In 1859, Bernhard Riemann, a little-known thirty-two year old mathematician, made a hypothesis while presenting a paper to the Berlin Academy title...
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Jun 09, 2010
Jason
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You remember the smartest kid in your high school calculus class? Remember the math major in your college dorm, the one doing advanced physics with more Greek symbols than Roman numerals? Both brainiacs at the time, right? Well, the book Prime Obsession deals with mathematical concepts magnitudes of order more complex than those brainiacs could ever wish to comprehend. John Derbyshire describes the Riemann Hypothesis (RH) and the mathematical titans that have tried unsuccessfully to prove t
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Jul 09, 2007
Elio
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Although I find this author's political views repellent, I really enjoyed this book. He takes an extremely esoteric mathematical puzzle and shows how it emerges organically starting from the simple math we learned in high school. He also provides several excellent character sketches of famous mathematicians who made the key discoveries that allowed the Riemann Hypothesis to come into being in the first place. Most importantly, Derbyshire manages to convey the sense that the field mathematics is
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Jul 16, 2011
Bryan
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This book is one of several books on a mathematical topic, ostensibly for laypersons. The topic in this case is the Riemann Hypothesis, which is one of the -- perhaps THE -- most important unsolved problems in Mathematics. The style and layout of the book follows one that I have seen in other such books, where the chapters alternate between the history and personalities and social and political context for those involved in trying to solve the problem, and an explanation of the mathematical top
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Oct 03, 2010
Josh
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Reading this reminded me of how much I always enjoyed math back in college. The chapters alternate; odd chapters are a mathematical-oriented exposition of what the Reimann Hypothesis is, what it means, and what it implies. Even chapters give an historical overview of the key players, places, and events in the search.
I can't say I kept up with all of the math. The first third was a review, the second third I felt like I should understand because I had it in college but hadn't used sin More...
I can't say I kept up with all of the math. The first third was a review, the second third I felt like I should understand because I had it in college but hadn't used sin More...
Dec 30, 2008
Manny
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Best popular mathematics book I can recall reading. I have heard about the Riemann Conjecture a zillion times, and never understood what the fuss was about. After going through this book, it all makes sense! Requires college-level math, but if you have that, can't recommend too highly.
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Feb 14, 2011
Jbunniii
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This is an outstanding overview of the Riemann Hypothesis and its relation to the Prime Number Theorem, from both a historical and a mathematical perspective (in alternating chapters). If you have a basic knowledge of calculus, including sequences and series, along with just a smidgen of complex analysis, then you should have no difficulty following all of the math in this book.
Derbyshire's mathematical exposition is quite good, especially for an author who is not a practicing mathe More...
Derbyshire's mathematical exposition is quite good, especially for an author who is not a practicing mathe More...
Dec 12, 2011
Flora
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The author alternates between more narrative-type chapters and mathematical explanation chapters, and explains early on that if you don't get the math you can just read every other chapter. I tried to follow, but somewhere in the last six chapters I just fell and couldn't keep up.
Fabulous writing. Awesome footnotes. Thanks for jogging my memory about some long-unused keys on my scientific calculator, and for the lovely mathematicians' biographies. But at the end of the day, yeah, it w More...
Fabulous writing. Awesome footnotes. Thanks for jogging my memory about some long-unused keys on my scientific calculator, and for the lovely mathematicians' biographies. But at the end of the day, yeah, it w More...
Jun 11, 2010
Andy
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There are famous math problems that are easy to explain but difficult to solve, such as the four-color map problem or Goldbach's Conjecture; the Riemann Hypothesis is unfortunately not such a problem. Prime Obsession is author John Derbyshire's attempt to explain the RH in simple terms and to illustrate its place and importance in the history of mathematics. It's not an easy task, and I think what Derbyshire has written is suited for a relatively narrow audience of people: those who took some an
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Jan 06, 2012
Fraser
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Prime numbers are powerful things. If you multiply one or more primes together, you can create any other positive integer that's bigger than one. And we suspect that every even positive integer greater than 2 is the sum of two primes.
