mctryler's review against another edition
5.0
The author, John Derbyshire, has a wonderful achievement in this book. It is extremely impressive how much he was able to explain for a lay audience about the Riemann Hypothesis. While it is not comprehensive, any close reading of this book will leave the reader with a elementary understanding of the RH, and while that might not sound too impressive, it is a rather mighty feat. This book shows the beauty and excitement that math can have, and it made me fall in love with the subject even more. Anyone who has the slightest inkling in mathematics will throughly enjoy this book.
Interesting fact: John Derbyshire is apparently an alt-right figure, which surprised me. I don’t think that shows itself in this book at all, but just letting you know.
Interesting fact: John Derbyshire is apparently an alt-right figure, which surprised me. I don’t think that shows itself in this book at all, but just letting you know.
isaac_speelman's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
jcovey's review against another edition
4.0
I came to this book looking for an explanation of the Riemann Zeta Hypothesis, what it is and why it's so important, and this book delivers in spades. I can't help but wish it was aimed at a slightly more math literate audience. The book tries hard to assume no knowledge of calculus in the reader, which has a tendency to slow things down quite a bit. Still, I understand why that assumption was made and Derbyshire achieves his aim of presenting some fabulous mathematics to the widest possible audience.
bakudreamer's review against another edition
Just read a little of to get the idea
losing_the_plot's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
4.25
jumbleread's review against another edition
4.0
The book is well organized. The work to figure out primes was admirable.
michielstock's review against another edition
5.0
Never thought pure mathematics as boring, but Prime Obsession had me on the edge of my seat! Both a biography and a layman intro to the Riemann hypothesis, it is one of the better mathematics popsci I've read.
madhukaraphatak's review against another edition
3.0
Read 50% of the book. Way too much mathematics for the casual reader. Good in background and writing but frequent jumping between topics makes it harder to follow along. Would have been a better read if the author had kept it simple narrative flow.
acardattack's review against another edition
3.0
This is a hard book to pin down, parts of me liked it, others not so much. It reads like a half proof. There is math and history of those mathematicians featured. He does a decent job of putting some sections in layman's terms, which put me off, I get the need, but I highly doubt many of those without a math interest and background are going to read this. The author's writing style is very informal. I wanted to love this book, it has good books, but I don't feel the author really ever gets to the bare bones of what the RH is, its importance and its implications, he brings it up, but it isn't nearly as detailed as it could have been. Check out numberphile and singingbanana on youtube, their videos do a great job of talking about the RH. I may reread this when I can give it my full attention, I was reading between this and another book, so it may have hurt my experience. Plus reading difficult math a second time can really be beneficial to grasping everything.