The next two stories are Saint Chola and Rana Fegrina. Both stories are about a female teen in school and their particular situation. They are not bad stories, but I can not recommend them.
Golden Chariot - well if you dont mind the words "crackers" or "animals" used to describe white people, the story is sophomoric at best
Stuff - non required reading
Three Days. A Month. More - non required reading. A terrible story of abandoment, underage sex and drinking.
Nasdijj - non required reading. The author of this garbage is a miscreant.
I am really considering not reading the rest of the stories.
I'll Try Anything with a Detached Air of Superiority - from the Onion. If you are familiar with the Onion, you will enjoy this story. Although it is only 2 pages long, not enough to make up for the rest of the horrible stories in this book.
How Susie Bayer's T-Shirt Ended Up on Yusuf Mama's Back - mildly interesting.
All the rest of the stories are lame. I was really looking forward to this book, but it was terrible. Out of 25 stories, I only enjoyed 3 of them. I guess thats why the book is called "Nonrequired Reading."
"The Littlest Hitler" , "Things We Knew When The House Caught Fire", and "I'll Try Anything With A Detached Air Of Superiority" are the names of the three good stories, but dont buy the book for them, they are short, you can read them in the bookstore.
Very interesting topic. Sure it seems a simple concept today, but in the not - too - distant past, mathematicians did not know how to deal with zero.
I learned that the ancient Hindu's were the first culture credited for the consistent use of zero. However, Kaplan suggests that the concept of zero might have been introduced to them by the Greeks.
The book does not dwell on mathematics too much, however you will find some equations used to illustrate points. The last few chapters focus more on the philosophical conecpt of zero, which is the most interesting part of the book.
One warning however, the author's writing style may upset some readers. He has a penchant for making as many references as he could fit into each paragraph !
Here's a few very interesting points from the book :
Quine - something and nothing are false substantives. For example, something is red, something is not red. Both statements are true grammatically but not logically.
Timaeus presents a third factor involved in the creation of the cosmos, Being, Becoming, and Space. Space being a form of 'nothingness.'
God has been described as a being whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere. Interestingly enough, some scientists and philosophers have described the universe that way.
Kaplan describes how every number can be created with just two numbers, 0 and 1. He calls them the only real numbers. Then he gives examples of how every number can be created by 0 alone !!! This concept is then discussed in different contexts, for example - how everything in the universe arose from nothing.
A good story about the 5 people Eddie meets after he dies. He did not know all of them, but everyones life is interconnected.
The story is very interesting and straight forward. I couldn't help but think about what happens after death while I was reading it. And consequently, I felt a little down. I would say skip this one, although it could be uplifting for someone who has recently lost someone.
