[.ca] One Two Three . . . Infinity: Facts and Speculations of ... (ISBN 0486256642)

treats and tricks:
Intellectual treats, whimsy, but deep. Illustrated with lovely drawings by Gamow himself. Much of it can be understood by a child, and other parts might require a little concentration. All of it is great fun. The author Gamow started in nuclear physics, during the Golden Age of Physics, worked with Niels Bohr, then later in the US, on the Manhattan Project during WWII, and after the war, he was professor in Boulder Colorado. The books he wrote are pearls, and they have been equally popular with my parent's generation as with mine. Luckely some have been reprinted! Other Gamow titles: Biography of Physics, Atomic Energy \odedicated to the hope of lasting peace\c, Physics of the Strapless Evning Gown,...We are lucky that Dover has reprinted some of them. Do more Dover!

The book that launched a thousand scientists? --:
The sweep and vision of the book are truly breath-taking. I suspect this marvelous book has launched more scientific careers than any other. The author, George Gamow (d. 1968), was an award-winning physicist cum biologist with a flair for making the complicated seem simple. (A gift shared by the late Richard Feynman.) Gamow's book introduces the reader to complicated subjects in a clear and non-threatening way. In some respects this book may be considered a precursor of the popular "For Idiots" series, but with much more dignity and poetry. It is of course inevitable, and no fault of the author, that portions have been overcome by events. For example, Fermat's Last Theorem has -- at long last -- been proven. So it is no longer true that (page 31) "no general proof ...has ever been achieved." Also, some of the material on elementary particles and genetics is dated. To paraphrase Aristotle, nature abhors perfection, and so there are some errors as well. (I find this a bit surprising, since the book was revised in 1961, and I would expect these to have been caught.) For example, the discussion on complex numbers (page 37) contains a number of elementary errors - which however cancel, so the final result is correct! The periodic chart (page 136) shows gallium, indium and thallium as transition elements, whereas they are "main sequence" elements, of the boron-aluminum family. Also, the symbol for gallium is shown as Fa instead of Ga. Gamow's discussion of the drunkard's walk (page 200) has been over-simplified to the point where it is misleading. I mention these details because I think young and inexperienced readers may be unduly confused. Looking through it again after many years, I see that my interest in prime numbers, platonic solids, chemical elements, and elementary particles can all be traced back to this fountain. Another enchanting book by the same author is, "The New World of Mr. Tompkins."

One, Two, Three .....Infinity:
I read this book for the first time when I was in school, almost 26 years ago. I have been searching this book for the last almost 10 years, and suddenly thought of checking on Amazon. Not only did I locate the book, but also I received the book within 5 days of ordering. I am re-learning the concepts that Dr. Gamow introduced almost 60 years ago.

Much more than it seems:
This book is brillant in many different ways. Not only does Gamow explain the mysteries of the universe in a way that is easy to understand, but his book covers more ground that even he realized when he wrote it. Much of the book, (the sections on extremely large numbers, the drunkard's walk, the law of entropy, etc) is now being studied from a computer science point of view. I studied much of this material in my computer science classes, only not in an atomic point of view, like Gamow, but in a binary point of view. The theories and proofs are the same, just the application is slightly different. I cannot recomend this book highly enough. It is extremely readable and you don't need a doctorate in physics or math to understand what is being taught.

Excellent book for the new science:
This book was introduced to me by my brother who studies maths. Thanks to him. The book was written in a simple language and in so interesting manner that I just kept on reading and reading this book. This was the first book when I read about "time" as the fourth dimension and how it is similar to the rest of the three space dimensions. I also liked the idea of visualzing universe as a definite but endless entity (something like a mobius bottle or mobius surface). This book in all is a wonderful book to explain science from the 20th Century.