Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity

Daniel Handler’s (aka Lemony Snicket) blurb on the back of Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity* by David Foster Wallace: “All the grace of pure mathematics without the parts that made me want to bang my head against the wall.”

OK.

For a while…

From DFW’s own foreward:

Like the other booklets [this booklet is 305 pages long, not including the scholarly boilerplate, the bibliography, and the index] in this ‘Great Discovers’ series, Everything and More is a piece of pop technical writing. […] The aim is to discuss these [mathematical] achievements in such a way that they’re vivid and comprehensible to readers who do not have pro-grade technical backgrounds and expertise. (pp. 1–2)

Which he does. Mostly.

So I was super excited to read a book whose subject matter, while fascinating, is just plain difficult to a mathematically challenged person such as myself. But excited I was.

Because it’s written by DFW and he really can make me get/love/devour any subject about which he writes.

Because at one point in the text, DFW says he sucked at math (yeah, right)¹ and hated all his math classes.

Because throughout the text, DFW reminds us that we don’t even have to have had college math to get the gist of the book (he even will point out things that, sure, are great to know, and yes, he is stating them, and boy, yes, do they make no sense to me whatsoever, but, he says, (I paraphrase) “That’s OK, you don’t need to understand that, just trust me and you’ll be fine.”).

Because Lemony Snicket* has a blurb on the back (that was a huge plus).

Because as much as math makes my brain explode, I do find it terribly interesting… to a point.

My brain remained intact, oh, I’d say until about section 5-ish maybe. Confession: yes, it did just get too complicated for me. Boast: but I did finish the book. Confession: after finishing, I was kinda “WTF?” I almost started reading it again immediately…. but didn’t think I had it in me.

I’m thinking that at some point I will read Everything and More again and do what he (DFW) suggests: i.e., skip everything that he’s marked I.Y.I. (If You’re Interested). I read all those the first go-around, and he wasn’t kidding. Some of them are just way too technical for someone like me who completely bombed college math.

So thanks, DFW, for writing this book. I promise I did get something out of it. Not the least of which was the pure enjoyment of reading your writing….