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Available
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Publication
London : Faber, 2001.
Description
Uncle Petros is a family joke. An ageing recluse, he lives alone in a suburb of Athens, playing chess and tending to his garden. If you didn't know better, you'd surely think he was one of life's failures. But his young nephew suspects otherwise. For Uncle Petros, he discovers, was once a celebrated mathematician, brilliant and foolhardy enough to stake everything on solving a problem that had defied all attempts at proof for nearly three centuries - Goldbach's Conjecture. His quest brings him into contact with some of the century's greatest mathematicians, including the Indian prodigy Ramanujan and the young Alan Turing. But his struggle is lonely and single-minded, and by the end it has apparently destroyed his life. Until that is a final encounter with his nephew opens up to Petros, once more, the deep mysterious beauty of mathematics. Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture is an inspiring novel of intellectual adventure, proud genius, the exhilaration of pure mathematics - and the rivalry and antagonism which torment those who pursue impossible goals.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ewrinc
This work of fiction relates what is a plausible story of the complex effects a man of science (in this case mathematics) has on his family and community and the world. The main subject of the book, Uncle Petros, is seen by many, particularly those who were closest to him, to have squandered his
Uncle Petros is a fictional character, but may be loosely based on a real mathematician, C.D. Papakyriakopoulos who did in fact work many years on a different, but also very difficult mathematical problem called the Poincare conjecture. Papakyriakopoulos failed to solve the Poincare conjectue (as did many, many other mathematicians for over 100 years). However, his "failure" resulted in great progress in several areas of mathematics and science. In fact, unlike the Goldbach conjecture the Poincare conjecture has recently been proven, based in part on the advances made by many mathematicians, inlcuding Papakyriakopoulos.
The author, Apostolos Doxiadis is the son of a famous and very influential architect Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis. Apostolos studied mathematics at Columbia University and did graduate work in Paris. He has several other published works, but Uncle Petros is by far the most widely known at least in the US.
"Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture" is very readable and enjoyable book whether or not you are interested in math. I look forward to other works from Doxiadis.
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gift of knowledge on a single problem that, even if he had solved it would not have meant much to them. Uncle Petros was trying to solve one of the hard problems of mathematics called Goldbach's conjecture and although he worked on it for many years he was unable to prove it. Uncle Petros is a fictional character, but may be loosely based on a real mathematician, C.D. Papakyriakopoulos who did in fact work many years on a different, but also very difficult mathematical problem called the Poincare conjecture. Papakyriakopoulos failed to solve the Poincare conjectue (as did many, many other mathematicians for over 100 years). However, his "failure" resulted in great progress in several areas of mathematics and science. In fact, unlike the Goldbach conjecture the Poincare conjecture has recently been proven, based in part on the advances made by many mathematicians, inlcuding Papakyriakopoulos.
The author, Apostolos Doxiadis is the son of a famous and very influential architect Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis. Apostolos studied mathematics at Columbia University and did graduate work in Paris. He has several other published works, but Uncle Petros is by far the most widely known at least in the US.
"Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture" is very readable and enjoyable book whether or not you are interested in math. I look forward to other works from Doxiadis.
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LibraryThing member ablueidol
Uncle Petros and Golbach’s Conjecture
Uncle Petros and Golbach’s Conjecture was originally a best selling Greek novel and has now been published over 20 languages so don’t get switched off by the title and subject matter. Forget about it being about maths and in fact think of Moby Dick to
Right now let’s get the maths out of the way. Golbach’s Conjecture first stated in the 18th century suggests that:
Every even integer greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two primes.
But mathematicians lack proof that in all circumstance it would hold. For example think about Physics where if dealing with the very big or the very small ordinary scientific understanding ceases to work. So could this be the case in Mathematics? Yes over my head as well! But the author is a childhood mathematical genius who submitted original research at 15 before even starting his degree and also an acclaimed film maker and writer. So he both understands the mathematical issues and can write so that we understand and care.
We first meet Uncle Petros in the 1970’s through the eyes of the beloved favourite nephew as a teenager. Petros is dismissed as the family failure that supports him through the family business while he does nothing but read books and plays chess. He leaves his home only once a month to do the books of a charity founded by his father. The beloved favourite nephew is met by a wall of adult silence when he tried to find out what the anger of the family is about. A chance phone call and a subsequent letter lead him to discover that far from a failure Uncle Petros had been a professor of mathematics in the 20’s and 30’s at a prestigious German University. This makes him as obsessive as his Uncle as he struggles to discover the Truth of the family scandal.
He tries to become a mathematician to help him challenge and understand what had obsessed his Uncle. This causes huge family problems- this is a Greek family remember where honouring your family and Father is a top rule in life. He finally manages to get the story of his Uncles obsessive hunt out in the open but at a high personal cost to his own ambitions. It is clear that Uncle Petros is a genius who will never be known as his hopes are dashed in the 30’s by the publication of Kurt Godel’s Theorem. Yes more maths but not much so don’t leave. This solves the problem of completeness by showing that any theory of numbers will contain unprovable propositions. Alan During (him of how do we know a computer has human intelligence- asked before computers were developed- now that’s what being clever is about) then demonstrates that theorists have no idea which proposition is merely hard to prove and which are impossible to prove.
