
Shape
The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and EverythingElse
Jordan Ellenberg(Author)
Penguin USA (Publisher)
Published on 24. May 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
480 pages
978-1-9848-7907-3 (ISBN)
Description
An instant New York Times Bestseller!
"Unreasonably entertaining….reveals how geometric thinking can allow for everything from fairer American elections to better pandemic planning." - The New York Times
From the New York Times-bestselling author of How Not to Be Wrong-himself a world-class geometer-a far-ranging exploration of the power of geometry, which turns out to help us think better about practically everything.
How should a democracy choose its representatives? How can you stop a pandemic from sweeping the world? How do computers learn to play Go, and why is learning Go so much easier for them than learning to read a sentence? Can ancient Greek proportions predict the stock market? (Sorry, no.) What should your kids learn in school if they really want to learn to think? All these are questions about geometry. For real.
If you're like most people, geometry is a sterile and dimly remembered exercise you gladly left behind in the dust of ninth grade, along with your braces and active romantic interest in pop singers. If you recall any of it, it's plodding through a series of miniscule steps only to prove some fact about triangles that was obvious to you in the first place. That's not geometry. Okay, it is geometry, but only a tiny part, which has as much to do with geometry in all its flush modern richness as conjugating a verb has to do with a great novel.
Shape reveals the geometry underneath some of the most important scientific, political, and philosophical problems we face. Geometry asks: Where are things? Which things are near each other? How can you get from one thing to another thing? Those are important questions. The word "geometry"comes from the Greek for "measuring the world." If anything, that's an undersell. Geometry doesn't just measure the world-it explains it. Shape shows us how.
"Unreasonably entertaining….reveals how geometric thinking can allow for everything from fairer American elections to better pandemic planning." - The New York Times
From the New York Times-bestselling author of How Not to Be Wrong-himself a world-class geometer-a far-ranging exploration of the power of geometry, which turns out to help us think better about practically everything.
How should a democracy choose its representatives? How can you stop a pandemic from sweeping the world? How do computers learn to play Go, and why is learning Go so much easier for them than learning to read a sentence? Can ancient Greek proportions predict the stock market? (Sorry, no.) What should your kids learn in school if they really want to learn to think? All these are questions about geometry. For real.
If you're like most people, geometry is a sterile and dimly remembered exercise you gladly left behind in the dust of ninth grade, along with your braces and active romantic interest in pop singers. If you recall any of it, it's plodding through a series of miniscule steps only to prove some fact about triangles that was obvious to you in the first place. That's not geometry. Okay, it is geometry, but only a tiny part, which has as much to do with geometry in all its flush modern richness as conjugating a verb has to do with a great novel.
Shape reveals the geometry underneath some of the most important scientific, political, and philosophical problems we face. Geometry asks: Where are things? Which things are near each other? How can you get from one thing to another thing? Those are important questions. The word "geometry"comes from the Greek for "measuring the world." If anything, that's an undersell. Geometry doesn't just measure the world-it explains it. Shape shows us how.
More details
Edition
Internationale Ausgabe (US)
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Penguin Putnam Inc
Edition type
International edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
B&W ILLUS. T/O
Dimensions
Height: 214 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
380 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-9848-7907-3 (9781984879073)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Jordan Ellenberg
Shape
The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else
Book
05/2021
The Penguin Press
€45.76
Article exhausted; check different version
Person
Jordan Ellenberg