certain Ambiguity

The first paragraph in the author’s note explains the whole meaning as to why this mathematical novel exists. It says, “Our principal purpose in writing A Certain Ambiguity is to show the reader that mathematics is beautiful. Furthermore, we seek to show that mathematics has profound things to say about what it means for humans to truly know something. We believe that both these objectives are best achieved in the medium of a novel. After all it is human beings who feel beauty and it is human beings who feel the immediacy of philosophical questions. And the only way to get human beings into the picture is to tell a story.” While I read this, I thought, “Who would write a novel with mathematics as a major supporting tool? This would be weird and this won’t work.” but I was wrong. This mathematical novel was a great reading material. It explained all mathematical aspect in the novel well and it was easy to comprehend. Even people who are not mathematically literate would understand this since every concept is well explained and introductions for each concept are given.

The positive thing about this book, as said above, is that introduction about a concept is given so it is easier to comprehend. An example for this would be about the prime numbers. The students were arguing if someone was certain about something and prime numbers were brought up. (This was stated when they were at a party. It still fascinates me how they could talk about “nerdy” stuff in a party.) The authors did not have to explain the meaning of prime numbers but they still added it. I think it is a good addition for those who are mathematically illiterate.

The writing style of the novel was a bit different for me but it is understandable since the authors of this book are mathematicians and not professional writers or novelists. I think proper grammar and writing is not needed when explaining scientific or mathematical stuff as long as the main idea is presented and understandable. The characters for this novel are also interesting. While reading the book, I thought that the characters where really smart and intellectual. Who would talk about their lessons in a party?  Usually, you would want to forget about everything that’s giving you stress in a party but these students were different. They made the novel entertaining.

The characters are fictional but there is one character I want to meet if this was real and that is Nico. He makes everything about math look appealing, beautiful and everything positive that not all could see. I was also once fascinated by math but drifted away from it. I wish to meet a person like him for me to see mathematics again in another positive light.

All in all, this book was a good read. It explains to you mathematics in a different way. The authors were successful in explaining mathematics in a novel though it was not well written. I am also not sure about them showing that mathematics is beautiful. It depends on the person reading if they saw mathematics as beautiful after reading this book but I saw this book as inspiring, interesting and fun.