I just finished Dan Rockmore's Stalking
the Riemann Hypothesis. I guess I'm going to
reflect the diversity of reviews already up on Amazon about this latest in a growing
collection of books covering the Riemann
Hypothesis.
Overall the book was an enjoyable weekend read which provides a good overview of the
latest research on the RH while anchoring it in all of the appropriate historical
contexts.
In comparison to other books on the subject
I did enjoy the deeper coverage Rockmore provided into the latest research linking
the RH to quantum physics. There was a far better coverage of this aspect of RH research
than I’ve seen in similar books.
The book does have some weaknesses which
got in the way of this being a really good read. Rockmore's writing style verges on
the poetic at times which elevates the text above a dry regurgitation of the
basic story but (As he readily admits in the book) there seems to be little in the
book drawn from primary research which results in a lot of rehashing of the same anecdotes
and stores covered in every other book on the subject.
In my view he also gets caught
by the classic trap of trying to write a science book for both a general and math
literate audience. The prose alternates between light hearted poetics and very
dense written descriptions of complex math and physics theories. For the general reader
it would have been better to relegate some of these descriptions to an appendix. I
also agree with a couple of other reviewers that some of the analogies that Rockmore
uses to make his points border on the distracting (The description of four
women sitting in a restaurant to make the point about "Four-ness" is a case in point).
Overall and this is an ok read which you
can get though pretty quickly. John Derbyshires' Prime
Obsession is a much more enjoyable and satisfying read about the same
subject.
My rating: 6/10
