Fermat’s Last Theorem, Simon Singh, 1997 - I loved this book for the exact same reasons I hated ‘the man who solved the market’. This is what a well-written biography reads like as it straddles the balance between problem and person very well. It speaks equally about Fermat’s last theorem as it does about Andrew Wiles the person and of every other person that came before him on whose efforts Wiles built his solution and it does these without boring or alienating the reader.
Wiles’ own words on solving Fermat’s Last Theorem
“You enter the first room of the mansion and it’s completely dark. You stumble around bumping into the furniture but gradually you learn where each piece of furniture is. Finally, after six months or so, you find the light switch, you turn it on, and suddenly it’s all illuminated. You can see exactly where you were. Then you move into the next room and spend another six months in the dark. So each of these breakthroughs, while sometimes they’re momentary, sometimes over a period of a day or two, they are the culmination of, and couldn’t exist without, the many months of stumbling around in the dark that precede them.”
This is the mathematical equivalent of a 300+ year pirate treasure hunt with its many quests, clues, storms, empty treasure chests and deserted islands. Taniyama-Shimura conjecture and their work on elliptic curves and modular forms, Ribet’s work and Galois representations form the base on which Wiles draws his proof over years. The basis and tragedies behind these is explained in bittersweet detail that makes the final utility and Wiles’ proof comes across as a victory for everyone who laid the stones bit by bit. This is hollywood material and I am surprised its not been adapted into a movie yet. 9/10