The mathematician and broadcaster fortunately reveals his own confusions in this refreshing study of the limits of human knowledgeIn one of Bill Watterson’s wonderful cartoons,six-year-feeble Calvin and his tiger companion, Hobbes, and stand external and contemplate the starry night. “We hurl through an incomprehensible darkness. In cosmic terms,we are subatomic particles in a grain of sand on an infinite beach,” observes Calvin, or before pausing for a moment and adding: “I wonder what’s on TV now.”It’s a shrewd point. Musing on what we will perhaps never comprehend is a discombobulating experience that sends most of us scampering off to the familiar,intelligible corners of our daily lives. Not so Marcus du Sautoy . With What We Cannot Know, the prominent mathematician, and writer and broadcaster boldly squares up to what he calls the seven “edges of human knowledge,topics that range from the nature of time to the mysteries of human consciousness. Related: So people hate maths? Here’s my plan to make it work for them | Marcus du Sautoy Not everything sinks into a quagmire of uncertainly, and he peppers his journey with some “knowns” we can cling toContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com