Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture

Bottom Line First: It is difficult to know who will like Apostolos Doxiadis’ Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture. Much of the story telling is built around a failed attempt to solve a mathematical notion. Not just Mathematics, but Number Theory. This alone will scare off readers. Doxiadis has used what to some is a boring and highly esoteric topic to build a very human mystery. This is also a story about family loyalty, goal setting, failure and just how high level thinking and life can come together. I liked Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture. I encourage you to step into this very real fiction about people. You may have to push your comfort zone. No violence, no sex, no particular politics, mild language and people who like and care for each other.According to Wiki: “Goldbach's conjecture is one of the oldest and best-known unsolved problems in number theory and all of mathematics. It states: Every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes.” The fact that it is called a conjecture means that it is not much more than a guess. Is there a practical application for this conjecture? I do not know and no one in this book cares. What matters is that it represents to the right mathematical thinker a challenge. Solving or attempting to solve these kinds of problems have a history of producing secondary methodologies with some kinds of independent value, but this is settling for the invention of the ball bearing when your goal was to invent the automobile.So much for the central narrative driver of the book. Nephew Papachritos becomes fascinated by his remote and disparaged, failed Uncle the one time mathematical prodigy, Petros. Risking his father’ wrath and later hisown future the Nephew immerses himself in an effort to comprehend the world of Math at its highest and most remote thinking. His purpose is less to achieve any great breakthroughs as to fully understand the motives and meaning of his uncle’s life.Among the way we are introduced to great minds like G. H. Hardy, Kurt Godel, Bertrand Russell and Alan Turing. First their minds and later their fates as humans. For many the life at the forward edge of mathematical thinking ends young and their life as humans, punishing.This is good story telling. You are invited to stretch your mind. Doxiadis asks you to enter the world of those who can think these kinds of thoughts, without forcing you to try and think at this level. Instead the real story is about the humans. What are their motives and what costs are they risking to follow where their brains take them?

I suspect this won't be everybody's cup of tea but I was completely enthralled. I have myself been working on an unsolved problem (at least I think it is) for about a year and I was recognizing many of the thoughts and feelings expressed in the book. I am definitely not a mathematician but I perked up at concepts such as intermediate results discovered while on my quest. It was fun seeing historical figures inserted in believable ways and being reminded of their enormous contributions to math.One complaint that might confuse or befuddle readers without math skills is that the transcription in the Kindle edition is not 100% accurate. My *guess* is that a program scanned a manuscript and didn't *quite* pull it off. Two examples that illustrate the point involved superscripts not being interpreted correctly:"The words that 299 (that's one half of 2^100)". Obviously, 299 is not half of 2 to the hundredth power. 2^99 is half of 2^100. The other one was when Harding was visiting Ramanujan in the hospital and commented that the license plate of a cab of 1729, which he didn't find very interesting. Ramanujan replied that it was interesting because it is the smallest number that can be described as the sum of 2 cubes in two ways. The footnote "clarified" this with:1729 = 123 + 13 = 103 +93. You might tend to read that and think: Huh? Superscripts again: 1729 = 12^3 +1^3 = 10^3 + 9^3.Those are, however, minor quibbles since I suspect most people reading this will have an interest in math and not get too freaked out by the apparent nonsense.This book was the first in a long time that I read all at once. We often hear about "page-turners" and "I couldn't put it down". This book did that for me.

This book tells the story of a man, who at a young age, was identified and fostered as a math prodigy. He focused, in his young life, on trying to solve Goldbach's conjecture. This choice led to much directed effort on his part, where he produced some good mathematical work (which he kept secret). This pursuit eventually proved totally defeating, and he lived the latter part of his life as someone who felt embittered "by the system". It seemed clear that he would have had a chance to live a much more successful, richer life as a mathematician had he been open about his projects with his working companions. He had the great fortune to have worked with some of the greats of the twentieth century in mathematics, such as Ramanujan and Hardy. This was a tale that his nephew worked out. In the process, he was hurt unfairly by the bitterness of his uncle. It is the case, however, that I came away feeling that the nephew had grown greatly as a person in unraveling this tale. I feel this gives some insight into the behavior of certain mathematicians, perhaps of Ramanujan, himself. There is a sense of a person embarked obsessively, on a secretive endeavor, that has great potential for enriching an entire field. I recommend this as a book that gives some insight into the secretive obsession that is sometimes an indicator of genius. Goldbach's conjecture is a good basis for such a tale, because it is very easy to understand, and its formidable difficulty can also be easy to understand. Why do people chase these relatively esoteric goals? We get, I think, a little insight into this.

Lovely book. Takes complicated number theory and finds its nearer to perfection like a Bach mass. Can read this again and again. comes with a warning though. The human brain can easily be damaged striving for perfection.

I read a lot, mainly non-fiction. This book was different: mathematical fiction (a genre I had never come across before). Entertaining and original but the plot become tired (over-worked theme) about half way through: I became bored. Some of my books are read again. This one won’t be.

This is a brilliant little book. Totally engrossing even for those of us clueless about maths. It’s not about that. Loved it.

Great book.

Bought this book as it was recommended by one of my lecturers. Turned up in great condition, just got to finish the book I am reading now to start this one! Turned up quite quickly too.