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Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh. I really like it. There are lots of popular science books out there, but very few popular math ones. I am grateful that t

Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh. I really like it. There are lots of popular science books out there, but very few popular math ones. I am grateful that this exists. Read the author's Code Book before. Liked that one, too. I was also taking Cryptography and Cybersecurity as one of my Master's electives. This book does not cover the journey of solving the Fermat's Last Theorem narrowly, but broadly covers a lot of history of mathematics in a very nice way. The writing is superb.

tonyedgecombe 3y ago
The BBC has a good program on iPlayer about Andrew Wiles work on FLT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074rxx/horizon-19951996-fermats-last-theorem https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074rxx/horizon-19951...
mongol 3y ago
That reminds me that I have enjoyed all of Singh's books. But I recall he was sued for his last one and has not published in over 10 years?
- robga 3y ago
  Yes, the vicious lawsuit by chiropractors may have been enough to turn him off publishing. I sometimes hear him as a radio guest. It seems he went on to work on STEM policy and founded a couple of educational math paths. It’s a shame he seems to have discarded his website. Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme https://uas.ac.uk/about-uas/ https://uas.ac.uk/about-uas/ Parallel https://parallel.org.uk/ https://parallel.org.uk/
  - hermitcrab 3y ago
    My son did the free weekly parallel.org.uk questions for several years, which I thought were excellent. I think it definitely helped with his interest in STEM (he is now planning to study aerospace engineering at Uni). Would recommend Parallel to anyone with a child who is or might be interested in maths/science/engineering.
- hermitcrab 3y ago
  He won the case in the end. But he must have had a few brown trouser moments along the way, UK libel being what it is. IIRC it also ended with some UK reforms to libel law. He did say in an interview somewhere that good ideas for books only along once in a while.

tonyedgecombe 3y ago

The BBC has a good program on iPlayer about Andrew Wiles work on FLT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074rxx/horizon-19951996-fermats-last-theorem https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074rxx/horizon-19951...

mongol 3y ago

That reminds me that I have enjoyed all of Singh's books. But I recall he was sued for his last one and has not published in over 10 years?

robga 3y ago
Yes, the vicious lawsuit by chiropractors may have been enough to turn him off publishing. I sometimes hear him as a radio guest. It seems he went on to work on STEM policy and founded a couple of educational math paths. It’s a shame he seems to have discarded his website. Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme https://uas.ac.uk/about-uas/ https://uas.ac.uk/about-uas/ Parallel https://parallel.org.uk/ https://parallel.org.uk/
- hermitcrab 3y ago
  My son did the free weekly parallel.org.uk questions for several years, which I thought were excellent. I think it definitely helped with his interest in STEM (he is now planning to study aerospace engineering at Uni). Would recommend Parallel to anyone with a child who is or might be interested in maths/science/engineering.
hermitcrab 3y ago
He won the case in the end. But he must have had a few brown trouser moments along the way, UK libel being what it is. IIRC it also ended with some UK reforms to libel law. He did say in an interview somewhere that good ideas for books only along once in a while.