Riemann Hypothesis [Hardcover]

In any case, this is a very enjoyable book about the history of the hypothesis. In many ways, this book is more about the people who pursue that elusive proof. That small, distinguished crowd includes the reticent and the outspoken, the loners and the social thinkers, the meticulous and those who think by leaps and bounds. Sabbagh has a strong emphasis on the living mathematicians who hunt this elusive quarry. He has spent long hours interviewing these mathematicians and watching them at their work. At bottom, this may be a book about intellectual passion and the people for whom its reward is real.

The book contains a few disconcerting mis-statements:
-- one says that plutonium occurs naturally - on Earth, it does not,
-- another on p.11 makes a statement about prime factors of the number 60 (I'd believe that same statement about all of 60's factors, including non-primes), and
-- a third on p.143 appears to have applied parentheses incorrectly in describing Skewe's number.
None of these, by itself, affects the main thrust of the book. Still, they leave me wondering about every fact I read. When I find such errors, I have to wonder how many I didn't find, ones that I don't have the information to check.

Because of the book's emphasis on the people dedicated to the hypothesis, there is no one place where the hypothesis' history is laid out in full and in order. That's small enough loss, if you accept that the book's topic is really mathematicians and not mathematics. The author does give a brief and clear statement of the problem itself - that takes math at the level of high school calculus to understand, but the reader won't be punished for skipping past its details.

This book has real nerd appeal (I like it). It's a readable case study of a famous problem and of the people tracking it down. It won't really expand anyone's intellectual horizons, but there are lots worse ways to spend a few hours. Despite flaws, I found this book quite enjoyable.

I picked up this book with great expectations, having read the publisher's publicity. To be frank, I was left disappointed. The book tells the reader very little about the wonderful and mysterious character of the Riemann hypothesis and leaves both mathematical novices and those who know about the intricacies of higher Mathematics dissatisfied. This is indeed a pity!

Having said this, Mr Sabbagh's story is eminently readable and enlightening. The book has many sections that are in effect a diary of the conversations with various Mathematicians. These give an insight into the thought processes, passions, motivations, and rivalries that exist in the select community of Number Theorists. The pen portraits of the main protagonists is quite interesting even though it sheds little light on the character of the Riemann hypothesis and how it enthrals those working on its proof.

The toolkits covering a set of brief synopsis of Infinite series and the Euler identity should be useful to the lay (but Mathematically capable) reader, but the appendix on the De Brandes proof is rather obscure.

Overall, an OK book if the reader wants a gentle introduction to the subject and act clever in passing conversation at parties, but, sadly, this book fails to educate and enlighten in the real sense!