Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Milano, Rizzoli
Description
Inthe tradition of Fermat's Enigma and Pi, Marcus du Sautoy tells the illuminating, authoritative, and engagingstory of Bernhard Reimann and the ongoing quest tocapture the holy grail of mathematics--the formula to predict prime numbers.Oliver Sacks, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, calls TheMusic of the Primes "an amazing book. . . . I could not put it down once Ihad started." Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman,writes, "this fascinating account, decoding the inscrutable language of themathematical priesthood, is written like the purest poetry. Marcus du Sautoy's enthusiasm shines through every line of this hymnto the joy of high intelligence, illuminating as it does so even the darkestcorners of his most arcane universe."… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member pw0327
As the previous reviewers have already noted, du Sautoy does a great job bringing together the history of research that has been done on prime numbers, especially the Riemann Hypothesis and anything that pertains to that problem. I had not heard of the physics connection until I read this book and
The bad is the purple prose that du Sautoy resorts to in order to make the material accessible to the lay reader. i think perhaps he underestimates his audience -to some a fatal flaw, to others a grating annoyance. My opinion is somewhere in between. It is rather difficult to express higher mathematics in a language other than in the mathematical language. I thought he did a pretty decent job with many of the concepts but I wonder what Simon Singh could have done with the same information. For example, du Sautoy's explanation of the RSA encryption method was lightweight and confusing. I think I had to read the pages four or five times before I saw how he was trying to explain the method. I am not a mathematician but I do have extensive background in mathematics, so if I got confused, what happens to the average reader?
The ugly is the way he flits around in his narrative. There is never any sense of when he is done talking about one development and the beginning of another. the history of the mathematicians were cursory at best. I understand that the purpose is to explore the idea of primes and their frequency but I agree also that the history and quirks of the mathematicians are interesting sidenotes that help the narrative move along, but don't leave the reader hanging!!!
regardless, I would recommend the book because of the expanse of mathemtical ground covered and the interesting concept introduced. I like the concept, I just did not care for the execution.
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I did enjoy reading about it. The coverage is also very comprehensive and very thorough. The bad is the purple prose that du Sautoy resorts to in order to make the material accessible to the lay reader. i think perhaps he underestimates his audience -to some a fatal flaw, to others a grating annoyance. My opinion is somewhere in between. It is rather difficult to express higher mathematics in a language other than in the mathematical language. I thought he did a pretty decent job with many of the concepts but I wonder what Simon Singh could have done with the same information. For example, du Sautoy's explanation of the RSA encryption method was lightweight and confusing. I think I had to read the pages four or five times before I saw how he was trying to explain the method. I am not a mathematician but I do have extensive background in mathematics, so if I got confused, what happens to the average reader?
The ugly is the way he flits around in his narrative. There is never any sense of when he is done talking about one development and the beginning of another. the history of the mathematicians were cursory at best. I understand that the purpose is to explore the idea of primes and their frequency but I agree also that the history and quirks of the mathematicians are interesting sidenotes that help the narrative move along, but don't leave the reader hanging!!!
regardless, I would recommend the book because of the expanse of mathemtical ground covered and the interesting concept introduced. I like the concept, I just did not care for the execution.
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LibraryThing member Sander314
Marcus du Sautoy's book jumps too quickly from topic to topic and is often way too shallow, especially in the more mathematical parts. He also constantly uses vague metaphors, usually without even mentioning the proper term. Especially the constant mentioning of 'clocks' and 'hours' when talking
Regardless, the biographical sections are often very interesting, and the book contained quite a few mathematical tidbits I didn't know about. Also enjoyed the parts about the connection to quantum physics, which really surprised me.
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about modular arithmetic annoyed me to no end. Likewise, many theorems are mentioned without ever explaining what they are. Some kind of footnotes or endnotes would have been perfect here for those with a background in mathematics, or even for interested readers who don't.Regardless, the biographical sections are often very interesting, and the book contained quite a few mathematical tidbits I didn't know about. Also enjoyed the parts about the connection to quantum physics, which really surprised me.
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LibraryThing member elmyra
This took me a long time to read. Not quite convinced the got the balance between maths (relatively little) and anecdotes about mathematicians right, but I do appreciate that it's difficult to explain that kind of maths to the general public, and let's face it, I was struggling occasionally on the
Bechdel: 3 female mathematicians are mentioned (Sarah Flannery, Julia Robinson, Sophie Germain) though they never actually talk to each for more or less obvious reasons. I imagine if they did, they's be talking about maths though, and I like that thought. The scarcity of women in the book reflects on the field and the historical prejudice, not on du Sautoy. Though I would like to see him do more to actively encourage girls to get into the sciences and maths especially, in his new-ish job in charge of public understanding of science .
