Book Review: A Certain Ambiguity by Gauray Suri & Hartosh Singh Bal

“Maybe it’s because mathematics is not a spectator sport. You have to do it to appreciate it, and doing it requires patience and persistence. You can love a song without being able to sing, but that doesn’t work in mathematics. Nevertheless, the beauty is there for you to find.”

            Of the three math books I have read so far, A Certain Ambiguity has got to be the most interesting of all. I commend the authors’ approach in explaining the beauty of mathematics through what they call a mathematical novel. The book had its own way of captivating its readers-mathematicians and non-mathematicians alike, by involving certain ideas about mathematics, its philosophy and the beauty of the science concerning its surroundings. It was wise of them to incorporate the principles of mathematics in the life of a boy who grew indifferent to the science after the death of his grandfather.

            The book was written well enough to make its readers understand the beauty of mathematics through incorporating it in many philosophies in life. In this book it touches how mathematics can be a way of understanding the world-that it does not only focus on solving alien problems but it also has its way in contributing to life’s greatest questions. Mathematics, as explained in the book, deals on the certainty of truth. Philosophical, I know, but it does make a point for only in mathematics do we not consider a solution or answer, no matter how brilliant it may be, without proof. As quoted, “The historical acceptance of a statement as fact does not make it so.” Mathematics does not deal on how long an idea has been accepted, but the proof of the idea and its certainty.

            It is difficult to have to review a novel who holds more ideas than what is expected of a math book. It truly is a great and easy read. The book gives life to mathematics and mathematicians and how math has evolved and adopted to the present math community today. Out of everything, what truly is captivating about this book is it gives mathematics a human existence-that mathematics is not something alien but something human we can understand.