BOOKS – NON-FICTION
Millennium Problems
Keith Devlin
Seven unsolved mathematical problems (one of which is the Riemann Hypothesis), each one with a million-dollar prize for the person who finds a solution.
Science, Not Art: Ten Scientists’ Diaries
edited by Jon Turney
Ten scientists describe how they spend their days. Marcus du Sautoy is one of them. Others include a cosmologist, a meteorologist and a marine biologist.
From Here to Infinity
Ian Stewart
A wonderful tour of the world of mathematics, introducing the reader to the most up-to-date topics in Stewart’s straightforward style.
BOOKS-FICTION
Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson
A huge, brilliant novel which hinges on the complex problem of cryptography. Alan Turing appears as a minor character.
Contact
Carl Sagan
An unusual novel by the well-known and far-sighted American astronomer. The book is far superior to the film.
Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture
Apostolos Doxiadis
A young man in Athens slowly uncovers the bizarre life of his uncle, a mathematician who has devoted his existence to pursuing one proof.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Mark Haddon
A best-selling novel, aimed both at adults and children, told in the voice of an autistic teenager. The chapters are numbered in primes.
FILMS
Cube
directed by Vincenzo Natali
Six characters wander around a bewildering small-scale landscape, and discover that primes hold the key to survival.
Pi
directed by Darren Aronofsky
A brilliant début by Aronofsky which draws on maths to create a bizarre psychological thriller.
Sneakers
directed by Phil Alden Robinson
A conventional Hollywood thriller which involves some surprisingly serious maths.
http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/∼dusautoy/
Marcus du Sautoy’s own website has a full list of his publications and lots of biographical information, as well as links to other useful sites and several of his articles archived on the internet.
http://www.musicoftheprimes.com/
The website for this book contains a regularly updated news section and a huge amount of fascinating information related to prime numbers.