Tara's Reviews> Fermat's Enigma

Before delving into the book itself, I thought I’d start things off by introducing the problem it’s concerned with, just in case you aren’t already familiar with it.

So, what exactlyisFermat’s Last Theorem?

Well, basically, this is it:

As you can see, the conjecture is quite easy to understand, and yet, believe it or not, it was so remarkably difficult to prove that it took over 350 years to accomplish! The fact that Fermat (teasingly?) scribbled this rather infuriating note in the margin only added to the frustration felt by the scores of mathematicians who did battle with it over the centuries:“I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain.”

No doubt the cheeky bastard would’ve enjoyed Twitter:



Okay, now that that’s been taken care of, it’s time to look at the actual book.

What Kind of Book isFermat’s Enigma?

Simply put,Fermat’s Enigmais a history book. It is most definitely NOT a math book, so don’t expect to find any degree of mathematical rigor or complexity here. There are a handful of fairly simple proofs included in the appendices, but overall, the concepts under discussion are glossed over in a superficial manner, never examined in any kind of detail. If you want something that fleshes out how the proof actually works, I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere. (Singh was kind enough to include quite a few “further reading suggestions” at the end of this book. While I’ve not looked into any of the titles he recommended, I assume many of those might prove more to your liking if you prefer a “math book” on the subject.)

In any case, while Singh did not pursue the actual mathematics in any real sense, he did positivelyexcelat telling the story of an utterly fascinating struggle, one which spanned hundreds of years and ensnared countless brilliant, talented minds. Readers make the acquaintance of such notable mathematicians as Pythagoras (whose work paved the way for Fermat), Leonhard Euler, Paul Wolfskehl, Sophie Germain, Daniel Bernoulli, Augustin-Louis Cauchy, Evariste Galois, Yutaka Taniyama, Goro Shimura, and of course Andrew Wiles, the man, the myth, the legend who finally proved the damn thing.

Overall, I was surprised and delighted by just how compelling the story actually was. For me, this book quickly became a veritable page-turner, one I was loathe to put aside. Some may argue that in order to accomplish this, he omitted too much relevant information, that he sacrificed depth for readability. Perhaps this is true to an extent, but in my opinion, while it was admittedly easy to read and follow, it still managed to include a fair amount of pertinent, interesting material. More importantly, it never got bogged down with unnecessary details or lost in minutiae, and never meandered down exasperating tangents, as many otherwise outstanding history books are wont to do.

And ultimately, what made this book so very stimulating was that the manner in which the story was told really made it comealive.Singh bestowed a truly suspenseful, exciting quest upon the reader, one full of twists and turns, and even *gasp* its fair share of drama. He enthusiastically demonstrated just how action-packed and exhilarating the life of the mind can be. And for accomplishing this tremendous feat, I heartily recommend the book, warts and all.

And Now, For a Few Words on the Star of the Show

Andrew Wiles is an extraordinary human being. Fascinated by Fermat’s Last Theorem since he was ten years old, he vowed to conquer that most impossible of proofs. This wasat the age of ten,mind you. I seriously can’t get past that. And then, true to his word, the little rascal grew up to become an eminent mathematician, one who finally went into seclusion for seven years in order to hack away at this tremendous proof. While a not insignificant error marred the first release of said proof, he didn’t let that deter him, but persevered and managed to rectify the error, and, within a couple of years, came out with THE proof. Holy goddamn shit.

To me, Wiles’ story was completely and utterly inspiring. I was frankly amazed by what the human mind can achieve; I think I will always be in awe of Wiles’ fierce determination and incredible tenacity. Mad respect.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, Andrew Wiles is a personal hero of mine. He is an undeniable, ultimate badass. Wayne and Garth said it best: