Trolling Euclid: An Irreverent Guide to Nine of Mathematics' Most Important Problems

by Tom Wright

Here it is...your irreverent introduction to the world of cutting-edge mathematics! In Trolling Euclid, author Tom Wright humorously guides you through nine of the most important unsolved problems in modern mathematics, explaining the nuances of these key problems in language that anyone from math novice to math professor can understand. Filled with wit, wisdom, irrelevant anecdotes, and flagrant historical inaccuracies, and narrated by a voice that is in turns snarky, dorky, hip, and downright quirky, Trolling Euclid introduces the reader to the math world in a way that is deep yet entirely comprehensible.

Genres: Mathematics, Humor, Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2016

About the author

Tom Wright earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Johns Hopkins University in 2009. He is currently a math professor at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC, and his teaching style has been praised as “enthusiastic,” “funny,” and “really loud.” Outside of math, Tom is a professional jazz saxophonist who has shared the stage with everyone from Regis Philbin to Miss America.

Reviews

[Jose Brox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good way of entering the realm of Number Theory as an outsider. Discusses important unsolved problems in Number Theory which are more _and_ less easy to understand (and the author does a great job of making them understanable), like the Odd Perfect Numbers conjecture, the Riemann Hypothesis, the ABC conjecture, and the Birch-Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, and which have potential to be appealing to anyone -in this way, the author expects to lure some readers into his research field!
The presentation is humorous and witty; some of the jokes feel quite pushy, but others are wonderful, at least from a mathematician's viewpoint. The book is quite short, but I think this is a good thing: these conjectures are dense enough to require some re-readings.

[Hester · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book may be unique. It is the only non-fiction comic math book that I know of("Flatland" is fiction, and I mean comic as in `humorous,' not as in `graphic novel'). This book is even more impressive considering that it seems to be self-published. It has less mistakes and typos than the Kindle Witcher story collections. A couple of the jokes are groaners, but the guy doesn't have an editor! He did this entirely on his own! I think that this says something about math publishing. Right now, the math community is pretty rigid. I can't think of a publisher who would take this on. But it is great! And has a surprising number of readers! We should have a place in the math world (other than self-publishing) for books like this.

The book, as a whole, is delightful. I found it a fast, fun survey of the material. I repeatedly laughed out loud and, even though I am a number theorist by training, I still learned some new math. He has a great throw-away comment on Batman-like alter egos, which is a great way to explain algebra to novices. Paragraph 3 on page 75 is basically my life manifesto: "Here, I'm going to require that a,b, and c all be positive integers so that we don't have to deal with negatives or zeroes or fractions or imaginary numbers or radicals or whatever else because, seriously, the hell with that crap. The numbers here will be whole, they will be positive, and they will be fantastic."

I think that I would find the style grating if all my technical reading were written this way, but I would be much happier if a larger percentage of it were written this way. Next time, I hope that he does a friendly introduction to Sieve Theory. And maybe, to balance out the references to mathematicians as men (which, yes, this is mainly a historical book, so it is not unreasonable), there could be a reference to a real or hypothetical female number theorist. We exist. And, frankly, tend to be pretty good company.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super excellent

Not many books take you through number theory and also make you laugh out loud. Highly recommended. 4 / 5 because of minor typos and some jokes could be refined a little.

[Mbogo J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can tell Tom Wright had a lot of fun writing this.

There are rare occasions when the book you are reading matches your current mood or even intent.[In Everett's many worlds, this statement is most likely worthless] I had marked this small gem "to read" sometime back in 2016 then forgot all about it. A couple weeks back going through some of my rough books I came across the note I made on it and decided that it was just the right time to read it.

I did an undergraduate course that was heavy in mathematics .....the short of the story; I did not like it. I would have preferred to do an art oriented course but parents, the economy,....the usual trope of excuses....blah blah... I did what I did. Despite not enjoying my undergraduate degree, from time to time I take a stab to see what's new in the field hence this book. To be honest I read this so that whenever anyone asks me what I am working on these days I can have a perfect excuse. My new answer? The BSD conjecture. I used to tell my friends that I am working on a theory that will unite classical physics and quantum mechanics but I have a feeling they did not believe me, and the true answer of me spending my days watching sitcoms and looking at dank memes makes me feel like a poor excuse of a human being but ... it is what it is.

There are books which are niche reads. This is a niche of a niche. You have to have at the very least a marginal interest in number theory or may be a high affinity for bad jokes but its a fun read. Recommended to....?[if you happened on this review then its a must read.

[Joseeey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilariously amazing!

I’m glad I found a book that shares a love for both numbers and humor. I could not stop laughing at the frequent jokes. It never got old. Even though it’s sometimes funny, Trolling Euclid still gives readers a great deal of information relating to numbers. You’ll hear about such interesting conjectures such as Goldbach’s, Twin Prime, Collat’z, Riemann Hypothesis, and much more.

[Katie Huffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure! riemann hypothesis yes! I still don’t understand it even a little but I am scared of people solving it. Pierre de fermat icon, strongly in the camp of he did not have a proof but it’s a genius way to piss people off for years even in death! Very funny learned lots (but mostly how much I don’t know)

[Madhukara · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the funniest maths books I have ever read. It was also highly educational to understand how seemingly simple-looking problems in maths are very hard to prove. A must-read for mathematical enthusiasts.

[Ben Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great and Relaxed

This book is amazing, and as a undergraduate looking towards graduate work in mathematical education this book showed me the way I approach math isn’t wrong.

[Cuong Tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

cuốn này rất hài và thú vị dành cho những ai quan tâm tới toán học và muốn hiểu chút về các vấn đề mà các nhà toán học quan tâm.

[Xiaket · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and intriguing