Well look at me, I’ve set the bar pretty high for this blog post. Do you have a pocket of nothingness? Do you want to turn that pocket of nothingness into a universe? Look no further! This blog post will teach you how in three easy steps.
Luckily, my job is simple, because local DC-area author Manil Suri has done the vast majority of the work for me. All I have to do is preview his 2022 book The Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Using Only Math. I stumbled across a signed edition of this gem at a famous local indie bookstore, Politics and Prose in Washington, DC. I don’t know him personally, but maybe I’ll run into him at a local DC author event, who knows? Then I’ll thank him for his mastery of math, the universe, and everything.
For all its displays of intellectual virtuosity, The Big Bang of Numbers is an adorable book. Suri has an ongoing fictional conversation with Pope Francis (representing the religious viewpoint) and various physicists (representing the scientific viewpoint). He never implies that one must choose between those viewpoints. In fact, he implies the opposite, that you can easily view math and the universe through either viewpoint, or both viewpoints simultaneously.
Once he establishes this dialectic, Suri proceeds to start with literally nothing and expand from there into all of mathematics and physics. The tricks he plays are astonishing, how he moves from 0 to 1, and from there to infinity. How he moves from the real numbers to the imaginary ones, and how he creates fractals and rock formations out of simple patterns. All the while, he personifies mathematical entities and has them argue amongst each other, spurring new creation.
One of my favorite sections of the book is when Suri tells a sci-fi story about two charming but sadly warring planets, to illustrate different levels of infinity:
“Imagine a galaxy far, far away, with two planets, Aleph and Cee, which are just like Earth, except for one peculiarity they share. Instead of just potential or conceptual infinity, they’ve realized physical infinity. So they have infinite material, infinite resources.”
And the best thing about this book? You don’t have to have understood secondary school math to understand the book. There are few equations, but many illustrations and photos. While sitting through high school math class, you are forced to focus in on one tiny mathematical skill, and it’s hard to understand how that one skill relates to other mathematical concepts or the universe as a whole. Suri, on the other hand, zooms out to a vantage point from which you can see how the pieces fit together.
For example, I remember learning about the golden ratio, a form beloved by the ancient Greeks, in middle school. I remember the diagrams of rectangles, and how they were supposed to be especially beautiful or something. I didn’t get it. Until I read Suri’s book. Now I finally understand what’s special and unique about the golden ratio.
I’m not saying I understood everything in this book. But the concepts are made as clear as can be, and I now have an enhanced view of the big picture of math. Plus, the book was funny and entertaining, and I loved every part of it.
Except for the part about fractals, because those freak me out. I’ve always hated those rooms with mirrors on all sides. (There’s a women’s bathroom in a Bethesda restaurant with mirrors on all four sides. I strode right in and almost passed out. But I really had to use the facilities. Barely survived that experience. Will never go back to that restaurant. I don’t know whether multi-mirrored rooms have anything to do with fractals, but there’s something about the physical manifestation of infinity that makes me ill.)
But back to creating a universe. As promised, here are your three easy steps:
- Buy the book The Big Bang of Numbers, by Manil Suri. Or borrow it from the library, or get it another way.
- Read the book.
- Implement the instructions in the book.
And that’s how you can turn your pocket of nothingness into a universe!
(Note: We have been getting reports that some people are having difficulties with step 3. Please direct all inquiries to Manil Suri, c/o W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110. Liza Achilles is not liable for any difficulties or complications related to step 3.)
Today’s concluding question is for my STEM friends: Do multi-mirrored rooms have anything to do with fractals?
And for my non-STEM friends: Do multi-mirrored rooms freak you out, too?