Hence, Uncle Petros has no way of knowing if spending all his life in trying solve the Golbach’s Conjecture is a possible but hard task or impossible task. He gives up, his dreams and hopes ended. The beloved nephew is finding the truth is released from his obsession and so escapes the fate of his Uncle but then realises that a psychological lie has taken place which he needs to lance but this has tragic consequences.
Uncle Petros and Golbach’s Conjecture is highly recommended Greek tragedy in less then 200 pages about theoretical maths and why love and life is about how you answer the Bette Davis Theorem:
Oh, don't let's ask for the moon. We've already got the stars.
Uncle Petros and Golbach’s Conjecture was originally a best selling Greek novel and has now been published over 20 languages so don’t get switched off by the title and subject matter. Forget about it being about maths and in fact think of Moby Dick to
Show More
place this book. It’s about obsession and pride in chasing the impossible dream. You understand the thrill and terror of chasing impossible dreams. Right now let’s get the maths out of the way. Golbach’s Conjecture first stated in the 18th century suggests that:
Every even integer greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two primes.
But mathematicians lack proof that in all circumstance it would hold. For example think about Physics where if dealing with the very big or the very small ordinary scientific understanding ceases to work. So could this be the case in Mathematics? Yes over my head as well! But the author is a childhood mathematical genius who submitted original research at 15 before even starting his degree and also an acclaimed film maker and writer. So he both understands the mathematical issues and can write so that we understand and care.
We first meet Uncle Petros in the 1970’s through the eyes of the beloved favourite nephew as a teenager. Petros is dismissed as the family failure that supports him through the family business while he does nothing but read books and plays chess. He leaves his home only once a month to do the books of a charity founded by his father. The beloved favourite nephew is met by a wall of adult silence when he tried to find out what the anger of the family is about. A chance phone call and a subsequent letter lead him to discover that far from a failure Uncle Petros had been a professor of mathematics in the 20’s and 30’s at a prestigious German University. This makes him as obsessive as his Uncle as he struggles to discover the Truth of the family scandal.
He tries to become a mathematician to help him challenge and understand what had obsessed his Uncle. This causes huge family problems- this is a Greek family remember where honouring your family and Father is a top rule in life. He finally manages to get the story of his Uncles obsessive hunt out in the open but at a high personal cost to his own ambitions. It is clear that Uncle Petros is a genius who will never be known as his hopes are dashed in the 30’s by the publication of Kurt Godel’s Theorem. Yes more maths but not much so don’t leave. This solves the problem of completeness by showing that any theory of numbers will contain unprovable propositions. Alan During (him of how do we know a computer has human intelligence- asked before computers were developed- now that’s what being clever is about) then demonstrates that theorists have no idea which proposition is merely hard to prove and which are impossible to prove.
Hence, Uncle Petros has no way of knowing if spending all his life in trying solve the Golbach’s Conjecture is a possible but hard task or impossible task. He gives up, his dreams and hopes ended. The beloved nephew is finding the truth is released from his obsession and so escapes the fate of his Uncle but then realises that a psychological lie has taken place which he needs to lance but this has tragic consequences.
Uncle Petros and Golbach’s Conjecture is highly recommended Greek tragedy in less then 200 pages about theoretical maths and why love and life is about how you answer the Bette Davis Theorem:
Oh, don't let's ask for the moon. We've already got the stars.
Show Less
LibraryThing member pamplemousse
A boy discovers that his ageing, reclusive uncle, derided by the family as a failure, was in fact once a celebrated mathematician. He then embarks on a quest to discover what happened in his uncle's life. Written with an engaging, light touch (there's no difficult maths), this novella is an
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immensely worthwhile exploration of genius and obsession. Show Less
LibraryThing member wendyrey
A young man tells his own and his uncle's story. The elder is an research mathematician who by delaying publication of his theories lost the race for publication and as is no second place reward in science was viewed by himself and his family as a failure. Intellectual angst for a change.
