''Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity'' is a book by American
novelist and
essayist
David Foster Wallace that examines the history of
infinity
Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol .
Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions amo ...
, focusing primarily on the work of
Georg Cantor, the 19th-century German mathematician who created
set theory. The book is part of the
W. W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton Ant ...
"Great Discoveries" series.
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque.
Stephenson's work exp ...
provided an "Introduction" to a reissued paperback edition (2010), which Stephenson reprinted in his collection ''Some Remarks : Essays and Other Writing''.
Reviewers, including
Rudy Rucker,
A.W. Moore and Michael Harris,
[Michael Harris, "A Sometimes Funny Book Supposedly about Infinity: A Review of ''Everything and More''." ''Notices of the AMS'' 51.6 (2004), 632–638.]
full pdf-text
have criticized its style and mathematical content.
References
* Iannis Goerlandt and Luc Herman, "David Foster Wallace." ''Post-war Literatures in English: A Lexicon of Contemporary Authors'' 56 (2004), esp. 12–14.
2003 non-fiction books
Books by David Foster Wallace
W. W. Norton & Company books
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