Mystery of the Aleph

By: Amir D. Aczel

Narrated by: Henry Levya

From the end of the 19th century until his death, one of history's most brilliant mathematicians languished in an asylum. The Mystery of the Aleph tells the story of Georg Cantor (1845-1918), a Russian-born German who created set theory, the concept of infinite numbers, and the "continuum hypothesis," which challenged the very foundations of mathematics. His ideas brought expected denunciation from established corners - he was called a "corruptor of youth" not only for his work in mathematics, but for his larger attempts to meld spirituality and science.©2001 by Amir D. Aczel; (P)2001 Random House, Inc.

entertaining and insightful

covers the notions of infinity throughout history. for my personal taste, a little less content on Cantor's life would have been OK...

Great Book on Fascinating Subject

This is an excellent book bringing a difficult, but vastly important, subject of mathematics to non-mathematicians. While some of Kantor’s simpler proofs (that the reals have larger infinity than the integers, or the rationals) are well described, the author also presents the more difficult concepts such as power sets, the continuum hypotheses, etc. I could not think of better ways to do this than what Aczel does. He writes extraordinarily well for the non-mathematician.

The narrator is easy to listen to, has a fine voice, and one senses that he may be interested in the material himself, which really helps in going through the book. However, I have one criticism. If a narrator is to do a professional job of reading a book with numerous German names, expressions, and place names, he should be required to work on German pronunciation and diction. To hear these repeatedly mispronounced takes away some of the enjoyment the book. Each time this occurs, there is that moment when the listener is startled, has to consciously overlook the error, and readjust to get back to the narrative. When presenting foreign language productions, operas and orchestras hire diction coaches for their performers. I suggest that Audible do likewise.

The Mystery of the Aleph

This is a wonderful listen. You don't have to be a mathematician (which I am not) to enjoy this interesting trip in time the author has so seamlessly created. I highly recommend this program to folks who have an interest in the history of man's insatiable quest for the elusive infinity.

Not a light listen but good

I am not a mathematician by any means; I consider myself numerically challenged. And, there were some challenging parts to this book; I had to rewind and re-listen to parts several times. But, I found it fascinating and worth the effort. The book discusses how the concept of infinity developed, and works it into certain religious concepts. While I doubt I "got it" all, I did get some of it, and learned about math history on the way.

In depth in the math and the history

What did you love best about The Mystery of the Aleph?

The history of intense societal dynamics that come along with revolutionary ideas was communicated brilliantly.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

How at certain moments in history, numerous great minds are associated with each other.

Any additional comments?

Even if a person was not interested in math at all, this book would still be gripping.