List Books In Favor Of Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession
| Original Title: | Ο θείος Πέτρος και η Εικασία του Γκόλντμπαχ |
| ISBN: | 1582341281 (ISBN13: 9781582341286) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Apostolos K. Doxiadis
Paperback | Pages: 209 pages Rating: 4.02 | 4253 Users | 324 Reviews
Specify About Books Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession
| Title | : | Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession |
| Author | : | Apostolos K. Doxiadis |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 209 pages |
| Published | : | February 3rd 2001 by Bloomsbury USA (first published 1992) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Science. Mathematics. Literature. Novels. Cultural. Greece. Mystery. Philosophy |
Representaion Concering Books Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession
In this critically acclaimed international bestseller, Petros Papachristos, a mathematical prodigy, has devoted much of his life trying to prove one of the greatest mathematical challenges of all time: Goldbach's Conjecture, the deceptively simple claim that every even number greater than two is the sum of two primes. His feverish and singular pursuit of this goal has come to define his life. Now an old man, he is looked on with suspicion and shame by his family-until his ambitious young nephew intervenes. Seeking to understand his uncle's mysterious mind, the narrator of this novel unravels his story, a dramatic tale set against a tableau of brilliant historical figures-among them G. H. Hardy, the self-taught Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, and a young Kurt Gödel. Meanwhile, as Petros recounts his own life's work, a bond is formed between uncle and nephew, pulling each one deeper into mathematical obsession, and risking both of their sanity.Rating About Books Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession
Ratings: 4.02 From 4253 Users | 324 ReviewsCriticize About Books Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession
A beautiful, compelling, and tragic story of mathematical obsession. As the story starts, Uncle Petros, once a promising young mathematician, has wasted his intellectual gifts, amounted to very little professionally, and his family holds him in contempt but takes care of him. As his nephew tries to discover what happened from him, Uncle Petros reveals his story of how his brilliant start was eclipsed by his all-consuming obsession to crack Goldbach's conjecture. Along the way he crosses pathsIncidentally, I read it while I was trying to built a non-fiction narrative in Urdu on limits of rationality and mysteries surrounding interplay of reason and intuition in the process of mathematical discovery. I absolutely loved how Doxiadis transformed this well-known thread of history of mathematics into an unputdownable novel. It is amazing how simple his characters look and yet how intricately complex their inner struggles are. The bits about Hardy, Littlewood, Godel and Turing are well
This is a short book--a fast and easy read. The story describes how a good mathematician sank into an obsession that swallowed up his life. The storyteller's mathematician friend, Sammy, mentions that the trail of a mathematical quest will be littered with intermediate, published results on a variety of topics. So, why didn't Uncle Petros publish his intermediate--but important--results? Interestingly, I do not remember another novel with as many footnotes as this one! (Actually, I don't
I didn't have any preconceptions for this book, my only previous knowledge was that it is about mathematics (obviously!) which, to be fair, means I'm already in favour before I turn the front page! Apostolos Doxiadis has quite cleverly comprised the story of his Uncle Petro's mathematical life into this charming novel without going into too much detail about the mathematics itself making it unambiguous for the non-mathematician to read (or a beginner like me). I particularly liked the way the
A definitely unusual read, this book deals with the obsession of mathematics. Most people would find them to be boring and useless, nothing but theories without a practical use in everyday life (outside adding or multiplying). The book focuses on the life of a mathematician and shows why this type of people love it so much. Turns out (if you dont know it yet) that mathematicians love solving enigmas concerning numbers. And not in the same sense as others solve puzzles or sudoku; they love
The title of the book enticed me. I am a sucker for themes that involve math stories. In some way I feel i am redeeming myself for not studying math well enough in my school days.This is a very interesting story of a "could have been great" mathematician Petros Papachristos. He took on an very tough old math problem of the Goldbach Conjecture and attempted to solve it to achieve fame - and thereby win back his first and only girlfriend Isolde.The story is set in the time of G H HArdy and
"Every number greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers". It's an interesting fact/theory, but it seems a slight one to base a novel on, much less spend your whole life trying to prove that it is true in every occasion. Petros Papachristos does waste his life trying exactly that, although whether it is a waste depends on your point of view. His nephew sees it as a noble struggle in a quest for the essence of things, and endeavours to follow a mathematical number theory
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