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I had a rather foolish experience to this one - when recommended by someone that I read it, I said I’d read enough lately of the development of various number systems. I’d been thumbing through Meta Math (another take on Gödel’s incompleteness theorem), and I just really didn’t feel up to reading another popular science treatise on mathematics. Of course, I looked the right fool when they told me the book was actually about Pi, an Indian kid raised in a zoo who ends up trapped on a boat with a Bengal Tiger after his transport ship sinks. So, out of wounded pride, I went out and bought it. And, I’m glad I did. It’s a brilliant example of well constructed writing. Set as the documentation of someone else’s story, it makes the reader question their own perceptions and philosophy. And, even better, the entire novels clicks in a philosophical sense, but only in the last five pages. Like a good murder mystery, it’s probably possible to discern what the messages are before you get there, but there’s nothing lost if you just enjoy the ride and reflect afterwards. I’m dying to write more, but I can’t for fear of spoiling the plot. Maybe that’s an opening for another post some other day. In any case, it’s well worth reading - it may not help you find religion, as per the back of the book, but it will remind you what makes a good story. |
Recommended? "yes"