Customer Reviews
Good but not great - By: K. Koh, 14 Mar 2008 
It was fascinating to read about all these famous mathematicians & their backgrounds. It was great to be able to put a face, a personality & a background to an equation that I have been using for all my life, like Cauchy, Descartes, Hilbert, etc. However, his analogies about Riemann's Hypothesis were not very effective, & were very hard to get through, even though I am a mathematician. Also, the lack of an appendix at the end explaining the math of it was disappointing. I ended up skipping over the mathematical bits & just jumping to the parts where he talked about other mathematicians. Maybe I should read a history of math book instead?
More about the mathematicians than the mathematics - By: Matt Westwood, 30 Dec 2007 It's said that for every equation you includein a book, you halve the number of readers of that book. That said, this one should be a best-seller because it includes hardly any equations at all.
I was expecting to like this, as I've experienced some of the author's presentations on the TV & I was impressed by his style. However, this book was disappointingly thin on substance.
If you're interestedin mathematicians as a breed (who isn't? - we're fascinating little devils) then this book should amuse you. Sometimes it comes across as a gossip-column. For a solid history of the Riemann conjecture, however, the mathematical detail is remarkablein its absence.
I compare this book to reading a review of a symphonic work - all very well to be told it's great, but I'd much rather be hearing it.
insightful and complete account on Riemann Conjecture - By: Xavier Serra Guasch, 03 Sep 2007 
Being a mathematician myself I have always found it difficult to find a maths book that was, on one side of a level that could be followed without being sittingin a library with a great aount of reference books, & of the other of a level enough not to get bored. Sure this is the best i've read. It's written following historical line & it becomes apage turner, as if it were a novel
Very good, but could have been better... - By: David Evans, 25 Feb 2007 
I really wanted this book to be as good as Simon Singh's 'Fermat's Last Theorem', & while it shares many of the same characteristics as Singh's excellent debut, for me it didn't quite match up.
Of course, there my be a couple of simple reasons why this may have been so. Firstly, the Riemann Hypothesis is a rather more conceptually difficult mathematical problem to grasp than Pierre de Fermat's simple but elusive conjecture. Du Sautoy tries to deal with this by using analogies to landscapes & music, but due to the gaps between my reading sessions, I sometimes forgot the origin of the analogical thread, which meant I had to search back through the text to 'catch up'.
The other main reason why this book was less satisfying is because nobody has yet proven Riemann's Hypthesis to be true, whereas Fermat's Last Theorem was finally proven by Andrew Wilesin the 1990's.
Lastly, the book could have benefited from a series of notes or appendices linked to the text, through which the keen reader could gain a mathematical explanation of what was being describedin the text. Again, Singh's book is a beautiful example of how this should be done.
Overall though, a very good book, which I am sure I will read again.
truly fantastic book - By: b.w...s, 06 Feb 2007 Hi,
This book is a brilliant & beautifully balanced introductory way to first explore the topic of 'number theory'.
The book uses techniques that explore the topics without burying themin the details & to have them see the problemin their minds eye. From beginnings of estimating the distributions of primes, through covering the 'Zeta' function, & why its so well-known. For example, this book gives a first-ratein clarity explanation of 'R.S.A' cryptography & how it works. I have read 'techie' manuals which confuse the whole topic unnecessarily but this has is marvellous clarity.
This is a beautiful written book, which deserves to be given coveragein sixth forms to generate more interestin mathematics. It's been a privilege to read this book & great fun to read.
