"I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain."

With these words, the seventeenth-century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat threw down the gauntlet to future generations. What came to be known as Fermat's Last Theorem looked simple; proving it, however, became the Holy Grail of mathematics, baffling its finest minds for more than 350 years. In Fermat's Enigma--based on the author's award-winning documentary film, which aired on PBS's "Nova"--Simon Singh tells the astonishingly entertaining story of the pursuit of that grail, and the lives that were devoted to, sacrificed for, and saved by it. Here is a mesmerizing tale of heartbreak and mastery that will forever change your feelings about mathematics.

Well, at least books get to travel! Enigmatic reading!

This has arrived while I was - yes, really! - travelling. I didn't venture far, just to next-door Poland (very low incidence rate).
Thanks a lot, and for the labels & stickers as well!

... and as I have a Norsk / Suomi release bag now I should start making plans where I could use it...

I still have that release bag - and read the book in Luxembourg (and travelling to/from there).
This was a great read. Of course it's about Fermat's life and how Andrew Wiles proved the theorem (which was incredible interesting) - but along the way Singh touches on so many other subjects. Mainly other great mathematicians' lives, some rather tragic, such as Évariste Galois, Yutaka Taniyama or Alan Turing. And the great Pythagoras of course! What I found even more interesting was the part about the role, lives and challenges of female mathematicians, such as Sophie Germain. Sometimes the book read a bit like a mystery, it was getting more and more suspenseful. I didn't understand all details, but at least I learned that the Taniyama-Shimura conjecture is true, that all elliptic equations are modular. The modular stuff escapes me due to limitations of my brain power, but it doesn't matter, the book is written in a way that non-mathematicians can follow too. And there are these little gems, like the average ratio between a river's actual length and the direct distance between source and mouth being 3.14... = π (pi)! Can't look at a meandering river anymore without thinking about this.
I think I'll stop here ;-)

Given to AnitaBC when meeting up at the Villa Libris. Enjoy!

Book received from and warmly recommended by fellow BookCrosser ApoloniaX :)
Looking forward to checking it out!

A great read indeed!
A note on a short, but precious, section of the book that I very much appreciated: as mentioned by ApoloniaX, the book is also a very interesting introduction to the stories of a number of brilliant female mathematicians. Hypatia, Maria Agnesi, Emmy Noether, Sophie Germain – as I was reading Fermat's Enigma, I was delighted to dive into parallel further research and learn so much about their fantastic work!

Released at the BC Unconvention 2022 :)
Wishing you a wonderful read!