Well
Well
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written and entertaining . Show Less
LibraryThing member gregfromgilbert
Enjoyable quick read. As a novel it was good (not great). But then again how many good novels combine some non-trivial and intersting mathematical ideas? I havn't run across many (if you have please tell me about them! "White Light" by Rudy Rucker is the only one that comes to mind). In other words
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if you're into mathematics you will enjoy this. Show Less
LibraryThing member franoscar
Spoilers. This was fun. A lot of the same ideas in Logicomix. It doesn't go real deep. Uncle Petros works on the Goldbach Conjecture and fails to prove it, and by the time he decides to publish his preliminary results he is too late & other people have already published. So he seems like a
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nonachiever. The big dramatic moment is when Alan Turing tells him about Godel's theorem & Uncle Petros decides that the GC is unprovable. The narrator decides it is his job to get UP to acknowledge that he gave up, and what he does instead is get UP back on the job of proving the GC, which UP decides he has accomplished but he dies before he can show the narrator the proof. It reads fast & isn't very challenging & math is always fun. Show Less
LibraryThing member wouterzzzzz
Uncle Petros is "off limits" for the narrator; for years this uncle tried to solve one of the most difficult problems in math, goldbach's conjecture, however, failing to do so. The story is a combination of the present, in which the narrator and uncle Petros interact, and the past, with uncle
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Petros quest in math. A nice combination of mathematical insights and information and a well written story. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mikalina
Pseudoscientific....you never actually more than scratches at the mathematics; i.e. whatever puzzle would have served as the propeller of the story. The story has a thin plot; it is about the storyteller and his relationship to the uncle, the mathematician, the failure who never becomes the one to
But the story fails psychologically in the end when the nephew starts a crusade to make his old uncle come to terms with his failure. This is an act absolutely incongruent with the carefully displayed longstanding and growing sympathy between uncle and nephew, and of the empathy the more mature nephew developes towards his uncle through the combined knowledge begot from his own journey in to the mathematician´s world and the close greek kinship. The nephew´s crusade against what he perceives as illusions of his uncle, precipitates the uncle´s last go at the puzzle, and eventually his death, a premature death the nephew easily washes his hands of. The nephew´s character transformation is not tragic (unleashed unknowingly with disastrous results) they are just unbelievable.
Psychologically dysfunctional added to the fact that we never come close to mathematics per se leaves the book standing shakely on both legs.
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prove Golbachs conjecture, and the uncle`s influence on his career choice, why he never became a mathematician himself in the end. Good idea set up with unusual props - it could have been.... But the story fails psychologically in the end when the nephew starts a crusade to make his old uncle come to terms with his failure. This is an act absolutely incongruent with the carefully displayed longstanding and growing sympathy between uncle and nephew, and of the empathy the more mature nephew developes towards his uncle through the combined knowledge begot from his own journey in to the mathematician´s world and the close greek kinship. The nephew´s crusade against what he perceives as illusions of his uncle, precipitates the uncle´s last go at the puzzle, and eventually his death, a premature death the nephew easily washes his hands of. The nephew´s character transformation is not tragic (unleashed unknowingly with disastrous results) they are just unbelievable.
Psychologically dysfunctional added to the fact that we never come close to mathematics per se leaves the book standing shakely on both legs.
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LibraryThing member TheoClarke
Remarkably readable tale hiding behind a daunting title that promises advanced mathematics. The narrative is entirely engaging as an enquiring narrator reveals the life and egocentricity of a brilliant self-defeating uncle.
LibraryThing member Brainannex
I found myself enjoying this book when I realized it's best read as a myth, not as a straight work of fiction. Knowledge of the formulas of higher mathematics isn't necessary but knowledge of the pursuit of proofs and the names of some of the most famous practitioners would be helpful. A quick
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read, and a good one. Show Less
LibraryThing member EowynA
This is the story of the relationship between a man and his uncle, Petros Papachristos. Petros spent most of his life obsessed with solving Goldbach's Conjecture, one of the unproven conjectures of mathematics. There is a little bit of math - enough to talk about at a cocktail party, not to sit
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down and work through. There are famous mathematicians as minor characters, such as Godel and Turing. And there is a great obsession, and how it affected the man's life. The book is a fast read and particularly fun for mathematicians. Show Less
LibraryThing member amerynth
I stopped enjoying anything to do with mathematics after my 10th grade geometry teacher responded to a request for extra help with a concept by more or less saying I was an idiot to do so "on one of the simplest things we covered all year." I never opened that geometry book again (and only passed
However, I found the story completely engrossing, even when the mathematics got in a bit over my head. The novel is the story of Petros Papachristos, a number theorist who failed to achieve his life's work of proving the impossibly hard Goldbach Conjecture, which says that every even number greater than 2 is the sum of two primes.
While the book does get into math, it's much more the story of a man who was obsessed with his life's work and what happened once that work was over. The story was pretty interesting, as were the characters so I'm glad I read this one.
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by the skin of my teeth and the fact I had gotten good marks in earlier terms that balanced out the final ones.) So, when I figured out that Apostolos Doxiadis' "Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture" was about math, I viewed it with a little trepidation.However, I found the story completely engrossing, even when the mathematics got in a bit over my head. The novel is the story of Petros Papachristos, a number theorist who failed to achieve his life's work of proving the impossibly hard Goldbach Conjecture, which says that every even number greater than 2 is the sum of two primes.
While the book does get into math, it's much more the story of a man who was obsessed with his life's work and what happened once that work was over. The story was pretty interesting, as were the characters so I'm glad I read this one.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LTJinja
Oh man. That one truly sucked.
LibraryThing member ten_floors_up
Has been "Owned but unread" on my bookshelf for a very long time. I picked it up when reshelving and polished it off in some short but fairly intense reading shifts between "other stuff". I found it simultaneously a both playful and serious read, and welcomed the focus on human frailties and
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eccentricities. Show Less
Language
Original language
Greek
Original publication date
1992 (original Greek)
ISBN
9780571205110
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DDC/MDS
| 823.914 |