The Prime Number Conspiracy

The Biggest Ideas in Math from Quanta

By: Thomas Lin - editor, James Gleick - foreword

Narrated by: Bob Souer

These stories from Quanta Magazine map the routes of mathematical exploration, showing listeners how cutting-edge research is done, while illuminating the productive tension between conjecture and proof, theory and intuition. Listeners of The Prime Number Conspiracy are headed on "breathtaking intellectual journeys to the bleeding edge of discovery strapped to the narrative rocket of humanity's never-ending pursuit of knowledge," says Quanta editor-in-chief Thomas Lin.

Quanta is the only popular publication that offers in-depth coverage of the latest breakthroughs in understanding our mathematical universe. It communicates mathematics by taking it seriously, wrestling with difficult concepts and clearly explaining them in a way that speaks to our innate curiosity about our world and ourselves.

Listeners of this volume will learn that prime numbers have decided preferences about the final digits of the primes that immediately follow them (the "conspiracy" of the title); consider whether math is the universal language of nature (allowing for "a unified theory of randomness"); discover surprising solutions (including a pentagon tiling proof that solves a century-old math problem); ponder the limits of computation; measure infinity; and explore the eternal question: "Is mathematics good for you?"

©2018 The Simons Foundation, Inc. (P)2019 Tantor

Better [more relevant] than you might expect.

I generally prefer down-to-earth, practical narratives when I choose my Audibles. Pure maths usually aren't on my list, particularly when one narrow topic is being advertised. But I had a feeling this Audible would be better than that, after having just finished Quanta's other Audible on topics in Physics, which is now at or near the top of my list of favorite Audibles. (Choose either one to listen to first, they don't overlap.)

I found the theme of this Audible to partly complement Love and Math, by Edward Frenkel, though I had hoped for more connections to be made.

Overall, I think this Audible is very well written, it flows well, it's entertaining, and it's narrated by one of the greatest narrators you could ever hope to have for this sort of topic. I didn't enjoy it as much as the Physics one by Quanta, but probably because I thought that one was phenomenal.

Great book for mathematically interested people

This book is a wonderful read for anyone looking for mathematical inspiration. I read it anytime I am feeling lost or need motivation. Quanta is unapologetic about providing a thorough description of the subject matter and doesn't discount the intelligence of its readers like other mathematics books do. Overall, highly recommended to mathematically inclined scientists or mathematicians.

Good book!

I thought the book was very good. Basically a compilation of shorter stories from Quanta magazine. Was nice because it spanned many different math topics and outlooks with different interviews and perspectives.

Informative and Fun Anthology

This collection of interviews and stories about contemporary and inspirational developments in the math world was an exciting book. The concepts are occasionally dense, but surprisingly easy to follow as an audiobook. Excellent journalism of the field.

Profoundly uninteresting

This audiobook is a sleeper.

I do have to admit that the idea was good, but the presentation was so poor it was hard to get through.

I would not recommend this book to anybody, young or old, math inclined or not. Sorry, that's just how I feel.

Deep end of the math-pool

Disclaimer, I am not a mathematician and the math covered here is delightfully out of my reach. This is the sister volume of "Alice and Bob Meet the Wall of Fire" and I must say that I enjoyed that one more. I consider myself to have a good mathematical background and enjoy numbers and puzzles, so much of this intrigued me, only that much of the time my understanding of the material was rather vague (to put it generously).

It was enjoyable to read some of the obscure problems that are being solved today and at times their surprising applications in physics and computer science. What this volume also covers is a lot of who's who in today's landscape of advanced mathematics, covering a lot of recent Fields Medalists for example.

Essentially a collection of Quanta articles it is somewhat compartmentalized and not like a seamless journey through mathematics. Still it's a stimulating read and is currently included in Audible's Plus Catalog for free.