Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: This book is a simple joy to read. I wished for more after finishing it. I've already gotten three of my friends to purchase it. It's full of clear explanations on the edges of science strung together by the elusive and ubiquitous number zero -- a dynamic read!
Rating:
Summary: Sorry I waited for the paperback!
Review: I saw a review of Zero earlier in the year, but I waited until it came out in paperback. After reading it (twice!) all I can say is that I'm sorry that I didn't read it earlier. Probably the clearest math book I've ever read, on a mindblowing subject, and engagingly written, too. At least I read it in time for Christmas. I'm buying two copies as gifts!
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious and poorly argued
Review: A chore to make it through. Seife's account of the history of the acceptance of zero is mildly interesting, but very repetitive. Seife repeatedly makes value judgements and then doesn't justify them (For example, he complains many times about the damage that the exclusion of zero has done to the calendar, without ever going into detail about why anyone should care as much as he seems to about the supposed damage).Seife should have stuck to history though; his attempts to tie together disparate areas of physics with zero as rhetorical glue amount to little more than annoying handwaving.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: Entertaining, engaging, informative, and one of the best visual representations of the relationship between 0, i, and infinity that I have every seen.
Rating: 
Summary: A good biography but few profound ideas
Review: I had high hopes for this book. The history of science is as rich a history as any. Charles Seife does, at least on average, give a fascinating account of the origin and progress of zero. Where Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea fails is in its attempts to turn simple concepts into the focus of profound discussion. Zero, as Mr. Seife himself explains, is simply a symbol for nothing. At around the halfway point in the text, zero starts taking on magical properties instead of staying consistent with earlier explanations. For example, much time is spent on the idea that five times zero is equal to zero, just as ten times zero. The book sees this as profound and the further in the book you go the more ambiguous such simple concepts become. The text does deserve three stars for being a well-written biography. It is just unfortunate that one forth of the book is desperately trying to confuse the reader into believing that zero is more then a symbol for nothing.
Rating:
Summary: zero- the nothing or the infinite
Review: What a magnificient job Seife has done. From the elusive "nothing" to the imponderable "infinity" --he leads us step by step through the history of the concept. Recommended for all who are interested in learning.(no it is not more than you want to know) It is uncommon to find a mathematician with a sense of humor who can write. I am a retired research engineer from the aerospace industry and "zero" always gave me fits.Well done, sir.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best in Math's history
Review: The history of 0 is succintly delineated. Yet, in the "The Divine Wager", I found confusing to understand the envelope analogy which is not clearly stated (bottom of page 101 to beginning of 102) resulting a wrong assumption from the start.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and Enlightening
Review: I can't recommend this book highly enough. For everyone who has ever struggled with mathematics, this book shows that through history mathematicians also had their struggles with what might appear to be the simplest of numbers, zero. While focusing squarely on the history of zero, the book leaves the reader with so much more. By the end, you have an appreciation for the subtlety and beauty of mathematics. To illustrate, in one chapter Seife tells how a the student of the famous Gauss, using ideas found by a Frenchman who was imprisoned in Russia, found that zero and infinity are twins diguised as opposites. Seife's writing is clear and engaging. I read this book much like I might read a well woven spy thriller, finding myself spending that extra few minutes indulging in luxurious reading rather than proceeding with mundane necessities of life (i.e., sleep). And, as another reviewer has done, to contrast this book with another recent volume on the same topic, Kaplan's The Nothing that Is, the differences are remarkable. Succinctly, it is the difference between an enjoyable read and a grinding burden. Kaplan's book is unfocused, leaving the reader confused about where in time or space the historical events are occuring. Kaplan's side trips of literary fancy were very distracting to me and added little to the story. And story is the key. In Zero, Seife is telling a story and clearly enjoying telling it on its own terms. Kaplan did not tell a story, leaving the reader wondering why any particular part is being told. I understood from the start what Kaplan was trying to do, and I was bewildered that he failed so horribly. Seife's is, hands down, the better book on the subject of the history of zero.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but I prefer another on the subject of zero
Review: I've recently read both Charles Seife's "Zero:The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" and Robert Kaplan's "The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero." They are at the same time very similar and very different. They each follow an almost identical line, presenting the evolution of zero chronologically, and they each make almost identical stops along the way. The difference is in how they treat the steps in zero's evolution which is conditioned by their differing metaphysical views. An illuminating example is how they each treat Aristotle's role in zero's history. Charles Seife, from the beginning, reifies zero: the author accepts the misconception that zero is some sort of actually existing mystical force resting at the center of black holes. He doesn't step back to take a look at the concept as concept. Nor does he appear to keep in mind that mathematics is the science of measurement, or that time is not a force or dimension, but merely a measurement of motion. This distorts his perspective, from which he attempts to refute Aristotle's refutation of the existence of the void: for Seife, zero exists and is a force in and of itself. In Seife's hands, zero certainly is a dangerous idea! Robert Kaplan, on the other hand, delves deeper. His work is informed by an obvious love for history and classic literature, and while this results in many obscure literary asides, one feels that this book takes part in the Great Conversation. As a result he steps back and takes a critical look at the true meaning and usefulness of the concept as a concept. Is zero a number? Is it noun, adjective, or verb? Does it actually exist outside of conceptual consciousness or is it exclusively a tool of the mind? Both authors follow zero's role in the development of algebra and the calculus. As a math "infant", this reader, having read Seife's book first, found that the explanations of these two developments by Kaplan cleared away the haze, which Seife's book was unable to do. I found both books to be illuminating. Seife's book contains much valuable historical information. He did his homework. If one were to read only this book on the subject, one would have learned a great deal about the history of mathematics. But if I were to have to choose one to recommend, it would be Kaplan's book. It is more informed, more seasoned, more honestly inductive in its approach.
Rating:
Summary: A review of a biography of a dangerous idea
Review: Zero is often taken for granted as just another number. Thisbook takes the reader on a journey through Zero's history. From atime when zero was outlawed through to how Zero has been used to unlock the secrets of the universe. By the end of this book you will view Zero in a different light. The use of zero in the development of calculus is covered, so knowledge of calculus comes in handy but is not essential. Likewise some areas of physics are also covered, so knowledge of physics will help you enjoy the book.
| 
