---
product_id: 4099515
title: "Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession Mass Market Paperback – February 3, 2001"
brand: "apostolos doxiadis"
price: "€ 52.54"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.it/products/4099515-uncle-petros-and-goldbachs-conjecture-a-novel-of-mathematical-obsession
store_origin: IT
region: Italy
---

# Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession Mass Market Paperback – February 3, 2001

**Brand:** apostolos doxiadis
**Price:** € 52.54
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession Mass Market Paperback – February 3, 2001 by apostolos doxiadis
- **How much does it cost?** € 52.54 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.it](https://www.desertcart.it/products/4099515-uncle-petros-and-goldbachs-conjecture-a-novel-of-mathematical-obsession)

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- apostolos doxiadis enthusiasts

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Good book on the math process but Kindle version needs some work
  

*by J***D on Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2023*

It's rare to find a decent book describing the art and process of mathematical proof development. This book does it well -- and it's fiction!, which is even rarer.I am frustrated with e-books that are apparently scanned (inexplicably) from the paper text and use OCR without any editing whatsoever. There are more than a handful of typographical errors (e.g., where a capital i and a one are confused). I was also quite confused by page 151 saying 1729 = 123 + 13 = 103 + 93. In fact this should be 1729 = 12^3 + 1^3 = 10^3 + 9^3. Really unacceptable for a book focused on math. Simple editing would have fixed this. Amazon should demand better quality of Kindle e-books.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    In the life of the mind what are the risks
  

*by P***D on Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2016*

Bottom Line First: It is difficult to know who will like Apostolos Doxiadis’ Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture. Much of the story telling is built around a failed attempt to solve a mathematical notion. Not just Mathematics, but Number Theory. This alone will scare off readers. Doxiadis has used what to some is a boring and highly esoteric topic to build a very human mystery. This is also a story about family loyalty, goal setting, failure and just how high level thinking and life can come together. I liked Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture. I encourage you to step into this very real fiction about people. You may have to push your comfort zone.  No violence, no sex, no particular politics, mild language and people who like and care for each other.According to Wiki: “Goldbach's conjecture is one of the oldest and best-known unsolved problems in number theory and all of mathematics. It states: Every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes.” The fact that it is called a conjecture means that it is not much more than a guess. Is there a practical application for this conjecture? I do not know and no one in this book cares. What matters is that it represents to the right mathematical thinker a challenge.  Solving or attempting to solve these kinds of problems have a history of producing secondary methodologies with some kinds of independent value, but this is settling for the invention of the ball bearing when your goal was to invent the automobile.So much for the central narrative driver of the book. Nephew Papachritos becomes fascinated by his remote and disparaged, failed Uncle the one time mathematical prodigy, Petros. Risking his father’ wrath and later hisown future the Nephew immerses himself in an effort to comprehend the world of Math at its highest and most remote thinking. His purpose is less to achieve any great breakthroughs as to fully understand the motives and meaning of his uncle’s life.Among the way we are introduced to great minds like G. H. Hardy, Kurt Godel, Bertrand Russell and Alan Turing. First their minds and later their fates as humans. For many the life at the forward edge of mathematical thinking ends young and their life as humans, punishing.This is good story telling. You are invited to stretch your mind. Doxiadis asks you to enter the world of those who can think these kinds of thoughts, without forcing you to try and think at this level. Instead the real story is about the humans. What are their motives and what costs are they risking to follow where their brains take them?

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    I was captivated the entire novel
  

*by M***S on Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2020*

I suspect this won't be everybody's cup of tea but I was completely enthralled. I have myself been working on an unsolved problem (at least I think it is) for about a year and I was recognizing many of the thoughts and feelings expressed in the book. I am definitely not a mathematician but I perked up at concepts such as intermediate results discovered while on my quest. It was fun seeing historical figures inserted in believable ways and being reminded of their enormous contributions to math.One complaint that might confuse or befuddle readers without math skills is that the transcription in the Kindle edition is not 100% accurate. My *guess* is that a program scanned a manuscript and didn't *quite* pull it off. Two examples that illustrate the point involved superscripts not being interpreted  correctly:"The words that 299 (that's one half of 2^100)". Obviously, 299 is not half of 2 to the hundredth power. 2^99 is half of 2^100. The other one was when Harding was visiting Ramanujan in the hospital and commented that the license plate of a cab of 1729, which he didn't find very interesting. Ramanujan replied that it was interesting because it is the smallest number that can be described as the sum of 2 cubes in two ways. The footnote "clarified" this with:1729 = 123 + 13 = 103 +93. You might tend to read that and think: Huh? Superscripts again: 1729 = 12^3 +1^3 = 10^3 + 9^3.Those are, however, minor quibbles since I suspect most people reading this will have an interest in math and not get too freaked out by the apparent nonsense.This book was the first in a long time that I read all at once. We often hear about "page-turners" and "I couldn't put it down". This book did that for me.

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*Product available on Desertcart Italy*
*Store origin: IT*
*Last updated: 2026-01-24*