Book Review: A Certain Ambiguity

      The mathematical novel written by Gaurav Suri and Hartosh Bal published in the year 2007 under Princeton University Press titled, "A Certain Ambiguity", is a story about finding certainty in mathematics and philosophy that extends to all human knowledge, including religion.

      According to the authors of the novel, their principal purpose of writing " A Certain Ambiguity" is to show the reader that mathematics is beautiful. Furthermore, they seek to show that  mathematics has profound things to say about what it means for humans to truly know something, and the only way to get human being into picture is to tell a story.

     Two stories are inter-weaved in the novel. First is about Ravi Kapoor who gained interest to both mathematics and philosophy from his Infinity class at Stanford when he went there to pursue his studies. While the other story is about Vijay Sahni, grandfather of Ravi, who was put into jail years ago. Apparently, Ravi found out that he is confronting the same mathematical and philosophical dilemna that have put his grandfather into jail years ago by pushing those ideas. His quest to uncover the reason for his grandfather's imprisonment, is where the story of the novel also revolved.

       Among the stories in the novel, I bowled over the story of Ravi with his first encounter with the calculator that his grandfather, Vijay gave him as a present. On my thoughts, it was like I was watching a kid being so immersed in a magic trick and was really really interested and excited to know how the trick works and how his grandfather used the calculator to be a catalyst for Ravi to be passionate about mathematics and his development as a mathematician. So true and effective method, I can say.

       The novel as a whole, is sort of informative and interesting, in the sense that it would let you discover some mathematical tricks that would make yourself get absorbed into. I also liked the story plot, it is an unusual story plot that I've ever read before.