[markgall]

This should be read in parallel with the review by Michael Harris in the AMS Notices: "A Sometimes Funny Book Supposedly about Infinity" https://www.ams.org/notices/200406/rev-harris.pdf

As a DFW lover whose day job is as a mathematician... that book's a clunker.

[will-burner]

Michael Harris is a great mathematician (number theory, let's go!!), but that review to me is pretty rambling and doesn't point out many inaccuracies in DFW's book, but takes issue with DFW's approach and style or writing. I did just skim the review and am a DFW fanboy, but Harris seems to have issues with books about infinity and math for lay people, which is fine, that's driving his opinions here.

I'd imagine there will also be a gap between what mathematician's think of novelists writing and what novelists think of real math. So there's that too.

[vundercind]

I feel less-bad about not having finished it now.

I was doing fine until formulas started showing up more than very-occasionally. I’m basically dyslexic when equations enter the picture.