But primes are strange as well - there doesn't appear to be any order to their appearance. The higher you count, the less often you run into them and you'll never stop seeing them. But can we tell when the next one will occur? In other words, is there so More...
But primes are strange as well - there doesn't appear to be any order to their appearance. The higher you count, the less often you run into them and you'll never stop seeing them. But can we tell when the next one will occur? In other words, is there so More...
May 02, 2009
Isaiah
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This comparison will probably strike most as directly from left field, but Derbyshire reminds me a lot of Jon Krakauer. Topically, of course, they have nothing in common. But their style both depends heavily on the conspicuousness of the author in the narrative. This isn't necessarily because Krakauer and Derbyshire are narcissistic or self-absorbed, but that their writing is very self-conscious and they feel a continual impetus to advise the reader of where they stand on the issues they are pre
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Jan 15, 2012
Doug
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Very well written, both in terms of the history and in terms of the math. About every other chapter is fairly hardcore mathematics, proofs and integrals and whatnot. The author warns you that you'll need at least freshman year calculus to really get the meat of RH and how approaches to solving it have morphed and changed as the culture of math research has changed.
Mixed in with a straight history of the Riemann Hypothesis and its soldiers is an accidental anthropological analysis of More...
Mixed in with a straight history of the Riemann Hypothesis and its soldiers is an accidental anthropological analysis of More...
Oct 18, 2010
Mickey
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The narrative portions about the prominent players in the history of mathematics were more interesting than I had anticipated, but the math was a bit overwhelming. While I credit the author in his attempt to dumb things down as best he could -- and I was, with a few re-read sections, following along fairly well for the first two-thirds of the book -- I am not sure that it is possible for any author dumb a topic that has baffled the world's brightest minds of the past two centuries down to the l
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Feb 05, 2012
Matt
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Ever wonder what mathematicians do when they're doing research, what they do for a PhD thesis. Wonder no more. This is an introduction to a very complicated area of math. Derbyshire interweaves history and math into an great story. I got about half way through and had to stop trying to completely understand the math he was showing us, and just try to catch the high points. Numbers are very very weird.
Nov 06, 2011
Moonglum
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If you have a bit of a mathematical background, reading this book is like taking a good undergraduate class (but without homework!). It presents a wide range mathematics, all of which is very cool. Really, from the stack of overhanging cards that represents the harmonic series and as such can overhang out over any distance (if you have enough cards), I was delighted.
Jul 02, 2009
Don
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This book alternates chapters -- biographical information interleaved with mathematical explanations. The biographical was fascinating; the mathematics I followed for about six chapters, then fell away exhausted. Overall, a very good read for those interested in such stuff.
Feb 13, 2009
Karen
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What I learned = lots of math.
This wasn't quite what I expected, but I thought the author had a gift for explaining the necessary math (though I'll probably forget it soon enough). The author admits up front that not much is known about Riemann, so it is much less of a biography and much more of a history of the research into Prime Number Theory. I think the "obsession" is on the part of the author, not Riemann.
This wasn't quite what I expected, but I thought the author had a gift for explaining the necessary math (though I'll probably forget it soon enough). The author admits up front that not much is known about Riemann, so it is much less of a biography and much more of a history of the research into Prime Number Theory. I think the "obsession" is on the part of the author, not Riemann.
Mar 16, 2011
Mike
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An astoundingly good book. Not only is the discussion of zeta fascinating and clear, but we are treated as adults and presented with the actual details of how to calculate relevant values. My thanks to Graham Birtwistle for lending me his copy.
Dec 28, 2009
Tim
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This was actually quite a good book, covering the life of Bernhard Riemann and courting the reader a glimpse of a mathematical truth that is as yet unknown (if in fact knowable)
May 26, 2008
Suhaila
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Amazing and mind expanding. It's astounding to think that there are people out there working away at this crazy problem, and how much they have accomplished. I was fascinated by the brilliant leaps of logic and understanding across mathematical disciplines and methods. Yet the Reimann Hypothesis is still unproved.
