Pythagorean Crimes

By Tefcros Michaelides

Book Overview

Athens, 1929. Stefanos Kantartzis is found murdered, and Michael Igerinos, his best friend of 30 years, is being questioned by the police as the last person to see him alive.

While looking at his dead friend's body, Michael is immediately taken back to the late summer of 1900 when he and Stefanos first met in the crammed Sorbonne University lecture hall. The story of their friendship begins during the Second International Congress of Mathematics--an event that was to become a landmark for 20th century mathematical research.

At the root of this historically based work of fiction lies the question as to whether the solution to a mathematical problem could inspire such passion, so intense and perilous, as to drive someone to murder.

The story takes the reader behind the scenes of academia, into the world of Bertrand Russell, Hilbert, Poincar , and G del, and through the streets of Bohemian Paris at the heyday of Montmartre, the Moulin Rouge, and the "Zut"--the infamous hangout of Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Max Jacob, and many other colorful characters.

Pythagorean Crimes follows in the tradition of popular mathematical fiction like Doxiadis' Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture and Martinez' Oxford Murders. Yet brings with it old-world charm and the cultural richness of the social, political, scientific and intellectual circles of early 20th century France, Germany, and Greece.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 193097227X
• ISBN13: 9781930972278
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Parmenides Publishing
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Rather historical

First of all I want to say that I enjoyed the novel. I think the author is influenced by Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture: A Novel of Mathematical Obsession which is not a bad thing, since Doxiadis is a talented writer. The plot is not very exciting but the historical unfolding of mathematics mainly between 1850 to 1930 is very interesting. The author presents the history of math with a lot of unknown details through a group of young people in Paris. The idea to involve Picasso was also very brilliant. We also get the chance to know more about the Greek history between 1900-1930 which is interesting for Greeks like me, but I don't know how other nationalities will feel about.