Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis

Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture is a 1992 novel by Greek author Apostolos Doxiadis. It concerns a young man's interaction with his reclusive uncle, who sought to prove that every even number greater than two is the sum of two primes, which is a famous unsolved mathematics problem called Goldbach's Conjecture. This unusual novel discusses mathematical problems and some recent history of mathematics. As a publicity stunt, the publishers (Bloomsbury USA in the U.S. and Faber and Faber in Britain) announced a $1 million prize for anybody who proved Goldbach's Conjecture within two years of the book's publication in 2000. Not surprisingly, given the difficulty of the problem, the prize went unclaimed.The cover picture is the painting I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold (1928) by Charles Demuth.

The 1260th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Paperback 7915221 $1.48
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession Mass Market Paperback 1318298 $36.30 $1.99 2001
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession by Apostolos Doxiadis (2001-02-03) Paperback 5019631 $46.20 $3.65
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession Kindle Edition 457428 $8.96 2010
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Kindle Edition 1243266 2012
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Hardcover 1278728 $22.99 $1.59 2000
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Hardcover 9402682 $68.96 $5.39 2000
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Paperback 919879 $8.41 $4.45 2001