Fermat's Last Theorem - Simon Singh

This is the first book written by Simon singh and a best seller.
Simon gives a lucid description of the journey to the conquest of the theorem...

Its really a historical book... describing the journey from Greeks, the formation of the mathematical concepts, to the proof of the theorem. This book gives a nice insight into the formation of the problem and the evolution...
Simon as usual has made it really interesting with an awesome narration... The book gives an insight into the mathematical world and into the lifes of a lot of mathematicians, some how died young others who challenged athority and gave a whole new perspective...
The fermat's last theorem was unconquered until the last decade... it has challenged the mathematicians for more than 250 years... so that shows what it meant to conquer it... doesnt it?
Fermat's thm.. required the culmination of a lot of fields of mathematics and a single minded and dedicated effort by Andrew John Wiles to complete this proof. It was for a man of Andrew's caliber to get to its proof... having been excited by the simple looking problem .... it became his child hood dream to realize the proof...
If I say, this book is a dedication to his effortsm it would not be wrong...

A book worth a purchase if u like to read abt maths and worth reading for any one....

Big Bang - Simon Singh

Big Bang - this is the first book I have read by Simon Singh… makes me feel I have to read more books by him... just loved the style of narration.

Simon Singh is not just a physicist but also a lucid writer, the style of his writing is just too good.

Big Bang this book deals with the creation of the universe and, is a historical account of the way the modern theory has evolved. It’s a brief description of how this, now famous, theory has evolved, so it essential has an element of History in it. That makes the description even more beautiful... now u don’t just know what the theory has but also have the way it has evolved. A really neat description of cosmological journey-right from ancient Greek to the modern world.
The account of this journey is really well presented, not at one moment did I loose interest and felt I wanted to take a break, its just so enticing, I just wanted to read further each time I took up this book after a break, but had to stop thanks to other works being a priority.
This book is not just about this particular theory but gives a neat account of other competing theories as well. The Steady State theory, the earth centric theory are the main ones - these are not dealt in detail but to a certain extent that might be needed for Big Bang and its story.
The effort of the experimental physicist is not undermined anywhere, they are given dew credit; the marvel of serendipity is also taken care.
Really a nice read, am sure it will generate an interest in any one for astronomical reading.

Challenge familiarity

Almost every one of us want to live in a familiar domain... we want to stay in the city that we are familiar with... we want to keep company only with those whom we already know... we want to visit only those places which we know and are accustomed to, we want things to be easy and laid out. In general its the cozy feeling that we want to stay with... we don’t want to try something that might involve a risk, some challenge in it... we want the path of least resistance...
Well form another angle do we really benefit from this sort of an attitude, I hardly feel at any point we might have gained from such an attitude. If we look back in life its always been rewarding one way or another to challenge this love for familiarity that we have.... each of our experiences show that when we tried something new and difficult we have come out with a new understanding and perspective to the particular work or a whole new experience that has mad us richer and more open which is essential to our life on a much larger scale...

Essentially I don’t find any reason why we should not try something new... of course that we have to have the time and the resources that might be needed for the particular purpose... So just go ahead and try the next time you are contemplating as to - "TO DO OR NOT TO DO!!!"