Derbyshire's writing has piqued my curiosity and interest in both the different fields of mathematics and the principal historical figures of the Reimann Hypothesis. Hi More...
Derbyshire's writing has piqued my curiosity and interest in both the different fields of mathematics and the principal historical figures of the Reimann Hypothesis. Hi More...
Mar 17, 2009
Michael
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The best math book I've ever read. An intriguing combination of history and mathematical exploration. Highly recommended.
Dec 30, 2010
Dan
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I can't think of a popular math book that really attempts to take the lid off of an area of sophisticated mathematics and let the reader look at the works in such a way that they can actually understand it, at least a little bit. Derbyshire seemed to have a knack for knowing when to give lay readers detailed explanations, including equations, and when to skip lightly over subjects where the waters get deep quickly, while still letting the reader get a sense of the chain of logic.
Dec 10, 2008
Bill
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The first 3/4 of the book is extremely readable (five stars). I marked it down a little because, perhaps inevitably, when the book eventually delivers on its titular promise (exposition of Reimann's Hypothesis itself) the trail becomes hard to follow.
Overall though this is a great book with lots of well explained background on little things like how multiplication and exponentiation get generalized from their whole number meanings to rational, real and beyond. Great stuff!
Overall though this is a great book with lots of well explained background on little things like how multiplication and exponentiation get generalized from their whole number meanings to rational, real and beyond. Great stuff!
Oct 22, 2008
Andrew
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Seeing as how this is my first exposure to the RH, and I'm only fairly capable in math, I can't say whether or not this is the best place to start. I feel like I have a good sense about this great mathematical problem, which is due in part to Derbyshire's simple explanations. However, I think the way the book was edited may have caused a lot of confusion. I thought it a bit erratic, with too many tangents and I didn't like being constantly referred back to old chapters.
Jul 10, 2008
Doug
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This came highly recommended from a friend of mine who recently completed a Ph.D in mathematics. She said it was a rare example of a maths book aimed at a general audience that struck a good balance between accessible writing and rigorous mathematics. It's quite a good read, especially if you have an interest in math at all. The author does a good job of luring you along from one chapter to the next by building up the historical and mathematical threads in parallel.
Dec 17, 2009
A.
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I struggle with books about math and science, because I really want to read them, but more often than not even the ones intended for "the common people" go over my head. This one didn't -- as far as a book about the Riehmann hypothesis can be a page-turner, this was. I occasionally needed an old calculus textbook to help me remember some of the higher math, but otherwise eminently readable and fascinating, if you're interested in the Millennium problems.
Feb 02, 2008
Adrienne
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This book describes the Riemann Hypothesis, which is the most famous unsolved problem in Mathematics. It is accessible to non-mathematicians. The author divides the chapers up into those that require some math knowledge (the odd numbered chapters) and those that are historical (the even numbered chapers). Even for someone with no math background, the history and the development of the hypothesis are fascinating.
Aug 14, 2008
Rob
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Just plain amazing. As an introduction to a difficult subject, as a biographical work, as a just plain entertaining read, this book scores right off the charts.
There IS some damn tricky math in here...that's the whole point, so I certainly wouldn't try to pitch it to the type of person who's eyes glaze over at the mention of the subject, but if you have even the slightest interest give this a shot.
There IS some damn tricky math in here...that's the whole point, so I certainly wouldn't try to pitch it to the type of person who's eyes glaze over at the mention of the subject, but if you have even the slightest interest give this a shot.
Oct 19, 2008
Gus
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One of the best math/science/history books I've read. The math chapters should be accessible to anyone. The early ones were a bit distracting to me since it was all "old math" to me but that means it should be accessible to anyone who'll give the math a chance.
Many surprises and more exciting than you might expect. I was fascinated by how the prime numbers actually "matter" outside of mathematics.
Many surprises and more exciting than you might expect. I was fascinated by how the prime numbers actually "matter" outside of mathematics.
