Last week (mostly Thursday morning between midnight and 6) I read a book entitled, "The History of Pi", by Petr Beckmann.

Obviously, since I read most of it one sitting (or lying) I found it to be a rather interesting book.

The book is full of stories of some of the most genious mathematicians of known history: people like Archimedes, Euler, and Newton. Besides just things they did with pi it also talks about how their discoveries led to further knowledge about pi. There are also stories about not so brilliant people, weirdos of late who decided pi was exactly equal to 256/81 or 3, and attempts at legislating the value of pi (whatever that would accomplish).

From time to time he also got sidetracked with a little bit of history surrounding the time that things did or didn't happen. Highly notable were the times when mathematics wained. This is the only part that I didn't enjoy in the book. At times he seemed to say, "Stupid religion killed mathematicians and scientists and slowed the progress of knowledge acquisition." While it is true that confused religious zealots killed many of the world's great minds and many who could have become the world's great minds, this does not imply that religion is the one to blame.

Though he claims not to be a mathematician I still believe he should see the flaw in this implication. Let me try to explain why.

Many people outside of America hate Americans. Why is this? They see what America, or its leaders, does and they immediately blame the people. Anyone who thinks logically will see the flaw. When I was in the Czech Republic I ran into people who disliked me right off the bat. This wasn't because of my charming personality or my dashing good looks; it was because they projected the evils (or perceived evils) of America onto me. Now if we had sat down and talked about our differences they would have found that I actually agree (to a lesser extent maybe) with them in that America has done and currently is doing bad things. But we didn't have that talk, so they continued to believe I was a war-mongering American Imperialist scum. 

Now if I'm walking along the streets and I come across a German, I don't say, "You pig! Don't you know what Germany did in World War II? How can you live yourself?" Or when I come across a Frenchman, I don't curse them for the innocent lives lost in the French Revolution. And finally, when I meet a Muslim, I'm not dumb enough to accuse that man of the atrocities of 9/11, even though the men involved were muslim and as they died they were praising Allah.

The flaw is obvious. Someone's actions don't necessarily typify the actions of another. And neither do someone's actions typify the ideal of a group to which they belong. And it just bothers me when people do not see the flaws in their stereotypes of religion.

That's at least a part of my take on it. Hopefully, it makes sense.