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Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.
This book discusses a famous problem that helped to define the field now known as topology: What is the minimum number of colors required to print a map so that no two adjoining countries have the same color? This problem remained unsolved until the 1950s, when it was finally cracked using a computer. This book discusses the history and mathematics of the problem, as well as the philosophical debate which ensued, regarding the validity of computer generated proofs.
Thomas Pynchon is up to his usual business. Characters stop what they're doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs. Strange sexual practices take place. Obscure languages are spoken, not always idiomatically. Contrary-to-fact occurrences occur. Maybe it's not the world, but with a minor adjustment or two it's what the world might be.