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. ( )

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. ( )

La storia della matematica sarebbe nettamente piu' avvincente della trama del romanzo, ma anche quella rimane approssimativa nella narrazione. ( )

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 . ( )

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 and better novels. ( )