The Parrot's Theorem

An attempt to tell the history of mathematics from the Greeks to the present day in the guise of a novel...and not a very good novel at that. The mathematics is at times misunderstood and at times flawed. There are misquoted formulae and bizarre statements, "all new mathematics is just sets." There are strange non-sequiters, one of the central characters who is confined to a wheelchair walks across the room to put the kettle on. The book is translated from French but the translator has attempted to give it an "English" air by making the characters perform in an English manner (drink tea on a regular basis etc.) and speak with a cockney accent while still living in Paris. All distinctly odd! There are better books on the history of maths show more and better novels. show less

Not sure how this got on my wishlist. I thought that I realized several years ago that my infatuation with mathematics was something that I'd outgrown by my 30s. Well, I think this book is confirming that, anyway. I'm taking every excuse to put it down and working hard to pick it up again.

The characters are neither believable or interesting, the thrilling mystery neither thrilling nor mysterious, and I'm not likely to remember anything about the math except for, perhaps, the trisection of the angle. And that may stick in my mind because it seems obvious to me how to do it and I'm still reading in order to find out what's wrong with my idea.
---
Ok done. Three days of on/off reading, which is awfully long for me.
I'm going to have to show more consult my college grad. son about trisecting an angle. I did predict the 'loyal friend' correctly in the mystery, but not the chief bad guy, and certainly not how interesting he would prove to be... honestly, the book, if not written by a maths teacher, would have been about him, and been better.

I'm not quite sure why I'm giving this three stars instead of two.

"Thales' theorem had already shown them how to divide a line segment into three equal parts."

Arabic numerals are apparently actually Indian numerals? (Yup: "The Hindu–Arabic or Indo–Arabic numerals were invented by mathematicians in India. Persian and Arabic mathematicians called them "Hindu numerals". Later they came to be called "Arabic numerals" in Europe because they were introduced to the West by Arab merchants. - Wikipedia.)

Chapter 14 begins with a wonderful ode to books... check it out. "... a book will never turn its back on you."

A triangle spread on a sphere would be 'bigger' than the same triangle on a plane. Beware absolutes (in maths or in life). show less

Il teorema del pappagallo e’ da consigliare a chi è terrorizzato dalla matematica: scoprirà che è un mondo affascinante e per nulla arido . E’ un libro gradevole , con alcune parti spassosissime come ad esempio la misura della piramide in unità di "taleti", ed e’ semplice nella sua complessità. La trama non e’ solo un mero preteso per raccontare la storia della matematica, e’ avvincente e con personaggi ben delineati e deliziosi, pappagallo compreso .

One of the most interesting books I have ever read, and perhaps the luckiest purchase too - I picked it up from a bargain bin in a remaindered book shop.Wrapped loosely around a plot of sorts, the Parrot's Theorem takes the reader through a history of mathematics, and is by turns wonderfully accessible, fun, intriguing and absorbing.If you ever spot it in a book shop, make sure you pick it up.

Skin read the last third. This book didn’t gel for me and felt like it had lost something in translation. The maths was too complicated compared to the over simplistic framing mystery. Curiously modern in tone but also obviously pre modern tech. The depiction of disability seemed awkward and the story of the conception of the twins downright unpleasant (suggestive of assault). The edition I read had an error in a formula on p.70 which didn’t help. Not the book for me.

Fun detective story about the search for Fermat's Last Theorem. Uses the device of a novel to explain the history and significance of math to the lay person--very effective. Translated from the French, and coincidentally, I read this during a week's vacation in the Cognac region.You don't need to be a mathematician to enjoy this book.

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2824398.html

A fictional Sophie's World type of story about three children and a retired bookseller discovering the history of mathematics. There is a rather ridiculous plot involving Fermat's Last Theorem and gangsters who operate between Brazil and Sicily. It possibly reads better in the original French.