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

I recently read "Uncle Petros & Goldbach's Conjecture", and I found this to be the first novel I've ever really enjoyed reading. It was eloquently written, and it is full of episodes of both human folly and wisdom. Given that I'm an amateur mathematician myself, and especially given my strong emphasis upon number theory, this novel struck a chord of enthrallment with me. An example of the folly of human pride, to which we all can easily fall victim, the narrator has Uncle Petros state the following: "However, a mathematician who is just average -- I'm talking about a researcher, of course, not a high-school teacher -- is a living, walking tragedy..." Such a characterization of a "merely average" mathematician is an arrogant repudiation of the wonderful successes achieved by such average mathematicians -- maybe never discovering any great theorems, or making any substantial contribution to mathematics, yet fulfilling a vital role in human society whose technical world is run largely by mathematical principles, with most of the technical successes being accomplished by more-or-less "average" technicians and mathematicians. Uncle Petros ended up rather tragically, not because he had too little mathematical ability for a good, creative, and productive mathematical life, but rather because he got his bloated ego attached to an absurd characterization of what it is to be a successful mathematician. The sheer joy of doing mathematics is sufficient to render a life of "average" mathematical achievement worthy of respect and admiration. The author of this novel, Doxiadis, did a masterful job of giving a hypothetical account of a mathematician of great potential who permitted his ego to run amok with an absurdly high benchmark for mathematical success. Uncle Petros is a classic example of how one should NOT do mathematics, and the author created an enchanting story to demonstrate the folly of the likes of Petros. This book is a great read for the mathematically inclined among us.

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.

I had decided on reading this book since I thoroughly enjoyed reading Logicomix. I had ordered it and set it on the ever growing stack of unread and books I had only begun. Most of my recently purchased books in that stack are in the realm of nonfiction and science. One morning I woke up early due to a storm and decided to start reading this. I didn't set it down until I was half way through. The beginning really drew me in, and as I'm not so much mathematically inclined, part 2 was admittedly a little tougher to get through. Still, the entire novel had my attention and had me laughing with its combination of likeable characters, humor, heart, and a touch of mathematical madness.

You needed to know some mathematics, but not too much, otherwise the plot and the theme were uninteresting.

It's rare to find a decent book describing the art and process of mathematical proof development. This book does it well -- and it's fiction!, which is even rarer. I am frustrated with e-books that are apparently scanned (inexplicably) from the paper text and use OCR without any editing whatsoever. There are more than a handful of typographical errors (e.g., where a capital i and a one are confused). I was also quite confused by page 151 saying 1729 = 123 + 13 = 103 + 93. In fact this should be 1729 = 12^3 + 1^3 = 10^3 + 9^3. Really unacceptable for a book focused on math. Simple editing would have fixed this. Amazon should demand better quality of Kindle e-books.

The very construction of the title of this book is disarming, in that it relies on the combination of a hyper-avuncular "Uncle Patros" and an apparently still-unsolved mathematical conundrum. This juxtaposition results in a plain and simple yarn. No, wait, maybe it's a mystery novel? Or a tale of romance? 0r a treatise on mathematics and those unusual humans who become mathematicians? Or study of familial jealousy and devotion (which is a complicated enough topic that only gets exacerbated by the presence of Greek dynamics)? "Uncle Patros..." Is all of the above. It's just too bad that a book that rests on the rigor and discipline of mathematics would contain so many typographical flaws, at least in my Kindle edition. In my mind, readers should elect to permit the triumph of substance and story-telling over form. By the way, if you care, this charming book WILL also teach you a lot about the history of math and some rather splendid mathematicians!

mathematics in a novel is rare ! and you like it

Oso ondo etorri zaigu gure helbururako: euskarara itzultzea

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.

しっかりした包装で予定より早く受け取りました。 本の内容も素晴らしく、一気に完読しました。 ありがとうございました。

Truly gives an insight about what mathematical research is