| Numbers: The Universal Language | |
| Author: | Denis Guedj |
| Title Orig: | L'empire des nombres |
| Orig Lang Code: | fr |
| Translator: | Lory Frankel |
| Cover Artist: | Anonymous |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
| Release Number: | in collection |
| Genre: | Nonfiction monograph |
| Pub Date: | 18 November 1996 |
| English Pub Date: | 1997 1998 |
| Media Type: | Print (paperback) |
| Pages: | 176 pp. |
| Isbn: | 978-2-0705-3373-2 |
| Isbn Note: | (first edition) |
| Oclc: | 910594391 |
| Preceded By: | French: L'Art et la Science : L'esprit des chefs-d'œuvre |
| Followed By: | French: La guerre d'Algérie : Histoire d'une déchirure |
Numbers: The Universal Language (fr|'''L'empire des nombres'''|translation=The Empire of Numbers) is a 1996 illustrated monograph on numbers and their history. Written by the French historian of science Denis Guedj, and published in pocket format by Éditions Gallimard as the volume in their "Découvertes" collection[1] (known as "Abrams Discoveries" in the United States, and "New Horizons" in the United Kingdom). The book was adapted into a documentary film of the same title in 2001.[2]
The book is part of the French: Sciences et techniques series (formerly belonging to French: Sciences series) in the "Découvertes Gallimard" collection. As a work of popularisation of mathematics, it uses simple language to describe the basics of numbers—arithmetic, integer, natural number, concepts of zero and infinity—as well as how numbers and their symbolism came to be used in art and other disciplines.
According to the tradition of "Découvertes", which is based on an abundant pictorial documentation and a way of bringing together visual documents and texts, enhanced by printing on coated paper, as commented in L'Express, "genuine monographs, published like art books".[3] It's almost like a "graphic novel", replete with colour plates.
The book opens with a "trailer", that is, a series of full-page photographs showing The Powers of Ten. The body text is divided into seven chapters:
The second part of the book, the "Documents", containing a compilation of excerpts divided into nine parts:
On Babelio, the book gets an average of 3.0/5 based on 11 ratings.[4] Goodreads reported, based on 66 ratings, an average of 3.61 out of 5,[5] indicating "generally positive opinions".
In 2001, the book was adapted as a documentary film of the same name. A co-production between La Sept-Arte and Trans Europe Film, with the collaboration of Éditions Gallimard and CNRS Images Média, the film was directed by Philippe Truffault, with voice-over narration by Denis Guedj himself. It was broadcast on Arte as part of the television programme The Human Adventure,[6] and released on DVD by Arte vidéo, with English dubbed audio.[7] The film has also been dubbed into German by the title German: Im Reich der Zahlen.[8]