Book review: “Fermat’s Last Theorem” by Simon Singh

Before I become mathematicalised (it’s a bit like being radicalised but with more maths), I had very little knowledge of what lay beyond the scope of my school work. I was unfortunate enough to have a set of teachers who weren’t really interested in pushing me and told me I’d never be good at mathematics.

Whilst applying for University, I came across a reading list for prospective undergraduates and took it upon myself to read one of them to prove to myself that mathematics was the subject for me. I don’t think I could’ve made a better choice of first book.

Simon Singh is an English author who has written a couple of my favourite books, “The Code Book” which is a history of codes and cryptography covering everything up to modern methods and RSA and the book I chose to read; “Fermat’s Last Theorem”.

Pierre de Fermat was one of the most famous mathematicians of our time. Famous because he wasn’t a mathematician, he was a lawyer by trade and named the Prince of Amateurs, but most importantly he sparked one of the biggest searches for a solution in history. His “Last Theorem” was written down in a note book with a note next to it. The note read “I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain…”. Fermat was famous for constantly teasing his contemporaries, and after his death many of these notes were found scattered throughout his notebooks. Gradually most of the problems he outlined were solved over the next 100 years, but there was one that remained unsolved. Fermat’s Last Theorem.

It’s a brilliant read. Totally engrossing and fantastically explained. Well worth getting your hands on if you see a copy loitering around a bookshop or fancy a random from Amazon. See the books section for other things I recommend.