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Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession

Apostolos Doxiadis,

Απόστολος Δοξιάδης

4.03 · Rating details · 4,657 ratings · 359 reviews

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 ...more

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Paperback, 209 pages

Published February 3rd 2001 by Bloomsbury USA (first published 1992)

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Jun 11, 2018 BlackOxford rated it it was amazing

Shelves: philosophy-theology, science, mathematics, greek

Trust the Young

Number theory has nothing to do with the real world, unless you happen to be a number theorist. Then it is the real world; everything else is illusory. Number theory has no application to anything except... well, numbers. It eschews other branches of mathematics as pedestrian. Physics, engineering, and even geometry, although they use numbers, are simply diversions for the less talented, that is to say inferior, intellect. Mere calculation is trivial even if it is arduous and comp ...more

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Aug 29, 2014 Arghya rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2014, inspiring, mathematics

Mathematicians who do Number theory always awe me. I like numbers. I was surely amazed to find the series:

1+2+3+4+… = - 1/12 (Don’t miss this and the wiki article).

But, I don’t perceive the number 65 as some city gentleman with bowler hat and rolled umbrella who doesn't like to stay away from his prime divisor 13 who is a goblin-like creature, supple and lightning-quick in his moves. Or, for that matter, the number 8191 also does not seem to me as a man wearing French gamin with a gauloise cigar Mathematicians who do Number theory always awe me. I like numbers. I was surely amazed to find the series:

1+2+3+4+… = - 1/12 (Don’t miss this and the wiki article).

But, I don’t perceive the number 65 as some city gentleman with bowler hat and rolled umbrella who doesn't like to stay away from his prime divisor 13 who is a goblin-like creature, supple and lightning-quick in his moves. Or, for that matter, the number 8191 also does not seem to me as a man wearing French gamin with a gauloise cigarette hanging from his lips. But number theorists, at least some of them, seem to feel them in this way, as the author, who is a mathematics PhD himself describes.

This compelling novel portrays the story of a genius mathematician, Petros Papachristos, and his obsession with the yet-unproved Goldbach’s conjecture. He loves to live in complete isolation, and his family members – his businessmen brothers and their families – are happy to be apart from him. Actually, his brothers loath him and it is not that Petros wants to maintain a smooth relationship, either. He epitomises the stereotype of absent-minded mathematician. As the story progresses, this novel provides many pithy observations of a mathematician’s life. For example, though an embarrassing one,:

Anybody who claims that scientists – even the purest of the pure, the most abstract, high-flying mathematicians - are motivated exclusively by the Pursuit of Truth for the Good of Mankind, either has no idea what he’s talking about or is blatantly lying. Although the more spiritually inclined members of the scientific community may indeed be indifferent to material gains, there isn’t a single one among them who isn’t mainly driven by ambition and a strong competitive urge.

I think it as natural, as a mathematician is also a human.

All in all reading this novel, praised by eminent mathematicians like Ken Ribet and Michael Atiyah, was really a pleasant experience. Highly recommended!

Now, I should go back to do some of my calculations, if you excuse.

P.S. : I can only think of Andrew Wiles', who proved Fermat's last theorem, devotion to mathematics nearing the picture of an "ideal" mathematician. Please, I implore you, see this absolutely stunning documentary : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Bqx6... ...more

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Sep 08, 2019 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-read, bio, germany, austria, hf, science, audible, england, greece, philo-psychol

This is more of a short story than a novel. On the surface it is about the fictional mathematical prodigy Petros Papachristos. His life goal has been to prove one of the oldest unsolved problems of number theory, Goldbach's Conjecture. This states that every even integer greater than two is the sum of two primes. Petros’ nephew tells the story.

First of all, mathematical axioms, theories and proofs do take up a significant portion of the text. For me, much of the mathematical reasoning went ...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Shovelmonkey1 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: number-phobics

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 books list

Shelves: bookcrossing-books, read-in-2010, 1001-books, clear-unparalleled-genius

Apparently maths can be fun. Not something I ever really appreciated as a child. Mostly maths was a lesson in which eye contact was to be avoided, a) to limit the chances of being called upon to make any kind of answer regarding anything even vaguely numeric and b) because the maths teacher was kind of creepily weird. This book is what I'd regard as one of the more unconventional additions to the 1001 books list and I really enjoyed learning about the maths as well as Uncle Petros' life story. B ...more

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Feb 05, 2014 N.J. Ramsden rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A very pleasing little novel. Clever, witty, and enjoyable. Unfortunately it's also pretty forgettable, and I fail to recall more than a hazy glow of general satisfaction from my reading of this.

Of course, not the least of its pleasures lies in watching a bookshop assistant struggle with their keyboard as you ask "Do you have Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis?"

Yeah. ...more

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Jun 11, 2008 Francis rated it it was amazing

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 paths wi 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 paths with many of the famous mathematical personalities of the early 20th centiry.

I thought the novel was remarkably accurate in conveying the passion, frustrations, and angst of pursuing mathematical research. Basically, only the first one to get a correct proof published gets the glory, even if someone else was really close, or even cracked it first but didn't manage to tell anyone. The paranoia of having your work "scooped" is omnipresent. The other omnipresent fear is that of wasting the best years of your life, or perhaps one should say the most potent CPU cycles of your brain, on a dead end; a commonly held aphorism is that a mathematician's best work is done before the age of thirty. This fear of losing one's edge can be so overwhelming that some mathematicians have committed suicide when they felt that their powers had peaked (the tragic case of Taniyama, whose conjecture with Shimura was one of the key ideas in the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, being the first to come to mind).

While I thought Uncle Petros' fall from grace was a rather exaggerated reaction, given that the entire mathematical community had to deal with the exact same problem, it is entirely believable that someone of his brilliance and passion could have experienced the kind of visceral, distraught flameout that he displayed at the thought that his work might be inevitably doomed to failure.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a passionate depiction of the emotions of mathematical inquiry. ...more

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Jul 21, 2019 Shankar rated it it was amazing

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 Ramanuj ...more

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May 23, 2016 notgettingenough rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-lit, sociology, science-sort-of

What stayed with me, long after I had read A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit by Alan Lightman, was the tone of regret, that powerful, haunting emotion. He writes of his own regrets in discovering in his thirties that his chosen life was over. He was a physicist, he no longer had any expectation of doing anything that mattered.

When I directed an astrophysics conference one summer and realised that most of the exciting research was being reported by ambitious young people in

...more

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Dec 06, 2009 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Math lovers, science lovers, knowledge lovers, dreamers

Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture tells the story of a brilliant mathematician obsessed with proving Goldbach's Conjecture (as reformulated by Euler: every even number greater than two is the sum of two primes). Despite the seemingly difficult mathematical subject, the book is a quick and easy read. This is a testament to the clear and simple prose of the author, himself a mathematician by training.

While math is the main focus of the book, an underlying theme is the question of how and why ...more

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Oct 24, 2016 Matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Matt by: notgettingenough

Shelves: media-ebooks, tangled-up-in-maths

Uncle Petros is considered the black sheep of the family, one of “life’s failures”, by his two younger brothers. His nephew, the first person narrator of the story, sees his uncle only once a year when the family gathers for a ritual visit. The nephew is intrigued by the man and especially by his library of books containing some mysterious symbols like ∀ and ∃ and ∫. One day he finds out that uncle Petros was a mathematician when he was young. The boy starts to get an interest in mathematics him
Uncle Petros is considered the black sheep of the family, one of “life’s failures”, by his two younger brothers. His nephew, the first person narrator of the story, sees his uncle only once a year when the family gathers for a ritual visit. The nephew is intrigued by the man and especially by his library of books containing some mysterious symbols like ∀ and ∃ and ∫. One day he finds out that uncle Petros was a mathematician when he was young. The boy starts to get an interest in mathematics himself but before he really starts, he promises to prove to his uncle his natural talent for dealing with numbers. “Mathematicus nascitur, non fit,” is what Petros says. “A Mathematician is born, not made.” The task Petros poses to his nephew isn’t easy, and by the end of the summer their relationship has become quite different than it was before…

This may sound like a novel for (math-) nerds, but it isn’t at all. Although the titular Goldbach’s conjecture is indeed a well-known math problem you don’t need any math to enjoy the book. If you know what a prime number is, and if you can add integers, you’re pretty much set. In fact it’s even better to not lookup the conjecture on Wikipedia, because knowing what it says would somewhat spoil the beginning of the novel. And if you always wanted to know how mathematicians tick you should give this book a try. The author succeeds in bringing us a little closer to this strange kind of species, with all of its quirks, successes, and failures. Oliver Sacks calls this novel “very funny” and “charming” in his praise on the cover of the Kindle edition that I read. I don’t know where Mr Sacks got this from. For me there were only very few comic events here, and the charm is quite limited. The first adjective that comes to my mind is “tragic” actually.

One personal highlight was the mentioning of Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing and the connection of their respective results with Goldbach’s conjecture. Both of these two great scientists, who also suffered a tragic fate, appear briefly as characters in the book. There are a couple more mathematical problems mentioned, two of which had been proved since the book was first published and the publishers announced a $1 million prize for anybody who proved Goldbach’s conjecture within two years (until 2002). Needless to say the prize was never awarded.

Don’t be put off by the little math there is! We have here a really good and inspiring book about the tragic life of a scientist. Only the prose occasionally feels a little stilted to me.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

...more

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Jan 07, 2018 Aasem Bakhshi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: english-literature, science, european-literature, science-fiction, owned, greek-literature, translation-wishlist

Incidentally, 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 ble ...more

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Dec 13, 2009 Terry rated it liked it

Repetitive and dull. The meddle of an author is easily tested by how often he or she uses the same phrase to describe something. While Goldbach's Conjecture is central to the plot of the novella the author says the conjecture dozens of time when this reference is un-needed. The author in no way indicates the actual progress of the problem and the introduction of Kurt Godel and Alan Turing was a dis-service to their memory when presented with such dull dialog.

The end was both a twist and totally ...more

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May 06, 2010 David rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, mathematics

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 remembe ...more

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Nov 28, 2020 Snehal rated it really liked it

Shelves: globe-trotting

This fictional account of a mathematical genius takes one extremely close in understanding what these exalted men and women must go through in their personal lives, and the kind of sacrifices that must be made for their genius to show. It is awe inspiring and heart-breaking at the same time.
Best read in one sitting on a carefree day.

[Greece]

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Nov 18, 2011 Petros rated it really liked it

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 don’t know it yet) that mathematicians love solving enigmas concerning numbers. And not in the same sense as others solve puzzles or sudoku; they love provi 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 don’t know it yet) that mathematicians love solving enigmas concerning numbers. And not in the same sense as others solve puzzles or sudoku; they love proving or rejecting theories by using formulas. Thus we practically see the life of such a person as he tries to find a solution to everything via numbers and hard facts.

As emotionless or boring as that sounds, it is in fact a very humane story that focuses both on its characters, as it does on the so-called infallible numbers that control the universe. It is a biography first, and a mental search for the truth second. We see their daily lives, their mistakes, their passion and disappointment, as both uncle and nephew try to write down a mathematical formula that proves right or wrong a centuries-old theorem.

It is not by any means a hard to grasp tale; it is easily accessible for most readers. All its complicating mathematics are presented in quite the easy to grasp way and it is mostly what the characters do throughout the years, or the methods they use in order to find the truth, and less on endless pages of dribbles regarding weird symbols.

The author is a mathematician himself (amongst other things) so the story was written from the perspective of one and feels very believable and honest. At no point does he try to deify math and present propaganda for people to pick up his favorite subject. He does describe the beauty of looking for numbers to solve something but he also never forgets to pinpoint how devastating it may be if you offer your life to just that, and how you may spend it in vain or get mad along the way because of your obsession. Thus it is evenly presented, never taking sides or trying to enforce a one-sided idea to the reader.

Unlike many other famous authors who use an easy writing to tell stories with very interesting concepts, Doxiadis is never trying to offer a convenient or far-fetched finale just for the sake of leaving the reader with a happy ending. Harry Potter’s Rowling, or The Alchemist’s Coelho may be far more famous and rich than Doxiadis but their story are too silly and superficial if you try to see them with a more critical eye. This book does not fall into that mistake and it is both a good read AND teaches the reader of important life lessons without ever resorting to cop-out magical or improbable finales. Recommended.

As a side note, the same author also made Logicomix, a graphic novel with an almost identical premise. Check that too in case you adored Uncle Petros. ...more

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Jul 07, 2011 Nicolle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-i-die, favorites, mathematics

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 bu ...more

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Oct 17, 2011 DROPPING OUT rated it it was amazing

Take a look at what the other reviewers have said. Overwhelmingly they were seduced by the apparent centrality of narrative, that is Uncle Petros, the mathematical prodigy, and his fixation on solving the Goldbach Conjecture. But that was not the key issue of the novel. That key issue was stated two-thirds into the story - That humankind can aspire to solve everything by reason, but practically speaking, it is the lesson of Icarus that is the bottom line. "Set yourself achievable goals" may seem ...more

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Nov 27, 2010 kasia rated it liked it

It's a gripping story, but Doxiadis just isn't a very good writer. What's really disappointing - to me - is that it doesn't actually get into the math very much; for the most part it just kind of describes without explaining ("Then I tried a an algebraic approach"). Also, I found parts of it extremely obnoxious (like the end!) - especially the veiled notion that only the romantic genius type can be a "true" mathematician, and the corresponding implication that mathematics is the only real abstra ...more

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Oct 07, 2016 C.P. Cabaniss rated it it was amazing

I really enjoyed this novel. It's mathematical without being overly specific and tedious, which makes it a great read for many people and not just those who appreciate math.

This story was very cleverly written. You never know the name of the narrator, which seems kind of strange but works really well. It also blends in mathematical history very well, including many well known mathematicians.

This is a very fast read and very enjoyable. ...more

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Jun 25, 2013 Holly rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013-reads

I could see the germ of Logicomix in this novel: Doxiadis's obsession with mathematics and insanity. Another fine book that attempts to approximate what is going on in the mind of the mathematician (a state I will never know but like to imagine). Also brought to mind Ron Carlson's short story "Towel Season," - a story I love about a mathematician consumed by an insurmountable problem. ...more

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Feb 07, 2014 D rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: english

Delightful & short. And rather realistic, afaik, about mathematics researchers. I loved Petros' rant about multiplication (of natural numbers): ".. an unnatural, contrived, second order (to addition) concept. To invent a name for it is the devil's work .. ". It's a pity that the geometrical proof for the conjecture is missing from the book.
...more

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Sep 22, 2015 Jose Moa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, science, mathematics

The only novel i have read on the mathematics subject;a man when young is proposed by his uncle to solve the Goldbach conjecture ,the youn man spends his li tryng to probe it with all tecniques but fails and receive a great shocck when he realices the existence of the Godels incompeltitude theorem

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Apr 12, 2014 Tweedledum rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-general, gr-review, 2014-books-read, faber-and-faber, maths

If someone had told me to read a book about a man who spent a lifetime trying to solve a mathematical mystery I would probably have just given them a funny look and thought no more about it.... especially if they had gone on to tell me it had no chapters and nothing much happened...
in short nobody recpmmended this book to me and i had never heard of it until two or three days ago. But now having rated it 5 stars adn coming down from that great feeling of total story immersion I am recommending If someone had told me to read a book about a man who spent a lifetime trying to solve a mathematical mystery I would probably have just given them a funny look and thought no more about it.... especially if they had gone on to tell me it had no chapters and nothing much happened...
in short nobody recpmmended this book to me and i had never heard of it until two or three days ago. But now having rated it 5 stars adn coming down from that great feeling of total story immersion I am recommending it on Goodreads....

So this is how i came to read this book...
i was browsing my favourite second hand bookstall...on the Thames South Bank... with just a short time to spare...no time for lengthy bookgrazing...

and spotted the ff colphon on the spine. (Faber and Faber are my favourite publishers and I find this a good way of quickly browsing for a book I am likely to want to read) Extracting the book from its jam-packed neighbours I discovered a beautiful Fibonacci design on the cover with the title and author's name following the curiving lines. Some intriguing reveiws on the back and next thing i knew i was 30 pages into the story stood stock still while other browsers had to move around me (serious breach of book browsing etiquette.)Taking a deep breath I handed over £3.50 to a rather indifferent bookseller and finished the book two days later having opened it up at every opportunity and put everything else on the reading pile on hold....

So what it is Uncle Petros and Goldbach's conjecture about? Well the title is in fact the whole plot summary..... if you are into reducing books to their simplest denominators the title says it all...

But of course all the title does in fact is to whet the appetite...
so a littel more...

Well yes it is about maths...Goldbach's conjecture to be precise...an obscure problem I had certainly never heard of before...

And its about the "author's" Uncle Petros who seems to be universally despised by his brothers and other family members and is certainly not active on the social or family scene. In fact he seems to be a recluse... so a mystery then... What on earth has this inoffensive man done to make himself so despised? muses the nephew. So the story tells of his attempts to discover the truth about his uncle...

Essentially the novel explores about the lure of complex problems for the mental gymnast through one man's obsession to discover an elusive proof. On the way we are introduced to some other great mathematicialns including Turing. But somehow the maths is almost irrelevent...that is ...you do not need to be a mathematician to appreciate the story... It is a story about the power of an idea I guess. A funny sad beautiful powerful story that hangs in the mind and has its own mysterious beauty and appeal. I am so glad I found this book...or it found me...and i dont even quite know why....

Gilbert Adair of the Independent wrote...
"Surely pure maths and gripping fiction stand at opposite ends of the cultural universe? Not in this fine novel...."

'nough said. ...more

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Jul 31, 2016 Kelly rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, math

I'm an English teacher and librarian, and although I took math classes all through high school and did well enough in college, I have never considered myself a math person. It's not that I don't understand concepts; it's more that math has never touched my soul the way that reading has. I remember very little of all the equations I learned in school, and I feel awful that I cannot help students with their math problems at school. I am always telling myself I need to take a refresher course or tw I'm an English teacher and librarian, and although I took math classes all through high school and did well enough in college, I have never considered myself a math person. It's not that I don't understand concepts; it's more that math has never touched my soul the way that reading has. I remember very little of all the equations I learned in school, and I feel awful that I cannot help students with their math problems at school. I am always telling myself I need to take a refresher course or two. I think in metaphors, but unlike Uncle Petros, I've never envisioned numbers as people (oh, the twins in this story!)

I read this book solely because it was a book club choice for school this year, sponsored by the math department. I am grateful that this book, along with the other two math books I read this summer, has instilled in me a great appreciation for the beauty and elegance and purity of math. There were so many famous people and their works mentioned in this book, that I found myself keeping a list and then researching them on the internet. When a book prompts me to do this, you know I've invested in the story.

This book helped me to understand how math lovers feel the same awe, dismay, anger, love, and passion for math rockstar, problem, theorem, equation, etc. that I experience when I read a great book. I can begin to comprehend how my oldest daughter, a math teacher, feels about her subject. I never knew that while trying to solve unsolvable problems, some mathematicians make famous discoveries that are equivalent to little babies of that problem. And the publish or perish world and the competition among peers - such a tragedy in this story!

This story is sweet and sad, and I was charmed by the relationship between uncle and nephew. This is a coming of age story, a tribute to a beloved relative, and yes, a story of the madness that stems from obsession. It's a story for everyone, not just lovers of math. For those of us who are not math aficionados or who claim we are not good at math or just don't get it, this book will open our eyes to the wonder of numbers. ...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Robert rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

When I was at school I hated Maths (yes over here we say it in the plural) with a passion. When I’m confronted with a ton of numbers my mind just refuses to work. The funny thing is when I’m reading these mathematical/scientific novels all the concepts become clear. This was the case of Uncle Petros…

On the whole it’s a very simple story. The narrator is a good mathematician but finds out that his mysterious Uncle Petros is a professor in the subject. On further investigation he has found out tha ...more

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Sep 02, 2007 Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: novels

The plot and premise of this book was cool - boy admires mysterious old uncle, boy finds out the uncle "wasted" his entire life trying to solve the infamous math problem known as "Goldbach's Conjecture," boy tries to follow in uncle's footsteps. The writing was mediocre - but it's hard to know how much was lost in the translation from the original Greek - and the story somewhat predictable. But I liked it cause it kicked off a firestorm of mathematical obsession in me, and that's a good thing. T ...more

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Jul 01, 2014 Ian rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books

"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 path ...more

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Oct 10, 2010 B. Asma rated it really liked it

A biographical fiction about the lifelong relationship between a young Greek man, who somewhat resembles the author Apostolos Doxiadis, and his Uncle Petros--a black sheep of the business-oriented family as well as a mathematical genius who devoted his life to the solution of Goldbach's Conjecture (="Every even number greater than two is the sum of two primes"). Besides narrating a captivating and insightful story, Doxiadis, a surprisingly good teacher who teaches by restatement, surveys mathema ...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Andrea Hickman Walker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science, fiction, mystery, biography

This is an amazing book! Most people would consider a novel centred on maths rather uninteresting. I have always liked maths, though I prefer algebra to geometry and calculus and other more complicated things. I also like books about scientists because I know scientists and I understand how their minds work (most of the time). Also, I really enjoy mystery stories and that's what science is all about, after all, solving mysteries. The only thing I didn't like was the ending, but considering the f ...more

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Dec 13, 2015 Ahmed rated it it was amazing

Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture tells the story of a brilliant mathematician obsessed with proving Goldbach's Conjecture. Petros Papachristos devotes the early part of his life trying to prove Goldbach`s Conjecture. This book is a great book and I would recommended it to anyone who loves math. It`s a great book for anyone who wants to find out about the life of a person who LOVES Goldbach's Conjecture. If you want to find the answer to it read this book.(view spoiler) ...more

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Reading 1001: Uncle Petros & Goldbach’s Conjecture	1	10	Jan 22, 2019 07:50PM

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About Apostolos Doxiadis

Apostolos Doxiadis

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Apostolos Doxiadis (Greek: Απόστολος Δοξιάδης) was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1953, and grew up in Greece.
Although interested in fiction and the arts from his youngest years, a sudden and totally unexpected love affair with mathematics led him to New York's Columbia University at the age of fifteen. He did graduate work in Applied Mathematics at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, w Apostolos Doxiadis (Greek: Απόστολος Δοξιάδης) was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1953, and grew up in Greece.
Although interested in fiction and the arts from his youngest years, a sudden and totally unexpected love affair with mathematics led him to New York's Columbia University at the age of fifteen. He did graduate work in Applied Mathematics at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, working on mathematical models for the nervous system.
After his studies, Apostolos returned to Greece and his adolescent loves of writing, cinema and the theater. For some years he directed professionally for the theater, and in 1983 made his first film Underground Passage (in Greek). His second film, Terirem (1986) won the prize of the International Center for Artistic Cinema (CICAE) at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival.

Since the mid-eighties, most of Apostolos' work has been in fiction. He has published four novels in Greek, Parallel Life (1985), Makavettas (1988), Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture (1992) and Three Little Men (1997). His translation of Uncle Petros was published internationally in 2000, to great critical acclaim, and has since been translated into over thirty languages. Apostolos now writes in both Greek and English.

Apart from his work in fiction, Apostolos has written two plays. In 1999, he wrote and directed the musical shadow puppet play "The Tragical History of Jackson Pollock, Abstract Expressionist", accompanied by a volume of texts and images, Paralipomena. In 2006, his play Seventeenth Night had a year-long run in an Athens theatre. The play is a fictional recreation of the last days in the life of the great logician, and father of the incompleteness theorem, Kurt Gödel.

In autumn 2008, Apostolos, completed the graphic novel Logicomix, co-authored with Christos H. Papadimitriou, with art by Alecos Papadatos and Annie di Donna. The book's story is based on the epic quest for the foundations of mathematics. Logicomix was published in Autumn 2009 by Bloomsbury in the U.S. and the U.K.

Apart from his work in the various modes of storytelling, in the past few years, Apostolos has been studying the relationship between mathematics and narrative. He is currently editing a volume on mathematics and narrative with mathematician Barry Mazur, of Harvard University, due to be published in 2010.

Apostolos lives in Athens with his wife, the novelist Dorina Papaliou, and their children. ...more