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bits he did try.Bechdel: 3 female mathematicians are mentioned (Sarah Flannery, Julia Robinson, Sophie Germain) though they never actually talk to each for more or less obvious reasons. I imagine if they did, they's be talking about maths though, and I like that thought. The scarcity of women in the book reflects on the field and the historical prejudice, not on du Sautoy. Though I would like to see him do more to actively encourage girls to get into the sciences and maths especially, in his new-ish job in charge of public understanding of science .
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LibraryThing member fpagan
Of the three '03 books on the Riemann Hypothesis, the second one I read.
LibraryThing member miketroll
Subtitled: “why an unsolved problem in mathematics matters”, this book offers an inspiring tour of the dizzying mindscapes of higher mathematics. Particularly fascinating is du Sautoy’s account of the huge impact of eggheads in their ivory towers on the big bucks world of e-commerce.
The
Along the way we can savour many anecdotes and biographical sketches of the celebrities of this strange world. The story of the self-taught Indian genius, Ramanujan, is enthralling. Imagine: Ramanujan is sharing a London taxi with a Cambridge professor when the latter remarks that the taxi registration – 1729 – is not a very interesting number. On the contrary, Ramanujan replies, it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways: 1729 = 13 cubed + 12 cubed = 10 cubed + 9 cubed. Obvious, really, when you think about it.
Then there is the Riemann himself. Working quietly at the university of Göttingen in 1866, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a battle between Hanoverian and Prussian troops. He abruptly makes his escape to Italy. Meanwhile, professorial colleagues rush to his lodgings to rescue his papers. There they find Riemann’s housekeeper, with her German sense of order, busily consigning the great man’s untidy papers to the fire. Much is saved, but a century later the mathematically world still wonders what treasures were lost.
By the way, Riemann’s Hypothesis remains at large, with a million dollar prize waiting for the solver.
The
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unifying thread of this narrative is prime number theory, notably the century-old quest for the crucial proof of Riemann’s Hypothesis. The Hypothesis itself is unfortunately so arcane that du Sautoy struggles to make it accessible to the layman. But he still captures the passion and the excitement of the search, the relevance of mathematics to the everyday world.Along the way we can savour many anecdotes and biographical sketches of the celebrities of this strange world. The story of the self-taught Indian genius, Ramanujan, is enthralling. Imagine: Ramanujan is sharing a London taxi with a Cambridge professor when the latter remarks that the taxi registration – 1729 – is not a very interesting number. On the contrary, Ramanujan replies, it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways: 1729 = 13 cubed + 12 cubed = 10 cubed + 9 cubed. Obvious, really, when you think about it.
Then there is the Riemann himself. Working quietly at the university of Göttingen in 1866, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a battle between Hanoverian and Prussian troops. He abruptly makes his escape to Italy. Meanwhile, professorial colleagues rush to his lodgings to rescue his papers. There they find Riemann’s housekeeper, with her German sense of order, busily consigning the great man’s untidy papers to the fire. Much is saved, but a century later the mathematically world still wonders what treasures were lost.
By the way, Riemann’s Hypothesis remains at large, with a million dollar prize waiting for the solver.
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LibraryThing member nocto
This book surprised me. It's mostly about things I learnt on my maths degree and mostly hated at the time. Linking the whole history of the exploration of prime numbers, which mostly comes down to trying to prove the Riemann hypothesis, together with the background and biography of the
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mathematicians involved, the reasons why they were exploring this problem, and modern day real world applications makes it really interesting though. Wish I'd read it about 18 years ago really. Show Less
LibraryThing member PDCRead
We use prime numbers everyday, every internet transaction uses these for security, and de Sautoy here gives us a history of the prime number, from the very early Greek mathematicians, to the modern day.
The primary focus of the book is the Reimann Hypothesis. Du Sautoy gives a very readable history
The primary focus of the book is the Reimann Hypothesis. Du Sautoy gives a very readable history
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of all the mathematicians who have looked at proving and trying to disprove this. Some of the maths was a bit beyond me, but I did enjoy having my brain stretched. Show Less
LibraryThing member tgraettinger
Some interesting biographical info about several of the key players. I didn't find the discussions of their work on primes that illuminating, however. It needed something akin to a "timeline of ideas" to show the various threads and how they were connected.
Awards
The Economist Best Books (2003.21)
National Academies Communication Award (Finalist — 2004)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2003
ISBN
8817000981 / 9788817000987
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