I abandoned it two chapters shy of the end. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Kaplan takes two chapters to say a paragraph worth of stuff and in the most florid, erudite way possible. Don’t write about hard stuff like math and make it harder with your style.

Whilst I love zero as a number, this really wasn't the best book highlighting it. There was very little maths for a maths book- a little disappointing. Often there were sentences that I really couldn't see the point of, turning it into an English essay or even poem at points. Whilst I know that maths is beautiful, that is excatly the reason that I would have liked to see more maths

There’s a good and interesting story in here, but it’s buried in a pile of pretentious crap and unnecessary and alienating literary allusions. Hands down some of the worst science writing I’ve ever read. And then on top of that, there is not one single cited source in the entire thing. What a load of garbage.

Lurching merrily between mathematics and philosophy, The Nothing That Is offers much food for thought but, appropriately, little certainty. Had to dredge up a little maths from neglected corners of my brain to follow the later chapters, which was fun.

Kaplan never met a literary allusion he didn't like.

At times this works, as it adds depth and surprising insight into some of the mathematical concepts he's talking about. At other times, it feels remarkably scattershot, and adds little to the material.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook